View source for Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150

{{Short description|Church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
{{Good article}}
{{Infobox Bach composition
| title                 = {{lang|de|Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich}}
| bwv                   = 150
| type                  = [[Church cantata (Bach)|Church cantata]]
| composer              = [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]]
| image                 = Young Bach2.jpg
| image_upright         = 1.1
| caption               = Portrait of the young Bach (disputed)<ref>{{cite web|last=Towe|first=Teri Noel|title=The Portrait in Erfurt Alleged to Depict Bach, the Weimar Concertmeister|work=The Face Of Bach|url=http://www.npj.com/thefaceofbach/09w624.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716074347/http://www.npj.com/thefaceofbach/09w624.html|archive-date=16 July 2011|access-date=28 April 2014}}</ref>
| performed             = Possibly 1707{{efn|There is a consensus that this is one of the earliest Bach cantatas, possibly the earliest extant.}}
| movements             = 7
| bible                 = {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Psalms|chapter=25|verse=1|range=–2, 5, 15}}
| vocal                 = [[SATB|{{abbr|SATB|soprano, alto, tenor and bass}}]] choir and solo
| instrumental          = {{hlist | 2 violins | bassoon | continuo}}
}}

'''''{{lang|de|Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich}}''''' (For Thee, O Lord, I long),<ref name="Dellal">{{cite web| last = Dellal| first = Pamela| author-link = Pamela Dellal| url = https://www.emmanuelmusic.org/bach-translations/bwv-150| title = BWV 150 – Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich| publisher = [[Emmanuel Music]]| access-date = 3 September 2022}}</ref> '''{{nowrap|BWV 150}}''',{{efn|"BWV" is [[Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis]], a thematic catalogue of Bach's works.}} is an [[Early cantata (Bach)|early]] [[Bach cantata|church cantata]] by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] composed for an unknown occasion. It is unique among Bach's cantatas in its sparse orchestration and in the independence and prominence of the chorus, which is featured in four out of seven movements. The text alternates verses from [[Psalm 25]] and poetry by an unknown librettist. Bach scored the work for four vocal parts and a small [[Baroque instruments|Baroque instrumental]] ensemble of two [[violin]]s, [[bassoon]] and [[basso continuo]].

Many scholars think that it may be the earliest extant cantata by Bach, possibly composed in [[Arnstadt]] in 1707.

== History and text ==
Bach's original score is lost. The music survives in a copy made by [[Christian Friedrich Penzel|C F Penzel]], one of Bach's last pupils, after the composer's death.<ref name="Isoyama">{{cite web | last = Isoyama | first = Tadashi | url = http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Suzuki-C01a%5BBIS-CD751%5D.pdf   | title = Cantata No. 150 Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (BWV 150) | publisher = Bach-Cantatas | year = 1995 | page = 7 | access-date = 26 January 2016 }}</ref> The date of composition is not known, and sources differ as to when and where Bach composed the work. However, the balance of opinion has moved towards a date at the beginning of Bach's career. It is not currently in dispute that it is one of Bach's earliest surviving cantatas.
Suggestions for the place of composition have been:
* [[Weimar]], where Bach worked from 1708. The conductor and academic Jonathan Green dates the work c. 1708–1710; the Bach scholar [[William G. Whittaker]] dates it c. 1712.{{sfn|Green|2000}}{{sfn|Whittaker|1959}}
* [[Mühlhausen]], where Bach worked in 1707/1708. The [[BWV#Chronological|Zwang catalogue]] (which attempts to list the cantatas chronologically) dated it as the sixth of the surviving cantatas by Bach, and placed [[Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131|''Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir'', BWV 131]], as the earliest. ''Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir'' is known to have been composed in Mühlhausen in 1707/1708.{{sfn|Zwang|Zwang|2005}} 
* [[Arnstadt]], where Bach worked until his move to Mühlhausen in the summer of 1707. Late 20th-century scholarship suggests ''Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich'' could have been composed at Arnstadt.<ref name="Isoyama" />

[[File:Arnstadt Bachkirche Orgeln.jpg|thumb|The [[Johann Friedrich Wender|Wender]] organ, which Bach inspected, in the ''[[Bach Church, Arnstadt|Neue Kirche]]'', Arnstadt, for which the cantata was probably composed]]
The Bach scholar [[Andreas Glöckner]] argued in 1988 that the cantata may have been composed in Arnstadt.<ref name="Dürr">{{cite book| last1 = Dürr| first1 = Alfred| last2 = Jones| first2 = Richard D. P.| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m9JuwslMcq4C&pg=PA7| title = The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]| pages = 7–8| year = 2006| isbn = 9780199297764}}</ref>

The scholar [[Hans-Joachim Schulze]] identified in 2010 a remarkable [[acrostic]] in movements 3, 5 and 7 (which he described in the 2010 ''[[Bach-Jahrbuch]]'', the journal of the [[Neue Bachgesellschaft]]).<ref name="Schulze">{{cite web  | last = Schulze  | first = Hans-Joachim  | url = https://bjb.journals.qucosa.de/bjb/article/view/2270/2196  | title = Rätselhafte Auftragswerke Johann Sebastian Bachs. Anmerkungen zu einigen Kantatentexten  | year = 2010  | publisher = Neue Bachgesellschaft  }}</ref> Adjusting for transposition errors by the [[copyist]], the initial letters should spell DOKTOR CONRAD MECKBACH and plausibly therefore the work was composed to mark this Mühlhausen councillor's 70th birthday in April 1707. On this basis the cantata may date from Bach's time in Arnstadt. Possibly the cantata was heard a few weeks later after the end of [[Lent]], and thus it may have formed a test-piece for the Mühlhausen appointment, composed in Arnstadt with Bach's supporter Meckbach in mind.<ref name="Grob">{{cite web| last = Grob| first = Jochen| url = http://www.s-line.de/homepages/bachdiskographie/textkangeist/bwv150text.html| title = BWV 150 / BC B 24| publisher = Lexikon Geschichte Baden+Württemberg| year = 2014| language = de| access-date = 23 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first=Eduard |last=van Hengel|title=Eduard van Hengel |url=https://www.eduardvanhengel.nl/werken/BWV_150|access-date=17 June 2021|website=eduardvanhengel.nl|language=nl}}</ref>

The cantata is, as [[John Eliot Gardiner]] notes, "generally accepted to be Bach's very first church cantata."<ref name="Gardiner">{{cite web| url = http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Gardiner-P23c[sdg131_gb].pdf| title = Cantatas for the First Sunday after Easter (Quasimodogeniti) / Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Kirche, Arnstadt| author = John Eliot Gardiner| author-link = John Eliot Gardiner| pages = 1–4| publisher = Bach-Cantatas| year = 2006| access-date = 24 March 2016}}</ref> Gardiner conducted in 2000 the [[Bach Cantata Pilgrimage]] and performed the cantata in the church for which it was then probably composed, at Bach's time called ''Neue Kirche'' (new church), now the [[Bach Church, Arnstadt|Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Kirche]].<ref name="Gardiner" />

The [[libretto]] alternates between [[Bible|biblical]] verses and free contemporary poetry, which is common in Bach's later cantatas, but rare among his early cantatas. The text of movements 2, 4, and 6 are selected psalm verses, {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Psalms|chapter=25|verse=1|range=–2, 5, 15}}. The author of the poetry is unknown. On the basis of the text, it has been suggested that the work was written for a [[penitence|penitential]] service.<ref name="Oron">{{cite web| last = Oron| first = Aryeh| url = http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV150.htm| title = Cantata BWV 150 Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich| publisher = Bach-Cantatas| year = 2015| access-date = 23 March 2016}}</ref>

The cantata was first published in 1884 in the [[Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausgabe]], the first edition of Bach's complete works. The composer [[Johannes Brahms]], who served on the editorial board of the Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausgabe, took an interest in the cantata as it was being published.  He used an adapted version of the bass line of the closing [[chaconne]] for a work he completed in 1885, his [[Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)|Symphony No. 4]].<ref name="Smith">{{cite web  | last = Smith  | first = Craig  | author-link = Craig Smith (conductor)  | url = https://www.emmanuelmusic.org/bach-notes/bwv-150  | title = Bach Cantata Notes / BWV 150  | year = 2012  | publisher = Emmanuel Music  | access-date = 3 September 2022  }}</ref>

== Structure and scoring ==

Bach structured the cantata in seven movements, an opening instrumental [[sinfonia]] and four choral movements interspersed by only two [[aria]]s. He scored it for four soloists ([[soprano]], [[alto]], [[tenor]] and [[Bass (voice type)|bass]]), a [[SATB|four-part choir]], and a small [[Baroque instruments|Baroque instrumental]] ensemble of two [[violin]]s (Vl), [[bassoon]] ([[obbligato]]) (Fg) and [[basso continuo]].<ref name="Bischof">{{cite web  | last = Bischof  | first = Walter F.  | url = http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~wfb/cantatas/150.html  | title = BWV 150 Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich  | publisher = [[University of Alberta]]  | access-date = 1 June 2013  }}</ref> The duration of the cantata is about 17 minutes.<ref name="Dürr" />

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

{{Classical movement header | show_text_source = yes | work = ''Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich'', BWV 150 | instruments1 = Bassoon | instruments2 = Strings }}

{{Classical movement row
| id = m1
| number = [[#1|1]]
| title = 
| text_source = 
| type = Sinfonia
| vocal = 
| instruments1 = Fg
| instruments2 = 2Vl
| key = {{nowrap|[[B minor]]}}
| time = {{music|common-time}}
}}
{{Classical movement row
| id = m2
| number = [[#2|2]]
| title = ''{{lang|de|Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich}}''
| text_source = Psalm 25:1–2
| type = Chorus
| vocal = SATB
| instruments1 = Fg
| instruments2 = 2Vl
| key = B minor
| time = {{music|common-time}}
}}
{{Classical movement row
| id = m3
| number = [[#3|3]]
| title = ''{{lang|de|Doch bin und bleibe ich vergnügt}}''
| text_source = anon.
| type = Aria
| vocal = S
| instruments1 = 
| instruments2 = 2Vl
| key = B minor
| time = {{music|common-time}}
}}
{{Classical movement row
| id = m4
| number = [[#4|4]]
| title = ''{{lang|de|Leite mich in deiner Wahrheit}}''
| text_source = Psalm 25:5
| type = Chorus
| vocal = SATB
| instruments1 = Fg
| instruments2 = 2Vl
| key = B minor -> B major
| time = 
}}
{{Classical movement row
| id = m5
| number = [[#5|5]]
| title = ''{{lang|de|Zedern müssen von den Winden}}''
| text_source = anon.
| type = Aria
| vocal = A T B
| instruments1 = Fg
| instruments2 = 
| key = D major
| time = 3/4
}}
{{Classical movement row
| id = m6
| number = [[#6|6]]
| title = ''{{lang|de|Meine Augen sehen stets zu dem Herrn}}''
| text_source = Psalm 25:15
| type = Chorus
| vocal = SATB
| instruments1 = Fg
| instruments2 = 2Vl
| key = D major
| time = 6/8
}}
{{Classical movement row
| id = m7
| number = [[#7|7]]
| title = ''{{lang|de|Meine Tage in dem Leide}}''
| text_source = anon.
| type = Chorus
| vocal = SATB
| instruments1 = Fg
| instruments2 = 2Vl
| key = B minor
| time = 3/2
}}
{{End}}

== Music ==
The work begins with a sinfonia and then alternates choral movements and [[aria]]s. There are no [[recitative]]s, no [[da capo]] repeats, and there is no [[chorale]] tune, unusually for Bach's cantatas. Bach makes extensive use of choral [[fugue]]s and imitative [[polyphony]], often shifting the tempo and character of the music within movements very quickly to accommodate a new musical idea with each successive phrase of text.

{{anchor|1}}
The sinfonia and the opening choral movement are both based on the [[motive (music)|motive]] of an [[octave]] leap followed by five descending [[half step]]s. This [[chromatic]] figure, sometimes dubbed the [[lament bass|"lamento bass"]] or [[passus duriusculus]], has been utilized by composers as early as [[Monteverdi]] as a musical representation of anguish, pain, and longing.{{sfn|Jeffers|2000|p=44}} The sinfonia also introduces thematic material developed later in the work, uses asymmetric phrasing, and "a seamless flow of unstoppable melody".<ref name=min>{{cite web| last = Mincham| first = Julian| url = https://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-63-bwv-150| title = Chapter 63 BWV 150 Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich| website = jsbachcantatas.com| year = 2010| access-date = 3 September 2022}}</ref>

{{anchor|2}}
The first chorus on the beginning of Psalm 25, "{{lang|de|Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich. Mein Gott, ich hoffe auf dich.}}" (Lord, I long for you. My God, I hope in you.),<ref name="Dellal" /> is "waywardly constructed despite its relative brevity". It is episodic, emphasizing a descending chromatic scale motif. The musicologist Tadashi Isoyama notes "the graphically chromatic phrases of the opening sinfonia and the following chorus; these are evocative of the suffering of the world".<ref name="Isoyama" />

{{anchor|3}}
The following soprano aria, "{{lang|de|Doch bin und bleibe ich vergnügt}}" (Yet I am and remain content),<ref name="Dellal" /> is also brief but includes significant [[word painting]].<ref name=min />

{{anchor|4}}
The fourth movement, "{{lang|de|Leite mich in deiner Wahrheit und lehre mich}}" (Lead me in your Truth and teach me),<ref name="Dellal" /> is another short and episodic chorus, divided into four sections.<ref name=min />

{{anchor|5}}
Movement five, "{{lang|de|Zedern müssen von den Winden oft viel Ungemach empfinden}}" (Cedars must, before the winds,
often feel much hardship),<ref name="Dellal" /> is one of only a handful of vocal trios to be found in Bach's oeuvre, as well as the only movement in the cantata in all [[Major mode|major]]. Isoyama writes: "the continuo part drives the music forward with its phrase describing the trials of the stormwinds".<ref name="Isoyama" />

{{anchor|6}}
The penultimate movement, "{{lang|de|Meine Augen sehen stets zu dem Herrn}}", features a "celestial haze" of instruments as part of a complex texture.<ref name=min /> It is in binary form and modulates from [[D major]] through [[B minor]] to [[B major]].<ref name="Kuerti">{{cite web| last = Kuerti| first = Julian| url = http://juliankuerti.com/2011/01/08/notes-on-bwv-150/| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110816000641/http://juliankuerti.com/2011/01/08/notes-on-bwv-150/| url-status = usurped| archive-date = August 16, 2011| title = Notes on BWV 150| website = juliankuerti.com| access-date = 23 March 2013}}</ref>

{{anchor|7}}
The final movement, "{{lang|de|Meine Tage In Dem Leide}}",  is a [[chaconne]], a form which is typically constructed over a repeated [[ground bass]]. Bach uses a ground bass which is possibly a borrowing from [[Pachelbel]]. It is the [[Melodic inversion|inversion]] of the [[chromatic fourth]] [[ostinato]] from the opening movement.<ref name="Bötticher">{{cite web| last = Bötticher| first = Jörg-Andreas| url = http://www.bachkantaten.ch/Daten10/03/Einfuehrung.htm| title = Einführung in die Kantaten vom 14. März 2010| work = bachkantaten.ch| access-date = 23 March 2013}}</ref> Bach's orchestration includes strumming effects which could be seen as recalling the origin of the chaconne in Spanish guitar music.<ref name="Silbiger">{{cite journal| last = Silbiger| first = Alexander| title = Bach and the Chaconne| journal = [[The Journal of Musicology]]| volume = 17| issue = 3| year = 1999| pages = 358–385| doi = 10.2307/764098| jstor = 764098}}</ref> From a theological point of view, both the inversion of the [[lament bass|lamento bass]] and the series of [[modulation (music)|modulations]] in this movement express in baroque musical [[Affektenlehre|affect]] how Christ leads from sorrow to joy.<ref name="Bötticher" />

== Selected recordings ==
* [[Heinrich-Schütz-Chor Heilbronn]], [[Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn]], dir. [[Fritz Werner]]. ''Les Grandes Cantates de J.S. Bach Vol. 28''. [[Erato Records|Erato]], 1973.
* [[Knabenchor Hannover]], [[Collegium Vocale Gent]], [[Leonhardt-Consort]], dir. [[Gustav Leonhardt]]. ''[[Bach cantatas (Teldec)|J.S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk – Complete Cantatas]] Vol. 36''. Teldec, 1985
* [[Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir]], dir. [[Ton Koopman]]. ''J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 1''. Antoine Marchand, 1994.
* [[Bach Collegium Japan]], dir. [[Masaaki Suzuki]]. ''Bach Cantatas Vol. 1''. [[BIS Records|BIS]], 1995.
* [[Monteverdi Choir]], [[English Baroque Soloists]], dir. [[John Eliot Gardiner]]. ''Bach Cantatas''. [[Soli Deo Gloria (record label)|Soli Deo Gloria]], 2000.
* [[Voces8]], dir. Barnaby Smith. ''After Silence III. Redemption''. Voces8, 2020.

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
*{{cite book|last=Green|first=Jonathan|title=A Conductor's Guide to the Choral-Orchestral Works of J. S. Bach|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2000}}
*{{cite book|last=Jeffers|first=Ron|title=Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire, Volume 2: German Texts|publisher=Earthsongs|year=2000}}
*{{cite book|last=Whittaker|first=William Gillies|title=The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach|volume=1|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1959}}
*{{cite book|last=Young|first=W. Murray|title=The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: An Analytical Guide|publisher=McFarland & Co|year=1989}}
* {{cite book
  | last1 = Zwang
  | first1 = Philippe
  | last2 = Zwang
  | first2 = Gérard
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=d7t5DUoUMJkC
  | title = Guide pratique des cantates de Bach (Second revised and augmented edition.)
  | publisher = L'Harmattan
  | isbn = 9782296426078
  | year = 2005
  | language = fr
  | pages = [http://www.youscribe.com/catalogue/livres/art-musique-et-cinema/musique/guide-pratique-des-cantates-de-bach-178613 52–53]
  }}

== External links ==
* [https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-150/ Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150]: performance by the [[Netherlands Bach Society]] (video and background information)
* {{IMSLP2|work=Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)|cname=Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150}}
* [https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000184?lang=en Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich BWV 150; BC B 24 / Sacred cantata] [[Leipzig University]] on Bach digital
*[http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV150.html Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150] University of Vermont

{{Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
{{Bach cantatas|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich'', BWV 150}}

[[Category:Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach]]
[[Category:Psalm-related compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach]]