Gott soll allein mein Herze haben (God alone shall have my heart),[1] BWV 169,[1] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the cantata for an alto soloist in Leipzig for the 18th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 20 October 1726.
Contents
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History and words 1
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Scoring and structure 2
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Music 3
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Selected recordings 4
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Notes 5
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References 6
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Sources 7
History and words
Bach wrote the cantata in his fourth year Bach in Leipzig for the 18th Sunday after Trinity. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul's thanks for grace of God in Ephesus (1 Corinthians 1:4–8), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:34–46).
The unknown author of the text concentrated on the love of God in movements 2 to 5 and added one movement about the love of your neighbour in movement 6, continued in the concluding chorale, the third stanza of Martin Luther's "Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist". The poet connected the first recitative to the following aria by starting the two thoughts in the recitative by a related line from the aria as a motto, and ending both with the a recapitulation of the first line. The second recitative is a paraphrase of 2 Kings 2:1, Elijah lifted to heaven. The second aria is a paraphrase of 1 John 2:15–16, which sets the love of God apart from the love of the world.[2]
The only other extant cantata for the Sunday is the chorale cantata
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Cantatas, BWV 161-170: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
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Gott soll allein mein Herze haben BWV 169; BC A 143 / Cantata Leipzig University
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Cantata BWV 169 Gott soll allein mein Herze haben history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, bach-cantatas website
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Gott soll allein mein Herze haben history, scoring, Bach website (German)
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BWV 169 Gott soll allein mein Herze haben English translation, University of Vermont
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BWV 169 Gott soll allein mein Herze haben text, scoring, University of Alberta
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Carol Traupman-Carr: Cantata BWV 169 Gott soll allein mein Herze haben analysis, Bach Choir of Bethlehem
Sources
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References
Notes
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J.S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 157 & BWV 169, Diethard Hellmann, Kantorei & Kammerorchester der Christuskirche Mainz, Lotte Wolf-Matthäus, Cantate 1958
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Maureen Forrester sings Bach & Handel, Antonio Janigro, I Solisti di Zagreb, Maureen Forrester, Vanguard 1964
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J.S. Bach & Handel: Solo Cantatas & Vocal Works, Yehudi Menuhin, Bath Festival Orchestra, Janet Baker, EMI 1966
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J.S. Bach: Cantates BWV 161 & BWV 169, Frigyes Sándor, Chamber Choir and Orchestra of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Julia Hamari, Hungaroton 1966
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J.S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk – Sacred Cantatas Vol. 9, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Tölzer Knabenchor, Paul Esswood, Teldec 1987
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Bach Kantaten BWV 35, BWV 169, BWV 49 (Sinfonia), Hartmut Haenchen, RIAS Kammerchor, Kammerorchester Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Jochen Kowalski, Berlin Classics 1994
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Bach Edition Vol. 9 – Cantatas Vol. 4, Pieter Jan Leusink, Holland Boys Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium, Sytse Buwalda, Brilliant Classics 1999
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Bach Cantatas Vol. 9, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Nathalie Stutzmann, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
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J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 17, Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bogna Bartosz, Antoine Marchand 2002
As a solo cantata, the work has attracted many conductors and singers who are not specialists in Baroque music to record it. Conductors have included Rudolf Barshai and Ludwig Güttler and singers Birgit Finnilä, Jadwiga Rappé and Monica Groop. Andreas Scholl recorded it in 2010 with Julia Schröder leading as concertmaster the Kammerorchester Basel with Junko Takamaya, Michael Feyfar and Raitis Grigalis singing the chorale.[6][7]
Selected recordings
After the love of God has been expanded in great detail in five movements, the commandment to also love one's neighbour is expressed in a short recitative, leading to the chorale, which asks the Holy Spirit to assist in doing so, "so that we might love each other from our hearts and remain of one mind in peace".[2]
As in a number of other works, Bach reused some of his earlier works. The first movement, a Agnus Dei from Bach's Mass in B minor'.[3] The text marks a farewell to love in the world: "Stirb in mir, Welt und alle deine Liebe" (Die in me, world and all your love).[1] The music of the aria, marked "Siciliano" as the slow movement of the harpsichord concerto, has been regarded as a "farewell to worldly life",[4] in "a mood of heart-stopping intensity",[3] also as a mystic contemplation of a heavenly love.[2] The aria has been compared in character to the aria of the repenting Peter "Erbarme dich" from Bach's St Matthew Passion.[5]
Music
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Sinfonia
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Arioso: Gott soll allein mein Herze haben
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Aria: Gott soll allein mein Herze haben
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Recitative: Was ist die Liebe Gottes
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Aria: Stirb in mir, Welt, und alle deine Liebe
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Recitative: Doch meint es auch dabei
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Chorale: Du süße Liebe, schenk uns deine Gunst
The cantata in seven movements is scored for alto, a obbligato and basso continuo.[2]
Scoring and structure
Bach first performed the cantata on 20 October 1726. It is regarded as part of his third annual cycle of cantatas.[2]
[4], also concluded by a chorale. It is not known if Bach looked for texts suitable for a solo voice, or if texts were "clerically imposed on him", which stressed individual piety and therefore suggested to be treated as solo cantatas.Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56 A week later, Bach composed the famous cantata for bass solo, [3]
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