Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir (Lord, as you
will, so let it be done with me), BWV 73, is a church
cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the
cantata in his first year in Leipzig for the Third
Sunday after Epiphany. The prescribed readings for the
Sunday were taken from the Epistle to the Romans, rules
for life (Romans 12:17–21), and from the Gospel of
Matthew, the healing of a leper (Matthew 8:1–13). The
unknown poet takes the words of the leper "Lord, if
thou wilt, thou cans...(+)
Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir (Lord, as you
will, so let it be done with me), BWV 73, is a church
cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the
cantata in his first year in Leipzig for the Third
Sunday after Epiphany. The prescribed readings for the
Sunday were taken from the Epistle to the Romans, rules
for life (Romans 12:17–21), and from the Gospel of
Matthew, the healing of a leper (Matthew 8:1–13). The
unknown poet takes the words of the leper "Lord, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean" as a starting
point and recommends his attitude of trust for the
situation of facing death. In the first movement he
contrasts lines of Kaspar Bienemann's chorale "Herr,
wie du willst, so schick's mit mir" with three sections
of recitative. Movement 3 paraphrases Jeremiah 17:9.
The words of movement 4 are the leper's words from the
Gospel. The closing chorale is the final stanza of
Ludwig Helmbold's hymn "Von Gott will ich nicht
lassen".
Bach first performed the cantata on 23 January 1724,
and performed it again in a revised version on 21
January 1748 or 26 January 1749.
The opening chorus is based on the first stanza of the
hymn "Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir", which is
expanded by recitatives of the three soloists. A
four-note motif on the words "Herr, wie du willt" is
introduced by the horn and repeated throughout the
movement. The accompagnato recitatives for all soloists
are accompanied by the oboes with material from the
ritornello, while the horn and the strings continue the
motif. In the final repeat of the ritornello the choir
sings the motif, and repeats it in a final
"cadenza".
Source: Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herr,_wie_du_willt,_so_sc
hicks_mit_mir,_BWV_73)
Although originally scored for soprano, tenor and bass
soloists, a four-part choir, horn (replaced by organ in
the revised version), two oboes, two violins, viola,
and basso continuo, I created this arrangement for
Winds (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, English Horn, French
Horn & Bassoon) and Strings (3 Violins, Viola & Cello).