Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49

Background

Bach was appointed Thomaskantor (director of church music) in 1723 in Leipzig. There he was responsible for the music at four churches, and the training and education of the boys singing in the Thomanerchor (the boys' choir in Leipzig). He took office on 30 May 1723, performing his church cantata Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75, for the first Sunday after Trinity. In the new position, Bach decided to compose church cantatas for almost all liturgical events during the first twelve months; they became his first cantata cycle. The cantatas covered Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year, including feasts of saints, especially of Mary, and the multi-day observances of the high holidays. They did not cover the "silent times" of Advent (before Christmas) and Lent (before Easter), when no cantata music was performed in Leipzig. The following year, Bach went on to write a second cantata cycle, now basing each on a Lutheran hymn. In his book Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, Christoph Wolff described the endeavour as "a most promising project of great homogeneity, whose scope he was able to define himself".

In 1725, his third year in the post, Bach slowed down his composing and began to perform cantatas by other composers. Until Christmas, cantatas from that year survive for only four occasions: three Sundays and Reformation Day on 31 October.

In 1726, his fourth year, Bach marked again the First Sunday after Trinity with a substantial work, Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39. He went on to compose more cantatas for Sundays after Trinity, Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen being one of them.

Occasion and readings

Bach composed Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen in his fourth year in Leipzig for the 20th Sunday after Trinity. It is counted as part of his third cantata cycle. 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 topic features in both cantatas that Bach composed previously for the same occasion: Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe, BWV 162 and the chorale cantata Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 180.

Bach termed the cantata a "Dialogus". Dialogue cantatas were common in 17th century, especially between Jesus as the Bridegroom and the Soul of the believer as the Bride, based on the Song of Songs which was traditionally interpreted that way.

Libretto

The librettist was unknown to earlier scholars such as Dürr and Hofmann, but was identified in 2015 by Christine Blanken as Christoph Birkmann. Birkmann studied theology at the University of Leipzig from 1724 to 1727 and was musically interested. He attended Bach's performances regularly and was the author of six cantatas before the Advent season of 1726, including Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56, composed for the previous week.

Birkmann connected the wedding feast of the Gospel to imagery from the Song of Songs: Jesus, sung by the bass as the vox Christi, invites the bride to the wedding, while the other characters and aspects of the parable are not mentioned. 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 2:10), 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.

Performance

Bach led the first performance of the cantata at the Thomaskirche on 3 November 1726. The sermon was given by Urban Gottfried Sieber. Bach probably played the organ part from the score. No repeat performance is known with certainty.

Structure and scoring

Bach structured Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen in six movements and scored it for soprano (S) and bass (B) soloists, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of oboe d'amore (Oa), violoncello piccolo (Vcp), organ (Org), two violins (Vl), viola (Va) and basso continuo (Bc). The Bach scholar Alfred Dürr gave the duration as c. 29 minutes in his book Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach.

In the following table of the movements, the scoring is based on the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are taken from Dürr, using the symbol for common time (⁴
₄). The continuo, playing throughout, is not listed.

Movements

1

The cantata is opened by a sinfonia for concertante organ and orchestra, probably the final movement of a lost concerto composed in Köthen for an unknown solo melody instrument such as flute, oboe, oboe d'amore or viola. It also became 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.

2

The bass as the vox Christi sings an aria, "Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen dich, meine Taube, schönste Braut" (I go forth and seek with longing for you, my dove, my loveliest bride,) based on imagery from the Song of Songs as if spoken by Jesus. The organ adds embellished music to the aria. The voice and the organ have their own themes, illustrating distance. The bride is illustrated by triplets, while the voice features "yearning chromatism" and the organ has wide leaps.

3

In a secco recitative, "Mein Mahl ist zubereit' und meine Hochzeittafel fertig" (My meal is prepared and my wedding table is ready) the groom invites the bride to the prepared wedding, and they talk about kisses, the meal and dressing up. After a short recitative, the principal motif from the previous aria is quoted in an arioso, after which the voices begin to unite as a duet.

4

In the soprano aria "Ich bin herrlich, ich bin schön" (I am glorious, I am beautiful) the bride reflects on her beauty as if looking in a mirror and contemplates herself as clothed in "seines Heils Gerechtigkeit" (The justice of His salvation), accompanied by oboe d'amore and violoncello piccolo. It is not known with certainty which kind of small cello Bach had in mind; several existed at the time, some played like the violin, others between the legs.

5

In a recitative accompanied by strings, "Mein Glaube hat mich selbst so angezogen" (My faith itself has drawn me here), the bride speaks of her faith, and the groom speaks of faithfulness until death.

6

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 sung by the soprano, 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!", following (Revelation 3:20). Nicolai subtitled his hymn a "Geistlich Brautlied" (Spiritual bridal song).

Wie bin ich doch so herzlich froh,
Daß mein Schatz ist das A und O,
Der Anfang und das Ende.
Er wird mich doch zu seinem Preis
Aufnehmen in das Paradeis;
Des klopf ich in die Hände.
Amen! Amen!
Komm, du schöne Freudenkrone, bleib nicht lange!
Deiner wart ich mit Verlangen.

How glad I am from the bottom of my heart
that my beloved is the alpha and omega,
the beginning and the end.
To praise him, he will
receive me in paradise;
to that I clap my hands.
Amen! Amen!
Come, you crown of joys, do not delay!
You I await with longing.

John Eliot Gardiner describes the mood of the music, accompanied by the obbligato organ, as "religious-erotic". Hofmann notes that the movement serves as "final duet, final chorale and organ concerto movement", with the figuration of the organ expressing in sound what the cantus firmus states: "Wie bin ich doch so herzlich froh!" (How sincerely happy I am!)

The manuscripts of both the score and the parts survive, possibly revised by Bach. There is no extra part for the organ in the set of parts.

The first critical edition of the cantata, edited by Wilhelm Rust, was published by the Bach Gesellschaft in 1860 as part of its complete edition of Bach's works. In the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of Bach's works, the cantata was published in 1997, edited by Ulrich Bartels.

Carus published a critical edition in German and English as part of its Stuttgarter Bach-Ausgaben in 2012, edited by Felix Loy. In the 21st century, Bach Digital published high-resolution facsimile images of the manuscript parts from the first quarter of the 18th century.

The selection is taken from the listing provided by the Bach Cantatas Website. In the following table, ensembles playing on period instruments in historically informed performance are marked by a green background under the header Instr..