J.S. Bach / Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen, BWV 87 (Harnoncourt)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Cantata BWV 87: Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen (6 May 1725)

1. Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen (Aria: B)
2. O Wort, das Geist und Seel' erschreckt! (Recitative: A) 01:42
3. Vergib, o Vater, unsre Schuld (Aria: A) 02:13
4. Wenn unsre Schuld bis an den Himmel steigt (Recitative: T) 09:47
5. In der Welt habt ihr Angst (Aria: B) 10:33
6. Ich will leiden, ich will schweigen (Aria: T) 12:21
7. Muss ich sein betrübet? (Chorale) 16:31

Soloists:
Alto: Paul Esswood
Tenor: Kurt Equiluz
Bass: Ruud van der Meer

Performed by the Tölzer Knabenchor (Chorus Master: Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden) & Concentus Musicus Wien under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Recorded by Teldec in 1977.

"Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen (BWV 87), intended for Rogation Sunday and composed in 1725, instead of dealing with the consoling aspects of the Sunday Gospel, refers to its dark and menacing traits, the guilt and fears of mankind. The composition is correspondingly grave, seeming in parts almost apocalyptic, with the keys of D, G, and C minor dominating (only the tenor aria being in B flat major). As in BWV 85 and 86, the words of Christ are set arioso, entirely polyphonically; however, the style is not archaic and motet-like but rather in the completely free form of an instrumental quartet movement, into which the bass pours his threatening pronouncements with constantly and ever differently composed repetitions. A brief but uncommonly agitated recitative provides the transition to the contralto aria, in which the dark sound of two oboes da caccia combine their insistence on the 'Vergib' (forgive) motif of the vocal part and the ostinato pleading gestures in the thoroughbass to produce a gloomy picture of the conditio humana (which certainly goes beyond the intention of the text). The tenor arioso intensifies this attitude to a cry of utmost distress, which is arranged with extreme vocal and harmonic means. This is answered by the second word of Christ, again as arioso, but accompanied only by the thoroughbass, whose ostinato adherence to the main motif ('In der Welt habt ihr Angst') seems also to allude to the second half of the text, to the price of mankind's redemption, Christ's sacrificial death. The reply of the faithful Christians provided by the tenor aria again considerably exceeds what is intended by the text. Bach does not compose joyful surrender to suffering, but a fervent suffering of almost sensual directness, in a siciliano of bewitching tonal attraction, whose seventh chord harmony and whose 'altered' melody in many senses act like a greeting reaching deeply into the 19th century. In the rich harmonisation of the concluding chorus something still seems to linger on of the excitement of this piece, which even by Bach's standards is extraordinary." - Ludwig Finscher

Painting: Winterlandschaft mit Kirche - Caspar David Friedrich

Видео J.S. Bach / Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen, BWV 87 (Harnoncourt) канала David Nelson