Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen (He calls His sheep
by name), BWV 175, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig
for the third day of Pentecost and first performed it
on 22 May 1725.
Bach wrote the cantata in his second year in Leipzig
for Pentecost Tuesday and first performed it on 22 May
1725. In this second year Bach had composed chorale
cantatas between the first Sunday after Trinity and
Palm Sunday, but for Easter returned to cantatas on
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Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen (He calls His sheep
by name), BWV 175, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig
for the third day of Pentecost and first performed it
on 22 May 1725.
Bach wrote the cantata in his second year in Leipzig
for Pentecost Tuesday and first performed it on 22 May
1725. In this second year Bach had composed chorale
cantatas between the first Sunday after Trinity and
Palm Sunday, but for Easter returned to cantatas on
more varied texts, possibly because he lost his
librettist. Nine of his cantatas for the period between
Easter and Pentecost are based on texts of Christiana
Mariana von Ziegler. Bach later assigned most of them,
including this cantata, to his third annual cycle.
The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the
Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit in Samaria (Acts
8:14--17), and from the Gospel of John, the Good
Shepherd (John 10:1--10). The cantata is thematically
divided in two parts, movements 1 to 4 and movements 5
to 7, but performed consecutively. Both begin with a
quotation from the gospel. The first part deals with
Jesus as the Good Shepherd and the sheep who hear his
voice. The second part deals with those who don't hear
this voice. The poetess uses the term "verblendete
Vernunft" (deluded reason), possibly addressing the
attitude of the intellectual movement "Aufklärung"
(Age of Enlightenment). The cantata is closed with the
ninth stanza of Johann Rist's O Gottes Geist, mein
Trost und Ruh.
The first quotation from the Bible is sung by the
tenor, like an Evangelist. This recitative, saying "Er
rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen und führet sie hinaus"
(He calls His sheep by name and leads them out), is
accompanied by three recorders, providing a pastorale
approach. The recorders also colour the first aria in
12/8 time. The second aria is accompanied by an
obbligato violoncello piccolo. Bach took the music from
the secular cantata Durchlauchtster Leopold, BWV 173a,
although the meter of Ziegler's poetry does not fit, as
if Bach had not communicated the idea of the parody
with the poet.
The following short recitative asks in a dissonant and
dramatic way, like a lost sheep for its shepherd: "Wo
find ich dich? Ach, wo bist du verborgen?" (Where can I
find you? Ah, where are you hidden?). To show the
relief of his expected arrival, Bach transposes
movement 7 from his congratulatory cantata, an extended
da capo bourrée with obbligato cello and bassoon as
obbligato instruments, up a minor third for a
five-string violoncello piccolo.
The central recitative, movement 5, is the first
movement of the cantata accompanied by the strings. It
begins with the quotation from the gospel "Sie
vernahmen aber nicht, was es war, das er zu ihnen
gesaget hatte" (But they did not grasp what it was,
that He had said to them), sung by the alto as the
Evangelist, and leads to an arioso on the final warning
not to overhear the words of Jesus, which "may be to
your well-being" (zu deinem Heil geschicht). This
warning is enforced by two trumpets in the bass aria
which reminds of the death of Jesus: "Jesus hat euch
zugeschworen, daß er Teufel, Tod erlegt" (Jesus has
sworn to you that He has laid low devil, death). The
trumpets are silent in the middle section, dealing with
the gifts of Jesus, "grace, sufficiency, abundant life"
(Gnade, Gnüge, volles Leben). The aria may also be a
parody, but the model is not known.
The chorale is repeated from the cantata for Pentecost,
Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten, BWV 59. The
melody of the chorale for Pentecost Komm, Heiliger
Geist, Herre Gott is set for four parts and three
independent recorder parts, instead of strings in the
earlier version, thus returning to the scoring of the
beginning of the cantata.
Although this cantata was originally scored for three
vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), a four-part
choir only in the closing chorale, two trumpets, three
recorders, two violins, viola, violoncello piccolo and
basso continuo, I created this arrangement for Flute,
Oboe, French Horn & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC