Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13
| Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen | |
|---|---|
BWV 13 | |
| Church cantata by J. S. Bach | |
 Lehms, the librettist | |
| Occasion | Second Sunday after Epiphany |
| Cantata text | Georg Christian Lehms |
| Chorale | |
| Performed | 20 January 1726: Leipzig |
| Movements | 6 |
| Vocal | SATB soloists and choir |
| Instrumental |
|
Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen ('My sighs, my tears'),[1] BWV 13, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the second Sunday after Epiphany and first performed it on 20 January 1726 as part of his third cantata cycle.
Bach composed the cantata in his third year as Thomaskantor, setting a libretto which Georg Christian Lehms, a court poet in Darmstadt, had already published in 1711. Lehms based his text on one idea from the prescribed gospel, Jesus saying: "Mine hour is not yet come". The text is divided into two groups of three movements each, both concluded with a chorale. The first group features first an aria, then a recitative, the second first a recitative, then an aria. The third movement is the second stanza of Johann Heermann's hymn "Zion klagt mit Angst und Schmerzen", the closing chorale is the final stanza of Paul Fleming's "In allen meinen Taten".
The cantata is scored for four soloists, a four-part choir (SATB) only in the closing chorale, two recorders, oboe da caccia, strings and continuo.
History and words
[edit]Bach composed the cantata in his third year as Thomaskantor (director of church music) in Leipzig for the Second Sunday after Epiphany.[2][3]: 197 The prescribed readings for the Sunday were taken from the Epistle to the Romans, we have several gifts, each is unique, as part of the body of Christ (cf also I Corinthians 12) (Romans 12:6–16), and from the Gospel of John, the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1–11).[3]: 197 ?
Bach set a text written by Georg Christian Lehms, court poet in Darmstadt, who published it in 1711.[2] Bach had set texts by Lehms already when he composed cantatas for the Weimar court from 1714 to 1717.[4] In the 1725/26 Christmas season, he had used mostly librettos by Lehms. The poet took a single idea from the gospel, Jesus saying: "Mine hour is not yet come".[3]: 198 The text is divided into two parts of three movements each, the first dealing with the distress of someone feeling abandoned, set as an aria and a recitative, and the second with hope for God's help, a recitative and aria. Both parts are closed by a chorale. The third movement is the second stanza of Johann Heermann's hymn "Zion klagt mit Angst und Schmerzen",[2] the closing chorale is the final stanza of Paul Fleming's "In allen meinen Taten".[2] The Bach scholar Alfred Dürr wrote in his Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach that it is unlikely that the work was split in performance before and after the service, considering its brevity.[3]: 198
Bach led the first performance at the Thomaskirche on 20 January 1726.[2][3]: 197 The work is regarded as part of Bach's third cantata cycle.[2]
Music
[edit]Structure and scoring
[edit]The cantata in six movements is intimately scored for four soloists, soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T), and bass (B), a four-part choir (SATB) in the chorales, two recorders (Fl), oboe da caccia (Oc), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo.[3]: 197–198 The continuo plays throughout.[2]
| No. | Title | Text | Type | Vocal | Winds | Strings | Key | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen | Lehms | Aria | T | 2Fl Oc | D minor | 12/8 | |
| 2 | Mein liebster Gott läßt mich annoch | Lehms | Recitative | A | 
| |||
| 3 | Der Gott, der mir hat versprochen | Heermann | Chorale | A | Fl Oc | 2Vl VA | F major |
|
| 4 | Mein Kummer nimmet zu | Lehms | Recitativo | S |
| |||
| 5 | Ächzen und erbärmlich Weinen | Lehms | Aria | B | Fl | solo violin | G minor |
|
| 6 | So, sei nun, Seele, deine | Fleming | Chorale | SATB | Fl Oc | 2Vl VA | B-flat major |
|
Movements
[edit]The cantata is opened by an aria, a lamento accompanied by soft recorders and the dark sound of the oboe da caccia which leads frequently. It is a da capo form, but the middle section is again divided in two parts.[3]: 199 In it, the voice shows the "Weg zum Tod" (road to death)[1] by several downward steps.[3]: 199 Dürr points out that this composition "illustrates how the imagination of the Baroque musician is particularly fired by texts dealing with sighing and pain".[3]: 199 [5] The following short secco recitative ends as an arioso on the words "vergebens flehen" (plead in vain).[1]
In the chorale, the woodwinds play the cantus firmus in unison with the alto voice, while the strings play independent figuration in F major, illustrating hope, although the text says that hope is not yet in sight.[3]: 199 John Eliot Gardiner describes the "confident diatonic harmonies" as an "optimistic, wordless answer" to the voice's "prayer for comfort".[5]
A second expressive recitative leads to a second aria, which is accompanied by violin I and the recorders, playing in unison an octave higher.[3]: 199 The lamenting text of the beginning "Ächzen und erbärmlich Weinen" (groaning and pitiful weeping)[1] is stressed by intervals such as augmented second, diminished fifth and diminished seventh. The ritornello has two distinctly different parts, a lamenting section and a hopeful one, full of fast runs and passages.[3]: 199 In the middle section, the text "wer gen Himmel siehet" (he who looks towards heaven)[1] is accented by an octave leap upwards in the voice and upwards runs in the instruments, contrasting the downward line in movement 1.[3]: 199
The closing chorale is a four-part setting of the melody of "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen" by Heinrich Isaac.[3]: 199 [6]
![\header { tagline = ##f }
\layout { indent = 0 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } }
global = { \key bes \major \time 4/4 \partial 4 }
tn = \tempo 4=84
tf = \tempo 4=42
soprano = \relative c'' { \global \set midiInstrument = "violin"
\tn d4 | bes c d8 (es) f4 | es2 \tf d4\fermata
\tn d8 (es) | f4 f c d | bes2 \tf c4\fermata
\tn f, | bes c d d8 (es) | c2.\fermata
d4 | bes c d8 (es) f4 | es2 \tf d4\fermata
\tn d8 (es) | f4 f c d | bes2 \tf a4\fermata
\tn f | bes c d \tempo 4 = 75 es | d \tempo 4 = 69 c \tempo 4 = 30 bes\fermata \bar "|."
}
alto = \relative c'' { \global \set midiInstrument = "viola"
bes4 | g a bes f | g (f) f
f8 (es) | d ([es]) f (g) a4 a | g2 c,4
d | d f f f | f2.
a4 | g f f g | g2 g4
f | f8 ([g]) a (bes) c ([bes]) a (g) | f4 (g) f
c | f g8 (a) bes4 a8 (g) | f4 f8 (es) d4 \bar "|."
}
tenor = \relative c' { \global \set midiInstrument = "cello"
f4 | es es f c | bes (c) bes
bes | bes bes f' f | f (e) a,
a | bes a bes bes | a2.
d4 | d c bes8 (c) d4 | d (c) b
bes | c8 ([bes]) a (g) f (g) a4 | d (c) c
a | bes es, f8 (g) a4 | bes a f \bar "|."
}
bass = \relative c' { \global \set midiInstrument = "cello"
bes4 | es8 (d) c4 bes a | g (a) bes
bes,8 (c) | d ([c]) d (es) f4 d | g2 f4
d | g f8 (es) d (c) bes4 | f'2.
fis4 | g a bes b | c (c,) g'
bes | a8 ([g]) f (g) a4 f | d (e) f
es | d c bes c | d8 (es) f4 bes, \bar "|."
}
verse = \lyricmode {
\set stanza = "9." So sei nun, See -- le, dei -- ne
und trau -- e dem al -- lei -- ne,
der dich ge -- schaf -- fen hat.
Es ge -- he, wie es ge -- he,
dein Va -- ter in der Hö -- he,
der weiß zu al -- len Sa -- chen Rat.
}
\score {
\new ChoirStaff
<< \new Staff
<<
\new Voice = "soprano" { \voiceOne \soprano }
\new Voice = "alto" { \voiceTwo \alto }
>>
\new Lyrics \with { \override VerticalAxisGroup #'staff-affinity = #CENTER }
\lyricsto "soprano" \verse
\new Staff
<<
\clef bass
\new Voice = "tenor" { \voiceOne \tenor }
\new Voice = "bass" { \voiceTwo \bass }
>>
>>
\layout { }
}
\score { << \soprano \\ \alto \\ \tenor \\ \bass >>
\midi {
\context { \Score midiChannelMapping = #'instrument }
\context { \Staff \remove "Staff_performer" }
\context { \Voice \consists "Staff_performer" }
}
}](http://upload.wikimedia.org/score/8/h/8h6r1ixap94j3l6upzkk05x0yamhr09/8h6r1ixa.png)
Recordings
[edit]The entries are taken from the listing on the Bach Cantatas website.[7] Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked green under the header Instr..
| Title | Conductor / Choir / Orchestra | Soloists | Label | Year | Instr. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bach Cantatas Vol. 1 – Advent and Christmas[8] | Karl RichterMünchener Bach-ChorMünchener Bach-Orchester | Archiv Produktion | 1971 | ||
| J. S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk • Complete Cantatas • Les Cantates, Folge / Vol. 1[8] | Gustav LeonhardtLeonhardt-Consort |
|
Teldec | 1972 | Period |
| Die Bach Kantate Vol. 23[8] | Helmuth RillingGächinger KantoreiBach-Collegium Stuttgart |
|
Hänssler | 1981 | |
| Bach Edition Vol. 9 – Cantatas Vol. 4[8] | Pieter Jan LeusinkHolland Boys ChoirNetherlands Bach Collegium | Brilliant Classics | 1999 | Period | |
| Bach Cantatas Vol. 19: Greenwich/Romsey[8] | John Eliot GardinerMonteverdi ChoirEnglish Baroque Soloists | Soli Deo Gloria | 2000 | Period | |
| J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 17[8] | Ton KoopmanAmsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir | Antoine Marchand | 2001 | Period | |
| J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 42 – BWV 13, 16, 32, 72[8] | Masaaki SuzukiBach Collegium Japan | BIS | 2008 | Period | |
| J. S. Bach: Cantatas for the Complete Liturgical Year Vol. 8: "Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen" – Cantatas BWV 13 · 73 · 81 · 144[8] | Sigiswald KuijkenLa Petite Bande | Accent | 2008 | Period | |
| J. S. Bach: Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13 | Shunske SatoNetherlands Bach Society |
|
Channel Classics Records | 2024 | Period |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Dellal, Pamela. "BWV 13 – Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen". Emmanuel Music. Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen BWV 13; BC A 34". Bach Digital. 2026. Archived from the original on 1 December 2025. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Dürr, Alfred; Jones, Richard D. P. (2006). "Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110". The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text. Oxford University Press. pp. 197–199. ISBN 978-0-19-929776-4.
- ^ Wolff, Christoph (2002). "Mostly Cantatas". Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. Oxford University Press. pp. 253–295. ISBN 978-0-39-332256-9.
- ^ a b Gardiner, John Eliot (2006). For the Second Sunday after Epiphany (PDF) (Media notes). Soli Deo Gloria. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
- ^ Dahn, Luke (2026). "BWV 13.6". bach-chorales.com. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
- ^ Oron, Aryed (2026). "Cantata BWV 13 Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen". Bach Cantatas. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Cantata for soloists [4], choir and orchestra BWV.13, "Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen"". Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. 2026. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
External links
[edit]- Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Chapter 12 Bwv 13 – The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, A listener and student guide by Julian Mincham, 2010
- Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13: performance by the Netherlands Bach Society (video and background information)
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