Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen (I go forth and seek
with longing), BWV 49, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the solo cantata, a
dialogue of soprano and bass, in Leipzig for the
twentieth Sunday after Trinity Sunday and first
performed it on 3 November 1726.
Bach composed the cantata in his fourth year in Leipzig
for the twentieth Sunday after Trinity. It is counted
as part of his third annual cycle of cantatas. The
prescribed readings for the Sunday were from ...(+)
Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen (I go forth and seek
with longing), BWV 49, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed the solo cantata, a
dialogue of soprano and bass, in Leipzig for the
twentieth Sunday after Trinity Sunday and first
performed it on 3 November 1726.
Bach composed the cantata in his fourth year in Leipzig
for the twentieth Sunday after Trinity. It is counted
as part of his third annual cycle of cantatas. The
prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the
Epistle to the Ephesians, "walk circumspectly ...
filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:15–21), and from
the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the great banquet
(Matthew 22:1–14). The German term used in Luther's
Bible translation is Hochzeitsmahl (wedding meal). The
cantata is termed a Dialogus, being a dialogue between
the Soul and Jesus, her bridegroom. The source for the
dialogue is, here as in many works of the 17th century,
the Song of Songs. An unknown poet derived from the
wedding feast of the Gospel the Soul as the bride whom
Jesus invited to their wedding, while the other
characters of the story are not mentioned in the
cantata. The poet alludes to the Bible several times,
comparing the bride to a dove as in Song of Songs 5:2
and Song of Songs 6:9, referring to the Lord's feast
(Isaiah 25:6), to the bond between the Lord and Israel
(Hosea 2:21), to faithfulness until death (Revelation
3:20), and in the final movement to "Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving
kindness have I drawn thee." (Jeremiah 31:3). Instead
of a closing chorale, Bach combines this idea, sung by
the bass, with the seventh stanza of Philipp Nicolai's
mystical wedding song "Wie schön leuchtet der
Morgenstern", given to the soprano.
The cantata is opened by a sinfonia for concertante
organ and orchestra, probably the final movement of a
lost concerto composed in Köthen, the model for the
Concerto II in E major, BWV 1053, for harpsichord. Two
weeks before, Bach had used the two other movements of
that concerto in his cantata Gott soll allein mein
Herze haben, BWV 169. The bass as the vox Christi sings
the words of Jesus. In the soprano aria "Ich bin
herrlich, ich bin schön" (I am glorious, I am
beautiful) the bride reflects her beauty as dressed in
"seines Heils Gerechtigkeit" (The justice of His
salvation), accompanied by oboe d'amore and violoncello
piccolo. The cantata ends not with the usual four-part
chorale, but with a love duet of the Soul (soprano) and
Jesus (bass). It incorporates a chorale, stanza 7 of
Nicolai's hymn, ending with the line "Deiner wart ich
mit Verlangen" (I wait for Thee with longing), while
the bass responds: "I have always loved you, and so I
draw you to me. I'm coming soon. I stand before the
door: open up, my abode!" John Eliot Gardiner describes
the mood of the music, accompanied by the obbligato
organ, as "religious-erotic". Hofmann notes that the
figuration of the organ expresses in sound what the
cantus firmus words: "Wie bin ich doch so herzlich
froh!" (How sincerely happy I am!) Musicologist Julian
Mincham suggests that this cantata "exudes a greater
degree of personal intensity" than the previous two for
this day, BWV 162 and 180.
Although originally scored for soprano and bass
soloists, oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, violoncello
piccolo, organ and basso continuo, I created this
arrangement for String Trio (Violin, Viola & Cello).
