Du Hirte Israel, höre (You Shepherd of Israel, hear),
BWV 104, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.
He composed it for the second Sunday after Easter in
Leipzig and first performed it on 23 April 1724.
Bach composed the cantata in his first annual cycle in
Leipzig for the second Sunday after Easter, called
Misericordias Domini, and first performed it on 23
April 1724.
The prescribed readings for that Sunday were from the
First Epistle of Peter, Christ as a model (1 Peter
2:21–25), and from the Gospel of John, the Good
Shepherd (John 10:11–16). The unknown poet begins with
Psalms 80:2 and ends with Cornelius Becker's hymn "Der
Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt", a paraphrase of Psalm 23
(1598). The poet refers in his work to more Bible
context, such as Lamentations 3:23–25 and 1 Corinthians
10:13 for the first recitative, reflecting that God as
the Good Shepherd will take care. In the second
recitative, he concludes: "Only gather, o good
Shepherd, us poor and erring ones; ah, let our journey
soon reach an end and lead us into your sheepfold!" The
last aria hopes "for faith's reward after a gentle
sleep of death" (John 10:11–16, des Glaubens Lohn nach
einem sanften Todesschlafe), combining the Baroque
ideas of pastoral peace and longing for death.
Bach referred to the Pastorale aspect of the text in
his music. In the opening chorus three oboes on the
firm ground of extended pedal point create pastoral
sounds, in triplets which are frequently associated
with shepherds, such as in the Sinfonia opening Part II
of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The choir sings
alternating homophonic calls, "höre!" (listen!) and
"erscheine!" (appear!), and two fugues on the image of
Joseph leading his flocks. The fugue subject is the
same in both fugues, but the second time the voices
enter from the lowest voice to the highest, culminating
in an ultimate third section of the calls. Different
from the normal setting, the instrumental introduction
is not repeated after this climax.
The first recitative leads to an arioso part on the
final Bible quotation "Gott ist getreu" (God is
faithful). The tenor aria is accompanied by two oboes
d'amore. In the bass aria, instrumentation, triplets
and extended pedal points are reminiscent of the
opening chorus. The closing choral is a four-part
setting on the tune of "Allein Gott in der Höh sei
Ehr".
Although originally scored for tenor and bass soloists,
a four-part choir, two oboes d'amore, taille (tenor
oboe), two violins, viola and basso continuo, I created
this arrangement for Oboe & Concert (Pedal) Harp. |
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PARTITION