Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit (Make yourself ready, my
spirit), BWV 115, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in
Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity and first
performed it on 5 November 1724. It is based on the
hymn by Johann Burchard Freystein (1695).
Bach composed the cantata in his second year in Leipzig
for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity. That year, Bach
composed a cycle of chorale cantatas, begun on the
first Sunday after Trinity of 17...(+)
Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit (Make yourself ready, my
spirit), BWV 115, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in
Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity and first
performed it on 5 November 1724. It is based on the
hymn by Johann Burchard Freystein (1695).
Bach composed the cantata in his second year in Leipzig
for the 22nd 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
Philippians, thanks and prayer for the congregation in
Philippi (Philippians 1:3–11), and from the Gospel of
Matthew, the parable of the unforgiving servant
(Matthew 18:23–35).
The cantata is based on a hymn in ten stanzas by Johann
Burchard Freystein (1695), which expands a single theme
related to the Gospel: be prepared by awareness and
prayer for the arrival of the Lord. 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, using stanza 2 for 2, stanzas 3 to 6 for
3, stanza 7 for 4, keeping the first two lines
unchanged, and stanzas 8 to 9 for 5. The chorale is
sung to the anonymous melody of "Straf mich nicht in
deinem Zorn" (1681).
The opening chorus is a chorale fantasia in the form of
a passacaglia. The instruments perform independent
concertante chamber music, set for three parts, the
flute, the oboe d'amore and the strings in unison. The
soprano sings the melody as a cantus firmus, the lower
voices are set partly in imitation, partly homophonic.
The alto aria (Oh, sleepy soul – are you still at
rest?) begins, as Klaus Hofmann notes, "as a musical
sleep scene of a kind that could have graced any opera
of the time". Marked Adagio, the oboe d'amore plays a
solo in siciliano rhythm, leading to a "long, peaceful,
quasi-'sleeping' note". The text's admonition to be
vigilant ("Punishment might suddenly awaken you and, if
you were not alert, conceal you in the sleep of eternal
death") appears in the contrasting middle section,
marked Allegro.
In the soprano aria "Bete aber auch dabei" (But you
should also pray), flute and violoncello piccolo play
chamber music, to which the solo adds a "noble
cantilena". The closing chorale is a four-part setting
of the final call: "Therefore let us forever be alert,
entreat and pray".
Although the Cantata was originally scored for four
vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a
four-part choir, horn to double the soprano in the
chorale, flauto traverso, oboe d'amore, two violins,
viola, violoncello piccolo and basso continuo, I
created this arranbement for Oboe and Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
