Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn (I have to God's heart
and mind), BWV 92, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in
Leipzig for Septuagesimae and first performed it on 28
January 1725. It is based on the hymn by Paul Gerhardt
(1647).
Bach wrote the cantata in 1724, his second year in
Leipzig, for Septuagesima, the third Sunday before
Lent. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were taken
from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, "race for
victory...(+)
Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn (I have to God's heart
and mind), BWV 92, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in
Leipzig for Septuagesimae and first performed it on 28
January 1725. It is based on the hymn by Paul Gerhardt
(1647).
Bach wrote the cantata in 1724, his second year in
Leipzig, for Septuagesima, the third Sunday before
Lent. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were taken
from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, "race for
victory" (1 Corinthians 9:24–10:5), and from the
Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the Workers in the
Vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16). That year, Bach composed
a cycle of chorale cantatas, begun on the first Sunday
after Trinity of 1724. The cantata is based on the hymn
in twelve stanzas by Paul Gerhardt (1647), sung to the
melody of "Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit".
The theme of the hymn is faith in God and the
submission to his will. An unknown poet kept five
stanzas unchanged, in contrast to the usual two for
opening and closing a chorale cantata. He kept stanza 1
for movement 1, stanza 2 for movement 2, stanza 5 for
movement 4, stanza 10 for movement 7, and stanza 12 for
the final movement 9. He paraphrased ideas from stanza
4 in movement 3, an aria, used phrases from stanzas 6
and 8 in movement 5, a recitative, ideas from stanza 9
in movement 6, and from stanza 11 in movement 8. He
interpolated recitative in the chorale in movements 2
and 7, but without reference to the gospel.
Klaus Hofmann notes that the choice of chorale is
surprising because it has the same tune as the base for
the cantata of the previous week, Was mein Gott will,
das g'scheh allzeit, BWV 111. In the opening chorus,
the soprano sings the melody of the chorale as a cantus
firmus in long notes. The melody appears in an
interesting combination of phrases of different length,
two measures alternating with three measures. The vocal
parts are embedded in an independent orchestral
concerto. their motifs are not taken from the hymn
tune, but from the orchestra. The musicologist Julian
Mincham notes the movement's "shimmering, translucent
beauty, apparent from the very beginning".
Bach successfully tried to shape the five movements,
which cite the chorale in words and music, differently.
In the bass recitative, the singer switches between
rendering the chorale tune and free recitative, with
elements of tone painting. For example "mit grausem
Knallen die Berge und die Hügel fallen" (with cracking
and terrible crashing, the mountains and the hills must
fall) is depicted with "very fast downward sequences
into the depths – very similar to the depiction of
the veil of the temple being torn asunder when Jesus
dies" in the St John Passion and the St Matthew
Passion. The tenor aria illustrates a dramatic text,
"Seht, seht, wie reißt, wie bricht, wie fällt" (See,
see, how [it] is torn, how it breaks and falls) in the
"truly bizarre contour of the vocal line" and in
"rhythmically disjointed orchestral writing". The next
chorale stanza is sung by the alto to an independent
trio of the oboes and the continuo, with the word
"traurig" (sad) rendered by chromatic lines in the
oboes. The message is God's wisdom, "Zeit, Ort und
Stund ist ihm bekannt, zu tun und auch zu lassen" (He
knows the time, the place, the hour in which to act or
not to act).
The bass aria describes the "howling and raging of the
rough winds", an image of the rough situation of a
Christian, by "incessant movement" of both the voice
and the continuo. In the following chorale, the text
again is alternating chorale words and free poetry.
This time Bach alternates also the voices, the chorale
is sung by the choir, the recitative by the four
soloists in the sequence bass, tenor, alto and soprano.
The last line, "und ich kann bei gedämpften Saiten dem
Friedensfürst ein neues Lied bereiten" (And, with
muted strings, I can prepare a new song for the Prince
of Peace) leads to the following soprano aria, which
Bach graces with pizzicato of the strings and no
continuo, to which oboe d'amore and soprano perform a
"graceful, dance-like melody and poignant ascending
sixths and sevenths". John Eliot Gardiner notes that in
the "enchanting conclusion" on the words "Amen: Vater,
nimm mich an!" (Amen: Father take me up!), "innocence,
trust and fragility are all rolled into one". The
cantata is closed by a four-part setting of the
chorale.
Although originally scored for four vocal
soloists—soprano, alto, tenor and bass—a four-part
choir (SATB), two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola,
and basso continuo, I created this arrangement for
String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
