Johann Sebastian Bach

Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten ("If a man love me, he will keep my words", more literally: "He who loves me will obey my commands"), BWV 74, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for Pentecost and first performed it on 20 May 1725.

Bach composed this cantata in his second year in Leipzig for the first day of Pentecost (Whit Sunday). The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1–13) and the Gospel of John, part of the Farewell discourse (John 14:23–31).

This, the seventh movement, an alto aria "Nichts kann mich erretten" (Nothing can save me), has unusually dense texture and rich scoring. It opens with a fanfare-like ritornello followed by long melismatic passages with repeated notes in the instrumental parts. The short middle section moves to a less dense accompaniment and a minor key, with a "manic chortling" of triplets on the word lache ("laugh").

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wer_mich_liebet,_der_wird_mein_Wort_halten,_BWV_74).

Although originally scored for four solo voices (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass), a four-part choir, three trumpets, timpani, two oboes, an oboe da caccia, two violins, viola, and basso continuo, I created this Arrangement for Solo Oboe & Violin and String Orchestra (4 Violins, 2 Violas & Cellos & Bass).