Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn (Lord Christ, the
only Son of God), BWV 96, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in
Leipzig for the 18th Sunday after Trinity and first
performed it on 8 October 1724. It is based on the hymn
"Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn" by Elisabeth
Cruciger (1524).
Bach wrote the cantata in 1724 for the 18th Sunday
after Trinity as part of his second annual cycle of
mostly chorale cantatas. The prescribed readings for
th...(+)
Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn (Lord Christ, the
only Son of God), BWV 96, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in
Leipzig for the 18th Sunday after Trinity and first
performed it on 8 October 1724. It is based on the hymn
"Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn" by Elisabeth
Cruciger (1524).
Bach wrote the cantata in 1724 for the 18th Sunday
after Trinity as part of his second annual cycle of
mostly chorale cantatas. The prescribed readings for
the Sunday were from the First Epistle to the
Corinthians, Paul's thanks for grace of God in Ephesus
(1 Corinthians 1:4–8), and from the Gospel of
Matthew, the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:34–46).
The cantata text of an unknown author is based
exclusively on the chorale "Herr Christ, der einig
Gotts Sohn" in five stanzas of Elisabeth Cruciger
(1524). The first and last stanza in their original
wording are movements 1 and 6 of the cantata, stanzas 2
and 3 were paraphrased to movements 2 and 3 of the
cantata, and stanza 4 was reworded for movements 4 and
5. The chorale was originally associated with Epiphany,
but also with the 18th Sunday after Trinity. The Gospel
asks how Jesus, of David's descent as said in 2 Samuel
7, can also be David's Lord, as claimed in Psalms
110:1. The chorale tries to answer this question,
comparing Jesus to the Morning star, an image also used
in the hymn "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern", the
base for Bach's cantata Wie schön leuchtet der
Morgenstern, BWV 1.
The bass aria "Bald zur Rechten, bald zur Linken lenkte
sich mein verirrter Schritt" (Soon to the right, soon
to the left my erring steps lean) illustrates the words
in jagged motifs and a frequent switch between winds
and strings. In the middle section steady steps picture
"Gehe doch, mein Heiland, mit" (Yet go with me, my
Savior).The final part combines both elements. Gardiner
notes that Bach uses the winds and strings in
concerting choirs (cori spezzati), enforced by
positioning them on galleries, one of them right, the
other left of the singers. The technique had been
practised in Venice in the late sixteenth century and
introduced in Germany by composers such as Heinrich
Schütz who studied in Venice. Gardiner observes also a
hint at the style of French opera which Bach may have
heard, traveling as a boy in northern Germany, at the
Hamburg opera, in Celle or Lüneburg.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herr_Christ,_der_einge_G
ottessohn,_BWV_96).
I created this Interpretation of the Bass Aria (BWV 96
No. 5) "Bald zur Rechten, bald zur Linken lenkte sich
mein verirrter Schritt" (Soon to the right, soon to the
left my erring steps lean" for Flute and Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC