Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin (Take what is yours
and go away), BWV 144, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the
Sunday Septuagesimae, the third Sunday before Lent, and
first performed it on 6 February 1724.
Bach wrote the cantata in his first year in Leipzig for
Septuagesimae. The prescribed readings for the Sunday
were taken from the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
"race for victory" (1 Corinthians 9:24–10:5), and
from the Gospel of Matth...(+)
Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin (Take what is yours
and go away), BWV 144, is a church cantata by Johann
Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the
Sunday Septuagesimae, the third Sunday before Lent, and
first performed it on 6 February 1724.
Bach wrote the cantata in his first year in Leipzig for
Septuagesimae. The prescribed readings for the Sunday
were taken from the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
"race for victory" (1 Corinthians 9:24–10:5), and
from the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the Workers
in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16). The unknown poet
derives from the gospel only the thought to be content
with one's lot and submit to God's will,
"Genügsamkeit" (contentedness) being a key word. The
opening chorus is based on verse 14 of the gospel.
Movement 3 is the first stanza of Samuel Rodigast's
hymn "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan". The closing
chorale is the first stanza of Albert, Duke of
Prussia's Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit
(1547).
Bach composed the extremely short Bible quote of the
opening chorus as a motet fugue with the instruments
playing colla parte, thus intensifying the attention
for the words. The phrase "Gehe hin" (go away) is first
presented in the slow motion of the theme, but then as
a countersubject repeated twice, four times as fast as
before. As John Eliot Gardiner notes: "In 1760 the
Berlin music theoretician Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg
singled out the opening of this cantata, admiring the
"splendid declamation which the composer has applied to
the main section and to a special little play on the
words, "gehe hin!"". (Original German: "die
vortreffliche Deklamation", die "der Componist im
Hauptsatze und in einem kleinen besonderen Spiele mit
dem gehe hin angebracht hatte".) Bach repeated the
"gehe hin"-figure sixty times in sixty-eight bars. The
first aria has menuet character. In "Murre nicht,
lieber Christ" (Do not grumble, dear Christian), the
grumbling is illustrated by repeated eighths notes in
the accompaniment. Movement 3 is first stanza of the
chorale "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" which Bach
used later that year completely for his chorale cantata
BWV 99, and again in the 1730s for BWV 100. The words
"Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" are repeated as a
free arioso concluding the following recitative. The
soprano aria is accompanied by an oboe d'amore
obbligato. Instead of a da capo, the complete text is
repeated in a musical variation. The closing chorale is
set for four parts.
Although this cantata was scored for soprano, alto and
tenor soloists, a four-part choir (SATB), two oboes,
oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo, I
created this arrangement for French Horn & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
