Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685 ? 28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.[1] Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and motivic organisation in composition for diverse instrumentation, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France.
Revered for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the Brandenburg concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the Magnificat, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue, the English Suites, the French Suites, the Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo, the Cello Suites, more than 200 surviving cantatas, and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
While Bach's abilities as an organist were recognized and highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, he was not particularly well-known as a composer. His adherence to Baroque forms and contrapuntal style was considered "old-fashioned" by his contemporaries, especially late in his career when the musical fashion tended towards Rococo and later Classical styles. A revival of interest and performances of his music began early in the 19th century, and he is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition. (Collapse)...(Read more)
Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht (I, wretched man, a servant to sin), BWV 55, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipz...
Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht (I, wretched man, a servant to sin), BWV 55, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 17 November 1726. Bach wrote the cantata, a solo cantata for a tenor, in 1726 in Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity and performed it first on 17 November 1726. It is Bach's only extant cantata for tenor.
The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Philippians, thanks and prayer for the congregation in Philippi (Philippians 1:3–11), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:23–35). The unknown poet of the cantata text stressed the opposites of the gospel, God's justice versus unjust men, in the words of the first aria "Er ist gerecht, ich ungerecht" ("He is just, unjust am I"). In the first two movements the singer reflects his sinful condition, in the following two he asks God for mercy, beginning both with Erbarme dich ("Have mercy"). The following closing chorale is verse 6 of Werde munter mein Gemüte of Johann Rist (1642). Bach used the same verse later in his St Matthew Passion, again following Erbarme dich, the aria of Peter, regretting his denial of Jesus.
A rich polyphonic setting for flute, oboe d'amore and two violins, without viola, accompanies the opening aria. The motifs seem to illustrate the faltering steps and a despairing heart of the steward summoned before his master. The second aria is as expressive, accompanied by a virtuoso flute. The first recitative is secco, but the second one accompanied by string chords.
The closing chorale is the same text and melody as in the St Matthew Passion, here in a simpler four-part setting. Those two occurrences are the only ones of the text, whereas the melody was used frequently in other contexts, best known in Wohl mir, dass ich Jesum habe closing in two verses both parts of Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147.
Commentators have concluded from the autograph that the last three movements were originally part of an earlier untraced composition for Passiontide, possibly the lost 1717 Weimar Passion.
The cantata in five movements is scored for a tenor soloist, a four-part choir (only for the final chorale), flauto traverso, oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_armer_Mensch,_ich_S%C3%BCndenknecht,_B...).
I created this arrangement of the Aria: "Erbarme dich! Laß die Tränen dich erweichen" (Have mercy! Let my tears move Thee) for Flute, French Horn & Cello.
GUITAR
KEYBOARD
STUDIO
PA
LIGHT
DEEJAY
MIC
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