Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht (Do not be confounded, o
soul), BWV 186, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian
Bach. He composed it originally in Weimar in 1716 for
Advent, BWV 186a, and expanded it in Leipzig in 1723
for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, where he first
performed it on 11 July 1723.
The cantata is based on a cantata text written by
Salomo Franck for the third Sunday of Advent, published
in Evangelische Sonn- und Fest-Tages-Andachten in 1717.
His lyrics contained movement...(+)
Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht (Do not be confounded, o
soul), BWV 186, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian
Bach. He composed it originally in Weimar in 1716 for
Advent, BWV 186a, and expanded it in Leipzig in 1723
for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, where he first
performed it on 11 July 1723.
The cantata is based on a cantata text written by
Salomo Franck for the third Sunday of Advent, published
in Evangelische Sonn- und Fest-Tages-Andachten in 1717.
His lyrics contained movements 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 of the
later work and a different closing chorale of Ludwig
Helmbold. Bach composed the music, BWV 186a, in 1716 in
Weimar, where he first performed it on 13 December
1716.
As Leipzig observed tempus clausum (time of silence)
from Advent II to Advent IV, Bach could not perform the
cantata there in Advent and expanded it to a cantata in
two parts for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, as he
had expanded Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147,
just before for 2 July 1723. He added recitatives,
changed the words of the arias slightly, replaced the
closing chorale by verse 11 of the chorale "Es ist das
Heil uns kommen her" (1523) of Paul Speratus, and added
verse 12 of that chorale to close part 1 of the
cantata.
The prescribed readings for the Sunday are from the
Epistle to the Romans, "the wages of sin is death; but
the gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:19--23), and
from the Gospel of Mark, the feeding of the 4000 (Mark
8:1--9). The recitatives mention that by stressing
terms as Hunger (hunger) and schmecket und sehet (taste
and see).
The opening chorus is in rondo form, A B A B A. Section
A treats the first line of the poem, section B lines 2
to 4. Section A is a complex combination of
instrumental and vocal composition. The instruments
open with a sinfonia of 8 measures, followed by a short
vocal Devise (statement) which is repeated by the
orchestra, and only then a fugal development begins,
the vocal parts sometimes embedded in material from the
sinfonia. The first repeat of section A is shortened in
the sinfonia, the second repeat starts with the fugal
part right away. In great contrast section B is set a
cappella (only accompanied by the continuo) and partly
homophonic.
The scoring of the four arias shows increasing
complexity and also a rise from the lowest voice to the
higher one, soprano and alto coming in only in the
second part. The first aria is accompanied only by the
continuo, the two next ones in a trio setting, and the
final aria is a duet with orchestra. It resembles a
gigue, and the voices, singing "Laß, Seele, kein
Leiden von Jesu dich scheiden" (My soul, let no sorrow
separate you from Jesus), illustrate the meaning by
mostly parallel movement.
The four recitatives all end as an arioso. The chorale
movements 6 and 11, ending the two parts of the
cantata, are the same music, a chorale fantasia. The
chorale is embedded in a concerto of the orchestra, the
cantus firmus is given to the soprano, whereas the
lower voices sing counterpoint in faster movement,
sometimes in imitation.
Although originally scored for four soloists and a
four-part choir SATB, two oboes, taille (tenor oboe),
two violins, viola and basso continuo including
bassoon, I created this arrangement for Flute, French
Horn & Cello.
PARTITION