Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß (A heart that
knows its Jesus is living), BWV 134, is a church
cantata for Easter by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach
composed the cantata for the third day of Easter in
Leipzig and first performed it on 11 April 1724. He
based it on his congratulatory cantata Die Zeit, die
Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a, first performed in
Köthen on 1 January 1719.
The cantata is Bach's second composition for Easter in
Leipzig. On Easter Sunday of 1724, he had perform...(+)
Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß (A heart that
knows its Jesus is living), BWV 134, is a church
cantata for Easter by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach
composed the cantata for the third day of Easter in
Leipzig and first performed it on 11 April 1724. He
based it on his congratulatory cantata Die Zeit, die
Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a, first performed in
Köthen on 1 January 1719.
The cantata is Bach's second composition for Easter in
Leipzig. On Easter Sunday of 1724, he had performed
Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, from his time in
Mühlhausen. On the second day of Easter, Erfreut euch,
ihr Herzen, BWV 66, which he had derived from the
secular serenata Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und
Glück, BWV 66a, composed in Köthen in 1718. In a
similar way, he arranged a cantata for the New Year's
Day of 1719 in Köthen, Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre
macht, BWV 134a, for the third day of Easter.
The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the
Acts of the Apostles, the sermon of Paul in Antioch
(Acts 13:26–33), and from the Gospel of Luke, the
appearance of Jesus to the Apostles in Jerusalem (Luke
24:36–47). The unknown poet adapted the dialogues of
the secular work of two allegorical figures, Time and
Divine Providence, originally written by Christian
Friedrich Hunold, one of the notable novelists of his
time. In this cantata the poet kept the order of the
movements, dropping movements 5 and 6 of the early
work. He kept the final chorus as a conclusion, unlike
Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, where it had been moved to
the opening and replaced by a chorale. Bach simply
wrote the new text below the former text in his
score.
Bach composed three new recitatives for a second
version and first performed it on 27 March 1731. Bach
revised the whole cantata, writing a new score with
detailed improvements, possibly first performed on 12
April 1735.
Although originally scored for alto and tenor soloists,
a four-part choir, two oboes, two violins, viola, and
basso continuo. I created this arrangement for Wind
Ensemble (Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, Bb Trumpet, French
Horn & F Tuba).
PARTITION