Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (Christ our Lord came
to the Jordan), BWV 7,[a] is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the Feast
of St. John the Baptist and led the first performance
on 24 June 1724. It is the third chorale cantata from
his second annual cycle of chorale cantatas, based on
Martin Luther's "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam", a
hymn about baptism. Luther's first and last stanza are
used unchanged (the former treated as a chorale
fantasia, the ...(+)
Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (Christ our Lord came
to the Jordan), BWV 7,[a] is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the Feast
of St. John the Baptist and led the first performance
on 24 June 1724. It is the third chorale cantata from
his second annual cycle of chorale cantatas, based on
Martin Luther's "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam", a
hymn about baptism. Luther's first and last stanza are
used unchanged (the former treated as a chorale
fantasia, the latter as a four-part closing chorale)
and an unknown librettist paraphrased the five inner
stanzas into a corresponding number of recitatives and
arias. The cantata is scored for three vocal soloists
(alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, two oboes
d'amore, two solo violins, strings and basso
continuo.
Bach composed the cantata for St John's Day in Leipzig
as the third cantata of his second annual cycle, which
began about two weeks before with O Ewigkeit, du
Donnerwort, BWV 20, for the first Sunday after Trinity.
The cycle was devoted to Lutheran hymns, typically
rendered by keeping their text of the first and last
stanza, while a contemporary poet reworded the inner
stanzas.
The structure of seven movements begins with a chorale
fantasia and ends, after a sequence of alternating
arias and recitatives, with a closing chorale as a
four-part setting. Bach increased the number of
accompanying instruments for the arias, from only
continuo to two solo violins, finally to two oboes
d'amore and the strings.
The cantata in seven movements is scored for three
vocal soloists (alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a
four-part choir (SATB), two oboes d'amore (Oa), two
solo violins (Vs, the second one only introduced in a
later performance), two violins (Vl), viola (Va) and
basso continuo (Bc).
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_unser_Herr_zum_Jo
rdan_kam,_BWV_7).
The last aria is sung by the alto with rich
accompaniment: "Menschen, glaubt doch dieser Gnade"
(People, believe this grace now,). The two oboes
d'amore double the first violin when human beings are
requested to accept the grace of God to not "perish in
the pit of hell".
I created this arrangement of the last Aria: "Menschen,
glaubt doch dieser Gnade" (People, believe this grace
now) for Oboe & Strings (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).