October 13
Bach premiered his next cantata four days later for the Feast of the Purification of Mary, also known as the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. This Christian high holiday celebrates Mary’s ritual purification and presentation of Jesus to the Jewish Temple 40 days after his birth. The Gospel of Luke describes how Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus encountered the holy man Simeon as they entered the temple. On recognizing the infant as the newborn Messiah, Simeon utters the celebrated prayer song Nunc dimittis (Now you dismiss), where he asks the Lord to let him depart from the world in peace as he has now seen his salvation.
Nunc dimittis is one of the oldest Christian hymns, being sung in daily evening worship services as early as the 4th century. In the time of Martin Luther, it existed as a Gregorian chant, which he paraphrased into a four stanza chorale in 1524. This chorale became one of the most important funeral songs in Lutheranism and is the subject of this chorale cantata.
The chorale is unusually structured in lines of irregular length (8.4.8.4.7.7) that stress single statements. Bach therefore had somewhat of a challenge in setting the folk tune to music, but such challenges always stimulated his most creative solutions. In addition to setting the chorale in an opening fantasia and closing four-part harmonization, Bach also combines it with the bass recitative.
Unusually, the recitative and chorale elements of the movement below are set differently, the chorale being sung as an arioso with a set rhythm and continuous accompaniment, while the recitative is in the freer rhythmic cadence of speech. These sections are joined by an ever-present joy motif played in chords by the upper strings. However, during the last word of the movement, Sterben (dying), the motif disappears and the strings, continuo and bass seem to collapse and melt together into a wave of oddly, beautifully modulating sound that gently closes the piece.
Follow along with the text below in German and English translation:
I am sorry to say, but, I did not enjoy this Cantata. It is a sad, and not clear for me. But I always appreciate your work. Te quiero mucho, siempre