Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele (Praise the Lord, my soul),
BWV 69a, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.
He composed it in 1723 in Leipzig for the twelfth
Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 15
August 1723. It is part of his first annual cycle of
cantatas.
Bach wrote the cantata in his first year in Leipzig,
which he had started after Trinity of 1723, for the
Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. The prescribed readings
for the Sunday were from the Second Epistle to the
Corinth...(+)
Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele (Praise the Lord, my soul),
BWV 69a, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.
He composed it in 1723 in Leipzig for the twelfth
Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 15
August 1723. It is part of his first annual cycle of
cantatas.
Bach wrote the cantata in his first year in Leipzig,
which he had started after Trinity of 1723, for the
Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. The prescribed readings
for the Sunday were from the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians, the ministry of the Spirit (2 Corinthians
3:4–11), and from the Gospel of Mark, the healing of
a deaf mute man (Mark 7:31–37). The unknown poet
referred to the gospel, but saw in the healing more
generally God constantly doing good for man. The
opening chorus is therefore taken from Psalms 103:2,
"Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget the good
He has done for you". The poetry refers to "telling"
several times, related to the healed man's ability to
speak: "Ah, that I had a thousand tongues!" (movement
2), "My soul, arise! tell" (movement 3) and "My mouth
is weak, my tongue mute to speak Your praise and honor"
(movement 4). Several movements rely on words of a
cantata by Johann Oswald Knauer, published in 1720 in
Gott-geheiligtes Singen und Spielen des
Friedensteinischen Zions in Gotha. The closing chorale
picks up the theme in the sixth verse of Samuel
Rodigast's hymn "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" (What
God does, is well done) (1675).
Bach first performed the cantata on 15 August 1723. He
performed it again around 1727, revised the
instrumentation of an aria, and used it in his last
years for a cantata for a Ratswahl ceremony, the
inauguration of the town council at church, Lobe den
Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 69.
Bach reflected the duality within the words of the
psalm in the opening chorus by creating a double fugue.
Both themes of the movement in D Major are handled
separately first and then combined. In the first aria,
a pastoral movement, the tenor is accompanied by oboe
da caccia, recorder and bassoon. In a later version
around 1727 Bach changed the instrumentation to alto,
oboe and violin, possibly because he did not have
players at hand for the first woodwind setting. In the
second aria the contrast of Leiden (suffering) and
Freuden (joy) is expressed by chromatic, first down,
then up, and vivid coloraturas. The closing chorale is
the same as the one of Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen,
BWV 12, of 1714, but for no apparent reason without the
obbligato violin.
To express the praise of the words, the cantata is
festively scored for soprano, alto, tenor and bass
soloists and a four-part choir, three trumpets,
timpani, three oboes, oboe da caccia, oboe d'amore,
recorder, bassoon, two violins, viola, and basso
continuo.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobe_den_Herrn,_meine_Se
ele,_BWV_69a).
I created this arrangement for Woodwind Quartet (Flute,
Oboe, Bb Clarinet & Bassoon).
