Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet (You, who call
yourselves of Christ), BWV 164, is a church cantata by
Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in 1725 in
Leipzig for the 13th Sunday after Trinity and first
performed it on 26 August 1725.
Bach wrote the cantata in his third year in Leipzig for
the 13th Sunday after Trinity. He used a cantata text
written by Salomon Franck in Weimar, published in
Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer in 1715, as he had done
already in Tue Rechnung! Donnerwort,...(+)
Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet (You, who call
yourselves of Christ), BWV 164, is a church cantata by
Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in 1725 in
Leipzig for the 13th Sunday after Trinity and first
performed it on 26 August 1725.
Bach wrote the cantata in his third year in Leipzig for
the 13th Sunday after Trinity. He used a cantata text
written by Salomon Franck in Weimar, published in
Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer in 1715, as he had done
already in Tue Rechnung! Donnerwort, BWV 168, four
weeks before.
The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the
Epistle to the Galatians, Paul's teaching on law and
promise (Galatians 3:15--22), and from the Gospel of
Luke, the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke
10:23--37). The love of one's neighbour is the dominant
theme of this cantata, whereas in the two preceding
years the cantata texts of Du sollt Gott, deinen
Herren, lieben, BWV 77, and Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu
Christ, BWV 33, had stressed the equality of loving God
and neighbour. The closing chorale is the fifth (and
last) verse of "Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn" by
Elisabeth Cruciger (1524).
The music for four soloists and a few instruments is
essentially chamber music. Bach sets the arias in forms
which deviate from the standard da capo aria. In the
tenor aria the strings and the voice share a theme,
which appears in two similar halves, A B A' B'. In the
alto aria, accompanied by sighing motifs in the flutes,
the second section is repeated rather than the first, A
B B'. In the duet Bach achieves a quartet, adding to
soprano and bass voice the high instruments in unison
and the continuo. The text is presented in three
sections and repeated completely in a fourth section,
which imitates the first. The closing chorale is a
four-part setting.
Although originally written for soprano, alto, tenor
and bass soloists, two flauto traverso, two oboes, two
violins, viola, and basso continuo, I created this
arrangement for Woodwind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, Bb
Clarinet & Bassoon).
