Text
Salomo Franck (1659–1725)

Text No. 6
Johann Heermann (1585–1647)

First performance
Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity,
24 November 1715

Accordingly, the mellifluous introductory aria is extremely economic in its conception. The concise motto “Nur jedem das Seine” permeates the string movement throughout, gradually engendering a sense of joyless obligation with its perpetual repetition.
The bass recitative then musically interprets the poet’s line of argument. From words of humble praise to the creator, Franck deduces that all earthly wealth is given by God and is therefore only borrowed. When he then describes the inconstant heart as a counterfeit that has lost all value – a false coin to be written off – he effectively compares the annual collection of expired coins (which both removed counterfeits from circulation and served as a hidden tax) to the process of introspection and soul-searching. Here, the bitter and dogged music underscores that the “coin” of the heart, too, can be false if it has a satanic idol stamped on it.
The metaphors of minting coins and circulating money are explored further in the bass aria. Scored for voice and two obbligato celli – a unicum in Bach’s cantata oeuvre – the entire movement is set in a low register. Over a busy bass line, the industrious celli offer a musically picturesque vision of “melting” and “stamping” coins, while the low register reflects the deep, internal nature of this process in the “mine” of the soul.
The following recitative is equally novel in approach. Set as a duet for soprano and alto in canonic style, it reveals a dramatic quality reminiscent of the early German operas of Stölzel and Keiser. The brief coda blends so smoothly into the ensuing aria duet that it would be fair to view the setting as a doublemovement. The exchange of short motives evokes a sense of great closeness throughout, calling to mind a love duet or a sacred French “petit motet”, albeit one with a German-Lutheran touch thanks to the integration of the chorale melody “Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht”.
Bach’s instructions on the sole surviving score of the closing movement are short and precise: “Choral. Simplice stylo”. Since only the basso continuo is notated, the upper parts must be reconstructed in performance and publications. This chorale concludes a cantata in which poet and composer each present an unconventional, yet highly accessible approach to the eternal themes of personal values and binding commitments.