Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (I call to Thee, Lord
Jesus Christ), BWV 177, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in
Leipzig for the fourth Sunday after Trinity and first
performed it on 6 July 1732. The cantata text are the
unchanged five stanzas of Johann Agricola's hymn.
Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig as late as 1732 in
order to complete his second annual cycle of chorale
cantatas of 1724, which lacked a cantata for the Fourth
Sunday ...(+)
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (I call to Thee, Lord
Jesus Christ), BWV 177, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in
Leipzig for the fourth Sunday after Trinity and first
performed it on 6 July 1732. The cantata text are the
unchanged five stanzas of Johann Agricola's hymn.
Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig as late as 1732 in
order to complete his second annual cycle of chorale
cantatas of 1724, which lacked a cantata for the Fourth
Sunday after Trinity because that Sunday had been the
Feast of Visitation in 1724, celebrated then by Meine
Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10.
The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the
Epistle to the Romans, "For the earnest expectation of
the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons
of God" (Romans 8:18--23), and from the Sermon on the
Mount in the Gospel of Luke: the admonition to "be
merciful", "judge not" (Luke 6:36--42). The cantata
text are the unchanged five stanzas of Johann
Agricola's chorale (ca. 1530), a main hymn for the
Sunday, used also in Bach's cantata Barmherziges Herze
der ewigen Liebe, BWV 185, written in Weimar. In
Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, BWV 129, also composed
to complete the second annual cycle of chorale
cantatas, Bach also used the unchanged words of the
chorale, different from the cantatas first composed for
the cycle.
Similar to most chorale cantatas, the opening chorus is
a chorale fantasia, presenting the chorale line by
line, the cantus firmus here sung by the soprano. Most
of the lines are preceded by entries of the other voice
parts in imitation of motifs independent of the
chorale. In line 6 the imitation motive is taken from
the chorale. In the two last lines 8 and 9 the lower
voices enter together with the soprano. The vocal
structure is embedded in a concerto of solo violin, two
oboes which play the cantus firmus colla parte with the
soprano, strings and continuo.
The three arias for the following verses show
increasing instrumental complexity. Verse 2 is
accompanied by continuo only, verse 3 by oboe da
caccia, verse 4 by the rare combination of violin and
bassoon. In the finale chorale Bach used ornamentation
for expressiveness.
Although originally scored for three soloists (soprano,
alto and tenor), a four-part choir, two oboes, two
oboes da caccia, two violins, viola, basso continuo, an
obbligato violin and an obbligato bassoon, I created
this arrangement for Concert (Pedal) Harp.
