Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben (Lord, Your
eyes look for faith), BWV 102, is a church cantata by
Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for
the tenth Sunday after Trinity and first performed on
25 August 1726.
The cantata of Bach's third annual cycle in Leipzig was
written for the tenth Sunday after Trinity. The
prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, different gifts, but one
spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1–11), and from the Go...(+)
Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben (Lord, Your
eyes look for faith), BWV 102, is a church cantata by
Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for
the tenth Sunday after Trinity and first performed on
25 August 1726.
The cantata of Bach's third annual cycle in Leipzig was
written for the tenth Sunday after Trinity. The
prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, different gifts, but one
spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1–11), and from the Gospel
of Luke, Jesus announcing the destruction of Jerusalem
and cleansing of the Temple (Luke 19:41–48). The
words of the cantata are only generally connected to
the readings, asking the soul to return immediately to
God's ways. Two movements are based on Bible words, the
opening chorus on Jeremiah 5:3, movement 4 on Romans
2:4–5. The cantata is closed by verses 6 and 7 of the
hymn "So wahr ich lebe, spricht dein Gott" by Johann
Heermann (1630), sung on the melody of Martin Luther's
"Vater unser im Himmelreich" based on the Lord's
Prayer. The words of the free poetry have been
attributed to different authors: C.S. Terry suggests
Christian Weiss Sr, Werner Neumann suggests Christiana
Mariana von Ziegler, and Walther Blankenburg suggests
Christoph Helm.
The opening chorus is a mature work containing an
intricate combination of instrumental and vocal parts
and a variety of expressive devices depicting the
words. The opening sinfonia is in two parts which are
repeated separately and together throughout the
movement. The words Herr, deine Augen are repeated
three times. Bach used the music for the Kyrie of his
Missa in G minor.
The bass voice in movement 4, marked arioso by Bach
himself, is treated similarly to the vox Christi, the
voice of Jesus in Bach's Passions and cantatas. The
bass part has been recorded by singers who do not
specialise in Baroque music, such as Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau with conductor Benjamin Britten at the
Aldeburgh Festival.
Although originally scored for alto, tenor and bass
soloists and a four-part choir (SATB), flauto traverso,
two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo, I
created this arrangement for Flute, Viola & Cello.
PARTITION