Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe (Merciful heart of
eternal love), BWV 185, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Weimar for the fourth
Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 14 July
1715.
On 2 March 1714 Bach was appointed concertmaster of the
Weimar court capelle of the co-reigning dukes Wilhelm
Ernst and Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar. As
concertmaster, he assumed the principal responsibility
for composing new works, specifically cantatas for the
Sc...(+)
Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe (Merciful heart of
eternal love), BWV 185, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Weimar for the fourth
Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 14 July
1715.
On 2 March 1714 Bach was appointed concertmaster of the
Weimar court capelle of the co-reigning dukes Wilhelm
Ernst and Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar. As
concertmaster, he assumed the principal responsibility
for composing new works, specifically cantatas for the
Schloßkirche (palace church), on a monthly schedule.
He wrote this cantata for the Fourth Sunday after
Trinity and first performed it on 14 July 1715. He
dated this cantata himself "1715".
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 was written by the court poet Salomon Franck for
the occasion and published in 1715 in Evangelisches
Andachts-Opffer. Franck stays close to the Gospel,
recalling the admonitions and the images of the "mote
that is in thy brother's eye" and the blind man who
wants to lead the blind. The last aria summarizes the
admonitions as "Das ist der Christen Kunst" (This is
the Christians' art). The cantata is closed by the
first stanza of Johann Agricola's chorale Ich ruf zu
dir, Herr Jesus Christ (c. 1530).
When Bach performed the cantata again in Leipzig on 20
June 1723, he transposed it from F sharp minor to G
minor. In that service, his fourth in Leipzig, he
performed it together with a new cantata Ein ungefärbt
Gemüte, BWV 24, after he had started his tenure as
cantor with cantatas in two parts, Die Elenden sollen
essen, BWV 75, and Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre
Gottes, BWV 76. He treated the same chorale in the
chorale cantata Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV
177, for the same occasion in 1724.
The opening duet is in two ways connected to the
chorale which closes the work. The melody is played
line by line as a cantus firmus by the oboe,
embellished and in a dancing 6/4 time instead of 4/4.
The first interval in the voices and the continuo is
the same as in the chorale. The countersubject is the
"Spiegelung" of the theme, it mirrors the theme, as
human mercy should mirror divine mercy.
The alto recitative is first accompanied by the
strings, but ends as an arioso with continuo. The alto
aria shows the richest instrumentation, with figurative
oboe solos. The text of the bass aria with continuo
summarizes all admonitions in one long sentence, but
Bach splits it in parts, all introduced by the keywords
"Das ist der Christen Kunst". The bass as the vox
Christi delivers the "sermon". In Leipzig, the continuo
of cello and bass in octaves was doubled by the
strings, another octave higher. The closing chorale is
illuminated by a soaring violin as a fifth part.
Although originally scored for a small ensemble,
(soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, oboe, two violins,
viola and continuo) I created this arrangement for
Brass Quartet (2 Bb Trumpets, French Horn & F Tuba).
