Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte (I love the
Highest with my entire being), BWV 174, is a church
cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the
cantata in Leipzig for the second day of Pentecost and
first performed it on 6 June 1729.
Bach wrote the cantata in Leipzig for Pentecost Monday.
The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the
Acts of the Apostles, the sermon of Peter for Cornelius
(Acts 10:42--48), and from the Gospel of John, "God
loved the world so mu...(+)
Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte (I love the
Highest with my entire being), BWV 174, is a church
cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the
cantata in Leipzig for the second day of Pentecost and
first performed it on 6 June 1729.
Bach wrote the cantata in Leipzig for Pentecost Monday.
The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the
Acts of the Apostles, the sermon of Peter for Cornelius
(Acts 10:42--48), and from the Gospel of John, "God
loved the world so much ..." from the meeting of Jesus
and Nicodemus (John 3:16--21). The cantata text was
written by Picander and published in his collection of
cantata texts for a year in 1728. Picander had written
in the preface that he hoped "the lack of poetic
elegance would be compensated for by the sweetness of
the incomparable Kapellmeister Bach, and that these
songs will be sung Lieder in the main churches of
devout Leipzig." Nine of Bach's cantatas on his texts
in that volume are extant. If Bach composed more, they
are lost.In the first aria the poet considers the
beginning of the gospel, "Also hat Gott die Welt
geliebt ..." (For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life), and
concludes that the Christian owes love to God in return
for God's love. The gospel word is quoted and reflected
in the following recitative. The last aria addresses
the congregation to seize the salvation offered by
God's love. The closing chorale is the first stanza of
Martin Schalling's "Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o
Herr", expressing love for God.
For the opening sinfonia, Bach added parts to a
movement from his Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. He could
employ many players as he had started to direct a
Collegium Musicum, a Bürgervereinigung (an
"association of musically inclined burghers") who
played his church music as well. Bach first performed
the cantata on 6 June 1729; he noted the year in the
score.
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, "Ach Herr, laß dein lieb
Engelein".
Although this Cantata is scored 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, I created this
arrangement for French Horn Duet & Cello.
