Born on March 21, 1685, in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany, Johann Sebastian Bach had a prestigious musical lineage and took on various organist positions during the early 18th century, creating famous compositions like "Toccata and Fugue in D minor." Some of his best-known compositions are the "Mass in B Minor," the "Brandenburg Concertos" and "The Well-Tempered Clavier." Bach died in Leipzig, Germany, on July 28, 1750. Today, he is considered one of the greatest Western composers of all time.

There can be little doubt that this is the best known and most admired of Bach's earliest cantatas. It could be argued that in later years Bach's art became a great deal more mature, but it hardly grew more profound.

It is one of those art works that stands at the crossroads of time, seeming to look both forward and backwards. In the latter instance it is highly sectional, with little in the way of the extended, developed movements of the later years, it is lightly orchestrated, begins with a short introductory sinfonia and it draws principally upon chorales and biblical references with the minimum of added text. On the other hand, it is created from structural elements which operate across and unite movements, the writing is highly idiomatic and the musical architecture derives principally from the essence of the text.

It is a work of such depth and intensity that one can scarcely avoid speculating that the deceased for whose internment it was composed, had some personal connection with the twenty-two year old composer. Or perhaps it simply struck a chord that reminded him of the death of his own parents, scarcely more than a dozen years previously. But whatever the personal impact the occasion might have had on him, there is no disputing the depth and profundity which the emerging composer managed to elicit from the minimal lines of conventional text.

The segmented nature of this work makes it seem more complex than it really is. It falls into four basic movements thus: sinfonia, chorus (with solos), aria (becoming a duet) and closing chorale.

The longest and most complex of the two hybrid movements is the second.

It is a compendium of short segments, tenor and bass solos enclosed by two choral sections. The text stresses God’s and nature’s law that we should all die, the universality of this concept reinforced by its statement by the choir rather than through an individual aria. The tenor represents the voice of Man asking for divine guidance and the bass that of the Lord who commands us. Thus, although a superficial analysis of this movement might deem it to be backward-looking, particularly with regard to its various short segments, closer scrutiny reveals an inspired elucidation of the substance of the text by means of a fully mature architectural grasp of the musical material. The general structure is as follows: 1. Chorus (andante/ allegro/adagio): God’s time is the best time: through His will we live and have our being: in Him we die at the right time, just as He wills. 2. Tenor arioso (lento): Lord, Teach us that we must die so as to become wise. 3. Bass arioso (vivace): Set your house in order since you will cease living and die. 4. Chorus (andante): The ancient law is, Man you must die: so come Lord Jesus.

Although originally written for Flutes (2), Viola da Gambas (2), Alto Voice and Basso Continuo, I created this arrangement for Flute, French Horn & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).