LINKS:

Back to publications list

How to order these pieces

Home page

Aria: Hier in meines Vaters Stätte from Cantata BWV 32

for bass violin, and continuo

sample page-PDF

Bach’s church cantata BWV 32, Ich geh’ und suche mit Verlangen, was written for the Lutheran liturgy for the first Sunday after Epiphany, and relates to the gospel reading set for that Sunday – Luke 2, vv 41-45. This tells of the parents of the twelve-year-old Jesus searching for him in Jerusalem at the end of their pilgrimage, and finding him in the Temple in discourse with the teachers.

The recitative is based on Jesus’ reply to his parents “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” The aria Hier in meines Vaters Stätte which follows reflects on the Temple as a spiritual home. The text is by Georg Christian Lehms (1684-1717), whose considerable literary output included five cycles of librettos for church cantatas. Bach set in all ten of his librettos.

It is thought that the work was first performed in Leipzig in 1726 on the first Sunday after Epiphany (January 13^th), and it thus belongs to Bach’s third cycle of cantatas for the church’s year. The work is among five ‘Dialogue’ cantatas, which typically depict Jesus, sung by a bass, in dialogue with the soul, sung by a soprano. The aria of this present edition is remarkable for the freedom and lyricism of the violin obbligato.

for alto recorder (or flute) and continuo

sample page - PDF

Bach’s church cantata BWV 182, Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, was written for the Lutheran liturgy for Palm Sunday, 25 March 1714.  The title (King of Heaven, be thou welcome) is associated with the gospel reading for that day, with its account of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  

The cantata belongs to Bach’s period in Weimar, and indeed began his first cycle of cantatas for the church’s year.  Others were produced at about four weekly intervals from then on.  The cantatas in this series show characteristics derived from the Italian style which Bach had begun to adopt.  In cantata No 182, for example, he introduces a recitative for bass, and the present aria for alto is in da capo form.

An editorial problem with this work stems from the fact that Bach wrote the continuo part for an organ at high pitch; to play it on a modern keyboard instrument in effect transposes the piece down a minor third, which puts the lowest notes of the obbligato below the compass of the treble recorder. This edition offers a recorder part which is as close to the original recorder part as possible.

The text of the aria Leget euch dem Heiland unter, is probably by Salomo Franck, the court poet at Weimar, many of whose texts Bach set.  Its exhortation to devotion, purity and dedication are reminiscent of the writing in the epistles of Paul to the early church communities.