Text
Poet unknown

First performance
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity,
5 September 1723

Although cantata BWV 138 likewise stems from Bach’s first Leipzig cantata cycle, it is significantly more modern in style than BWV 89, which at least idiomatically belongs to his Weimar period. Indeed, BWV 138, with its cantus firmus foundation, varied interaction between choral hymn singing and free soloistic commentary, and convincing orchestral interpretation of the Reformation song seems much like a preview of the chorale cantata cycle of 1724/25.

The orchestral prelude, scored for an elegiac string group and warmly singing oboes d’amore, lends the introductory chorus an equally ethereal and tragic undertone that, beyond the alternating vocal soli and tutti lines, makes effective use of the archaic hymn melody composed by an unknown Nuremberg Meistersinger. In the nigh static phrases and poignant lament of the collective ensemble, a sense of despair verging on a death wish takes shape that renders the later shift to wholesome trust in God all the more effective.

The following recitative con coro continues this gesture of self-recrimination in heartrending metaphors, which allows the hymn lines, presented in a simple cantional setting with echoing oboe figures, to appear like comfort emerging from afar. The repeat of the last two verse lines in imitative motet style (“dein Vater und dein Herre Gott” – Thy Father and the Lord thy God) contradicts the logic of the verse structure and seems a conscious decision to set the chorale with a Romantic aesthetic and interpretation “avant la lettre”.

Accordingly, the tension between lament and confidence gives way in the following tenor recitative to a spirit of self-encouragement that stuffs all worries “unters Kissen” (under the pillow), thus enabling the ensuing minuet bass aria to freely sing God’s praises. Although the couplets in this rondo setting still refer to “Sorgen”, “Armut” and “Leid” (apprehension, want and sadness), the last word is reserved for the increasingly hymnlike presentation of the motto “Auf Gott steht meine Zuversicht, mein Glaube lässt ihn walten” (With God stands all my confidence, my faith shall let him govern).

A short alto recitative then lauds this hardwon peace of mind as a foretaste of the afterlife ere the closing chorale proves Bach to be a sensitive reformer of church-music tradition. As in cantata BWV 22, which he wrote for Estomihi in 1723 as part of his job application in Leipzig, Bach eschews a simple chorale setting and instead embeds the return to the opening hymn in a spirited orchestral setting that brings the elegiac singing and sharp B-minor tonality to full musical blossom. The way the oboe phrases and shimmering running string passages inspire each other and drive the music forward is of rare beauty and transforms the archaic hymn from 1561 into a song of gripping currency and relevance.