Johann Sebastian Bach

Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig (Ah, how fleeting, ah how insignificant), BWV 26,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for the 24th

Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 19 November 1724.

The cantata is based upon Michael Franck's hymn "Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele", with a melody by Johann Crüger (1652). It is the only time that Bach used this hymn. Its aspect of the

transience of human life is the only connection to the prescribed gospel reading. The first and last stanza are used unchanged in both text and tune: the former is treated as a chorale

fantasia, the latter as a four-part closing chorale. An unknown librettist paraphrased the inner stanzas as arias and recitatives. Bach scored the cantata for four vocal soloists, a four-

part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of horn, flute, three oboes, strings and continuo.

Bach wrote the cantata in 1724 in his second year in Leipzig for the 24th Sunday after Trinity. That year, Bach composed a cycle of chorale cantatas, begun on the first Sunday after Trinity

of 1724. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Colossians, a prayer for the Colossians (Colossians 1:9–14), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the story of the

Raising of Jairus' daughter (Matthew 9:18–26). The cantata is based on the hymn in 13 stanzas by Michael Franck (1652) on a melody by Johann Crüger (1661), "a meditation on the transience

of human life and of all earthly goods". This aspect is the only connection to the gospel. An unknown poet kept the first and the last stanza as movements 1 and 6 of the cantata. He derived

the inner movements as a sequence of alternating arias and recitatives from the inner stanzas. John Eliot Gardiner points out that "several of Bach's late Trinity season cantatas"

concentrate on "the brevity of human life and the futility of earthly hopes".

Bach structured the cantata in six movements. The text and tune of the hymn are kept in the outer choral movements, a chorale fantasia and a four-part closing chorale, which frame a

sequence of alternating arias and recitatives. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of a horn

(Co) doubling the soprano in the chorale, flauto traverso (Ft), three oboes (Ob), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), organ (Org) and basso continuo.

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ach_wie_fl%C3%BCchtig,_ach_wie_nichtig,_BW...).

I created this arrangement of the last Aria: "An irdische Schätze das Herze zu hängen" (To hang one's heart on earthly treasures) for Bassoon & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).