Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 177

Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ
BWV 177
Chorale cantata by J. S. Bach

Johann Agricola, author of the chorale
Occasion Fourth Sunday after Trinity
Performed 6 July 1732 (1732-07-06) – Leipzig
Movements 5
Chorale by Johann Agricola
Vocal
  • SATB choir
  • solo: soprano, alto and tenor
Instrumental
  • 2 oboes
  • 2 oboes da caccia
  • bassoon
  • 2 violins
  • viola
  • continuo

Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (I call to You, Lord Jesus Christ),[1] BWV 177,[lower-alpha 1] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for the fourth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 6 July 1732. The cantata text is formed by the unchanged five stanzas of Johann Agricola's hymn.

History and words

Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig as late as 1732 in order to complete his second annual cycle of chorale cantatas of 1724/25, which lacked a cantata for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity because that Sunday had been the Feast of Visitation in 1725, celebrated then by Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10.

The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Romans, "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God" (Romans 8:18–23), and from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Luke: the admonition to "be merciful", "judge not" (Luke 6:36–42). The cantata text is formed by the unchanged five stanzas of Johann Agricola's chorale (ca. 1530), a main hymn for the Sunday, used also in Bach's cantata Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe, BWV 185, written in Weimar. In Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, BWV 129, also composed to complete the second annual cycle of chorale cantatas, Bach also used the unchanged words of the chorale, different from the cantatas originally composed for the cycle.[2]

Bach first performed the cantata on 6 July 1732.[2][3]

Scoring and structure

The cantata in five movements is scored for three soloists (soprano, alto and tenor), a four-part choir, two oboes, two oboes da caccia, two violins, viola, basso continuo, an obbligato violin and an obbligato bassoon.[2]

  1. Chorus: Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ
  2. Versus 2 (alto): Ich bitt noch mehr, o Herre Gott
  3. Versus 3 (soprano): Verleih, daß ich aus Herzensgrund
  4. Versus 4 (tenor): Laß mich kein Lust noch Furcht von dir
  5. Versus 5: Ich lieg im Streit und widerstreb

Music

Similar to most chorale cantatas, the opening chorus is a chorale fantasia, presenting the chorale line by line, the cantus firmus here sung by the soprano. Most of the lines are preceded by entries of the other voices in imitation of motifs independent of the chorale melody. In line 6 the imitation motive is taken from the chorale. In the two last lines 8 and 9 the lower voices enter together with the soprano. The vocal structure is embedded in a concerto of solo violin and two oboes which play the cantus firmus colla parte with the soprano, strings and continuo.[2]

The three arias for the following verses show increasing instrumental complexity. Verse 2 is accompanied by continuo only, verse 3 by oboe da caccia, verse 4 by the rare combination of violin and bassoon. The musicologist Julian Mincham observes a "journey from uncertainty and doubt to warmth and acceptance and finally to rejoicing and jubilation".[3]

In the finale chorale Bach used ornamentation for expressiveness.[3]

Use in films

The soundtrack of the 1972 film Solaris by Andrei Tarkovsky features the chorale prelude for organ,'Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, and an electronic score by Eduard Artemyev.

The prelude is the central musical theme of Solaris. Tarkovsky initially wanted the film to be devoid of music and asked composer Artemyev to orchestrate ambient sounds as a musical score. The latter proposed subtly introducing orchestral music. In counterpoint to classical music as Earth's theme is fluid electronic music as the theme for the planet Solaris. The character of Hari has her own subtheme, a cantus firmus based upon J. S. Bach's music featuring Artemyev's composition atop it; it is heard at Hari's death and at story's end.[4][5][6]

A piano transcription was featured in the trailer for Michael Haneke's Amour as well used in the film in the form of a character playing it onscreen. It was also present on the soundtrack album as recorded by pianist Alexandre Tharaud.

Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac uses mostly classical music as its background score and this prelude features as one of the primary themes in the film.

Recordings

The listing is taken from the selection on the Bach-Cantatas website.[7]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "BWV" is Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, a thematic catalogue of Bach's works.

References

  1. ↑ Dellal, Pamela. "BWV 177 – "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ"". Emmanuel Music. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Dürr, Alfred (1981). Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach (in German) 1 (4 ed.). Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag. pp. 355–357. ISBN 3-423-04080-7.
  3. 1 2 3 Mincham, Julian (2010). "Chapter 56 BWV 177 Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ. / I call Thee, Lord Jesus Christ.". jsbachcantatas.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Artemyev, Eduard. Eduard Artemyev Interview (DVD). Criterion Collection.
  5. ↑ "Listen to Bach (The Earth)" from "Solaris" (1972, Edward Artemieu) Opening scene.
  6. ↑ Solaris (Scena levitazione) Levitation scene.
  7. ↑ Oron, Aryeh (2014). "Cantata BWV 177 Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ". bach-cantatas.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.

Sources

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