Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte, BWV 174

History and words#

Bach wrote the cantata in Leipzig for Pentecost Monday.

Scoring and structure#

The cantata in five movements is “lavishly scored” for the feast day, for three soloists, alto, tenor and bass, a four-part choir only in the chorale, two corni da caccia, two oboes, taille (tenor oboe), three solo violins, three solo violas, three solo cellos and basso continuo. # Sinfonia # Aria (alto): # Recitative (tenor): # Aria (bass): # Chorale:

Music#

The cantata begins with a Sinfonia, which Bach derived from the first movement of his Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, possibly composed already in Weimar. For the cantata, he added to the nine string parts two new parts for corno da caccia and a ripieno trio of oboe I and violin I, oboe II and violin II, taille and viola, parts that are also new, but reinforcing existing parts. John Eliot Gardiner hears in the result the addition of “new-minted sheen and force to the original concerto movement, its colours and rhythms even sharper than before”. In the first aria, two obbligato oboes in imitation introduce themes which the voice picks up. “Gently rocking siciliano melodies, expressing spiritual tranquillity and compassion” appear in extended ritornellos. The recitative is accompanied by three upper string parts, similar to the original Brandenburg concerto movement. In the second aria, the violins and violas are combined to an obbligato part, “whose ‘knocking’ motif of repeated notes insistently underlines the urgency of the text”. The cantata is closed by a four-part chorale setting of the well-known melody which Bach used to conclude his St John Passion with the third stanza, “”.

Recordings#

• Die Bach Kantate Vol. 5, Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Julia Hamari, Aldo Baldin, Wolfgang Schöne, Hänssler 1984
• J. S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk · Complete Cantatas · Les Cantates, Folge / Vol. 40, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Tölzer Knabenchor, Concentus Musicus Wien, soloist of the Tölzer Knabenchor, Kurt Equiluz, Robert Holl, Teldec 1987
• Bach Cantatas Vol. 26: Long Melford For Whit Sunday For Whit Monday, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Nathalie Stutzmann, Christoph Genz, Panajotis Iconomou, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
• Bach Edition Vol. 21 – Cantatas Vol. 12, Pieter Jan Leusink, Holland Boys Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium, Sytse Buwalda, Nico van der Meel, Bas Ramselaar, Brilliant Classics 2000
• J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 19, Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bogna Bartosz, Christoph Prégardien, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 2003
• J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 50 – Man singet mit Freuden, Cantatas · 49 · 145 · 149 · 174 (Cantatas from Leipzig 1726–29), Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Peter Kooy, BIS 2011

Sources#

• Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte BWV 174; BC A 87 / Sacred cantata (2nd Day of Pentecost) Leipzig University
• Cantata BWV 174 Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte: history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, Bach Cantatas Website
• BWV 174 Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte: English translation, University of Vermont
• BWV 174 Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte: text, scoring, University of Alberta