Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38

History and text#

Bach composed this chorale cantata in Leipzig in 1724. Written for the 21st Sunday after Trinity, it was part of his second annual cycle of cantatas which was planned as a cycle of chorale cantatas, based on prominent Lutheran hymns, for all occasions of the liturgical year. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, “take unto you the whole armour of God”, and from the Gospel of John, the healing of the nobleman’s son. It was in Bach’s time the “required hymn” for the Sunday. Luther wrote about the psalm that it was coming from a The text of the chorale is unchanged for the first and last movements. An unknown poet paraphrased the other three stanzas of the chorale for movements 2 to 5. Bach led the Thomanerchor in the first performance of the cantata on 29 October 1724.

Structure and scoring#

Bach structured the cantata in six movements. The text and tune of the hymn are retained in the outer choral movements, a chorale fantasia and a four-part closing chorale, which frame two sets of recitative and aria. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of four trombones (Tb), two oboes (Ob), two violins (Vl), viola (Va) and basso continuo. The instruments play colla parte with the voices in the outer movements in the style of Bach’s motets. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr’s standard work Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach, using the symbol for common time (4/4). The continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.

Movements#

In this cantata, Bach used the chorale melody not only in the opening chorale fantasia and the closing chorale, but also in the inner movements. He built an aria theme from parts of the melody, as in movement 3, used the melody as a continuo line (movement 4), and took motifs from the melody.

1#

The opening movement is a chorale fantasia, "" (Out of deep anguish I call to You), John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, compared the style to both Heinrich Schütz and Anton Bruckner, observing that although using the means of older masters, Bach “push es the frontiers of this motet movement almost out of stylistic reach through abrupt chromatic twists to this tune in Phrygian mode.”

2#

Like the fantasia, the alto recitative "" (In Jesus’ grace alone), is stylistically archaic. The Bach scholar Alfred Dürr describes the secco recitative as “plain but forcefully declaimed”. Mincham noted that its “semi-chaotic” form may reflect the tumult of evil and sin: the movement maintains an “archaic modal feel” but with a continuo line that “seems to lack the coherence one normally expects from a Bach bass”.

3#

The tenor aria, "" (I hear, in the midst of my sorrows), is expressive with a prominent syncopated rhythmic motif which runs throughout the movement. The tenor line is part of a four-part texture with the oboes and continuo. The oboes play “continuously interwoven chromatic lines”. Luther intended the contrasting ideas of the psalm to represent “contradictory and disharmonious things, for hope and despair are opposites”, and wrote in his song that we must “hope in despair”, because “hope which forms the new man, grows in the midst of fear that cuts down the old Adam”.

4#

A soprano recitative, "" (Alas! that my faith is yet so weak), adopts a modified version of the chorale melody as the continuo line. Gardiner noted the “uncompromising” way of changing the normal order: the soprano, usually singing a chorale cantus firmus (firm song) to the continuo, expresses weakness and insecurity here, marked “a battuta”, while the firm foundation is the chorale in the bass, to which the text of stanza three, "" (Therefore I will hope in God), could be imagined. Gardiner pointed out a detail: the word “Zeichen” (sign) “is given expressive, symbolic expression, a diminished seventh chord assigned to that word … formed by all three ‘signs”, one sharp (F-sharp), one flat (E-flat) and one natural (C). As Eric Chafe concludes,

5#

The trio aria, "" (When my troubles like chains), is comparable to a trio movement of the cantata Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 116, composed three weeks earlier, then expressing "" (Alas, we confess our sins). This is one of only three trios in this cantata cycle. In this movement, “despair, like chains, fetters one misfortune to the next” is contrasted to “shall my Saviour free me suddenly from it all”, presented as akin to morning following night. Bach expresses despair by a descending sequential ritornello based on the circle of fifths through the minor keys (D, G, C, F), finally reaching B-flat major), whereas the “dawning of faith” is illustrated with an upward motion. Mincham characterized the ritornello as “comfortably conventional”, in contrast with the “convoluted” theme. Hofmann noted the “operatic quality” of the movement, when for example on the words "" (so that everything suddenly releases me), the polyphony suddenly resolves to homophony.

6#

The four-part setting of the closing chorale, "" (Although the sins among us are many), begins with a dissonant chord, interpreted by Hofmann as a last cry of anguish “in an almost ‘Romantic’ manner”. Gardiner commented: “With all the voices given full orchestral doubling (again, those four trombones!), this chorale is impressive, terrifying in its Lutheran zeal”. Mincham noted the setting’s “enigmatic” final cadence which “leaves us with a sense that the human condition is ongoing”. \header tagline = " " \layout indent = 0 \context \Score \remove “Bar_number_engraver” global = \transposition b \key e \phrygian \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \set Timing.beamExceptions = #’() \score \new ChoirStaff > \new Lyrics \lyricsto “soprano” > Er ist al – lein der gu – _ te Hirt, der I – sra – el er – lö – sen wird aus sei – nen Sün – den al – _ len. \new Lyrics \lyricsto “alto” \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 \skip 1 al – _ len. \new Staff > » \layout \score \unfoldRepeats \new ChoirStaff > \new Staff \with midiInstrument = “choir aahs” > » \midi

Publication#

The first critical edition of the piece was published in 1857, along with some other cantatas, in the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe. The editor of the volume was Wilhelm Rust. The piece also appeared in the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, edited by Ulrich Bartels, in 1997.

External links#

• • Walter F. Bischof, 38 Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, University of Alberta