Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199

Template:Short description Template:Infobox Bach composition Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Template:Lang (My heart swims in blood)<ref name="Dellal" /> Template:Abbr Template:Nbsp199 in Weimar between 1712 and 1713, and performed it on the eleventh Sunday after Trinity, 12 August 1714. It is a solo cantata for soprano.

The text was written by Georg Christian Lehms and published in Darmstadt in 1711 in the collection Template:Lang, on the general topic of redemption. The librettist wrote a series of alternating recitatives and arias, and included as the sixth movement (of eight) the third stanza of Johann Heermann's hymn "Template:Lang". It is not known when Bach composed the work, but he performed it as part of his monthly cantata productions on the eleventh Sunday after Trinity, 12 August 1714. The solo voice is accompanied by a Baroque instrumental ensemble of oboe, strings and continuo. The singer expresses in a style similar to Baroque opera the dramatic development from feeling like a "monster in God's eyes"<ref name="Dellal" /> to being forgiven. Bach revised the work for later performances, leading to three editions in the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. Template:TOC limit

History and words

On 2 March 1714 Bach was appointed concertmaster of the Weimar court orchestra (Kapelle) of the co-reigning dukes Wilhelm Ernst and Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar. As concertmaster, he assumed the principal responsibility for composing new works, specifically cantatas for the Schlosskirche (palace church), on a monthly schedule.<ref name="Koster" /> He performed the cantata on the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity as the fifth cantata of the series, following Template:Lang.<ref name="Dürr" /> The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, on the gospel of Christ and his (Paul's) duty as an apostle (Template:Sourcetext), and from the Gospel of Luke, the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Template:Sourcetext).<ref name="Oron" />

The text, which concerns a sinner seeking and finding redemption, was written by Georg Christian Lehms. Lehms was based in Darmstadt, and it is not known whether Bach knew him personally, but he may well have had access to Lehms's 1711 publication Template:Lang, which includes this text and that of another solo cantata, Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54, performed the month before.<ref name="Dürr" /> The third stanza of Johann Heermann's hymn "Template:Lang" is integrated as the sixth movement, to the melody of "Auf meinen lieben Gott".<ref name="chorale text" /> The text in the first person shows the dramatic change of a person initially feeling as "a monster in God's eyes"<ref name="Dellal" /> to finally feeling accepted as God's child. The cantata text was set to music in 1712 by Christoph Graupner in Darmstadt. It is not known if Bach knew of Graupner's composition.<ref name="Dürr" /> The text has no specific relation to the prescribed readings, therefore it is possible that Bach may have already composed the work before his promotion to concert master with regular Sunday services, like the other cantata on a text by Lehms.<ref name="Dürr-Jones" />

Bach first performed the cantata on 12 August 1714.<ref name="Isoyama" /> When he performed it again in Leipzig on the eleventh Sunday after Trinity in 1723 (8 August) it was the first solo cantata and the most operatic work which he had presented to the congregation up to that point.<ref name="Mincham" /> He made revisions for that performance, such as transposing it from C minor to D minor and changing the obbligato viola to violoncello piccolo. In the same service, he also performed a new work, Template:Lang: one before and one after the sermon.

The Neue Bach-Ausgabe recognises three distinct versions: the Weimar version, a Köthen version, and the Leipzig version.<ref name="Dürr" />

Music

Structure and scoring

The cantata, structured in eight movements, is scored as chamber music for a solo soprano voice (S), and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of oboe (Ob), violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo (Bc) including bassoon (Fg) and violone (Vo). In the Weimar version, it is in C minor, with a viola as the obbligato instrument in movement 6.<ref name="Bischof" /> The title page of the parts for this version reads: "Geistliche Cantate / Mein Herze schwimt im Blut / â / Soprano solo / 1 Hautb. / 2 Viol. / Viola / e / Basso / di / J.S.Bach".<ref name="Grob" /> In the Leipzig version, it is in D minor, with an obbligato violoncello piccolo instead of the viola.<ref name="Dürr" />

In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe.<ref name="Bischof" /> The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4).<ref name="Dürr" /> The continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.

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Movements

Although limited to one soprano voice, Bach achieves a variety of musical expression in the eight movements. All but one recitative are accompanied by the strings (accompagnato), and only movement 5 is secco, accompanied by the continuo only.<ref name="Dürr" /> The solo voice is treated to dramatic declamation, close to contemporary opera.<ref name="Mincham" />

1

A recitative sets the scene, "Template:Lang" ("My heart swims in blood").<ref name="Dellal" /><ref name="Dürr" /> Template:Div flex row <poem>Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, Weil mich der Sünden Brut In Gottes heilgen Augen Zum Ungeheuer macht. </poem> <poem> My heart swims in blood, since the offspring of my sins in the holy eyes of God make me a monster.<ref name="Dellal" /></poem> Template:Div flex row end

The musicologist Julian Mincham explains that it "drips with the self-obsessed agonies of sin, pain and abandonment ... with the torment of an abandoned soul swamped by its own sin and sorrow. Its finely wrought contours portray dramatically the vacillating emotions ranging from horror and terror to lonely and dispirited resignation."<ref name="Mincham" />

2

The first aria, a da capo aria, "Template:Lang" (Mute sighs, silent cries),<ref name="Dellal" /> is accompanied by the oboe. The theme of the ritornello is present throughout the movement.<ref name="Dürr" /> The middle section begins with a dissonance to stress the sorrowful image of "Template:Lang" ("And you, moist springs of tears"). It ends with a passage set as a secco recitative, described by Mincham: "Time almost appears to stand still with this final expression of misery".<ref name="Mincham" />

3

The following recitative, "Template:Lang" ("But God must be gracious to me"),<ref name="Dellal" /> ends in a statement of repentance.<ref name="Mincham" />

4

The second aria, "Template:Lang" ("Deeply bowed and filled with regret"),<ref name="Dellal" /> is dominated by rich string sound. An adagio passage leads to the da capo.<ref name="Dürr" /> The aria expresses repentance in a "civilised and refined minuet".<ref name="Mincham" />

5

A short secco recitative, "Template:Lang" ("Upon this painful repentance"),<ref name="Dellal" /> introduces the following hymn stanza.<ref name="Dürr" /> It begins with "a musical echo of the torments of the heart swimming in blood".<ref name="Mincham" />

6

The only chorale stanza of the work is "Template:Lang" ("I, Your troubled child"),<ref name="Dellal" /> the third stanza of Johann Heermann's "Template:Lang" ("Where should I flee"), published in 1630.<ref name="chorale text" /> Its term "troubled child" is a good summary of the position of the human being in relation to God. The wording of its conclusion, "In deine tiefen Wunden, da ich stets Heil gefunden" ("into Your deep wounds, where I have always found salvation") leads to the following recitative.<ref name="Dellal" /> The voice is accompanied by an obbligato viola (violoncello piccolo in the Leipzig version) in a lively figuration.<ref name="Dürr" />

Bach used a rather unusual melody by Caspar von Stieler, whereas he based his later chorale cantata on this hymn on the melody by Jacob Regnart.<ref name="chorale melody" /> The hymn is treated as in a chorale fantasia, with string ritornellos between the verses.<ref name="Mincham" />

7

The last recitative, "Template:Lang" ("I lay myself on these wounds"),<ref name="Dellal" /> introduces a different mood;<ref name="Dürr" /> the final measures are a "soaring melisma", a "joyously uplifting prelude" to the last movement.<ref name="Mincham" />

8

The final aria, "Template:Lang" ("How joyful is my heart"),<ref name="Dellal" /> expresses joy as a cheerful gigue, with a long coloratura on "Template:Lang" (joyful).<ref name="Dürr" /><ref name="Mincham" /> It is comparable to the gigues in Bach's French Suites. Mincham concludes: Template:Blockquote

Recordings

The work has been recorded often, both by Bach specialists and others. The listing is taken from the selection on the Bach Cantatas Website, which lists 58 recordings Template:As of.<ref name="Oron" /> Ensembles playing on period instruments in historically informed performance are marked by green background.

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