composed the church cantata Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben, 102 in Leipzig for the tenth Sunday after Trinity and first performed on 25 August 1726.
History and text
The cantata of Bach's third annual cycle in Leipzig was written for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, different gifts, but one spirit, and from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus announcing the destruction of Jerusalem and cleansing of the Temple. The words of the cantata are only generally connected to the readings, asking the soul to return immediately to God's ways. Two movements are based on Bible words, the opening chorus on, movement 4 on. The cantata is closed by verses 6 and 7 of the hymn "So wahr ich lebe, spricht dein Gott" by Johann Heermann, sung on the melody of Martin Luther's "Vater unser im Himmelreich" based on the Lord's Prayer. The words of the free poetry have been attributed to different authors: C. S. Terry suggests Christian Weiss Sr, Werner Neumann suggests Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, and Walther Blankenburg suggests Christoph Helm. Bach first performed the cantata on 25 August 1726 and again around 1737.
Scoring and structure
The cantata is scored for alto, tenor and bass soloists and a four-part choir, flauto traverso, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo. The seven movements are structured in two parts, part two to be performed after the sermon.
Chorus: Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben
Recitative : Wo ist das Ebenbild, das Gott uns eingepräget
Aria : Weh der Seele, die den Schaden nicht mehr kennt
Arioso : Verachtest du den Reichtum seiner Gnade
Aria : Erschrecke doch, du allzu sichre Seele
Recitative : Beim Warten ist Gefahr
Chorale: Heut lebst du, heut bekehre dich
Music
The opening chorus is a mature work containing an intricate combination of instrumental and vocal parts and a variety of expressive devices depicting the words. The opening sinfonia is in two parts which are repeated separately and together throughout the movement. The words Herr, deine Augen are repeated three times. Bach used the music for the Kyrie of his Missa in G minor. Movements 3 and 5 are used in the Missa in F major. The bass voice in movement 4, marked arioso by Bach himself, is treated similarly to the vox Christi, the voice of Jesus in Bach's Passions and cantatas. The bass part has been recorded by singers who do not specialise in Baroque music, such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with conductor Benjamin Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival.
