Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Cantata BWV 107: Was willst du dich betrüben (23 July 1724)
1. Was willst du dich betrüben (Chorus)
2. Denn Gott verlässet keinen (Recitative: B) 03:58
3. Auf ihn magst du es wagen (Aria: B) 05:00
4. Wenn auch gleich aus der Höllen (Aria: T) 07:52
5. Er richts zu seinen Ehren (Aria: S) 10:26
6. Drum ich mich ihm ergebe (Aria: T) 13:05
7. Herr, gib, daß ich dein Ehre (Chorale) 15:50
Soloists:
Soprano - Agnès Mellon
Alto - Charles Brett
Tenor - Howard Crook
Bass - Peter Kooy
Performed by Philippe Herreweghe and the Chorus & Orchestra of Collegium Vocale Gent (1993).
"Was willst du dich betrüben (BWV 107), written for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, is probably from the second annual cycle that Bach wrote at Leipzig; certainly it was performed on 23rd July 1724. It is a chorale cantata, as are the majority of the works in that cycle. A most unusual feature, however, is the fact that although the hymn text is used unchanged throughout, the music of stanzas 2 to 6, which are set as 'modern' recitatives and arias, bear virtually no resemblance to the chorale tune, which is that of 'Von Gott will ich nicht lassen' of 1690. This work is, therefore, a foreign body in the cycle of 1724/25, anticipating the later chorale cantatas BWV 137, 129, 117, 192, 122, 177, 97, and 100. It may well be that Bach was obliged to use the chorale text in its original form in July 1724, because the usual arranger was not available, or perhaps because he had written it when visiting Cöthen. This expedient later developed into the genus 'chorale cantata'.
No less unusual are the musical details of the work. The first stanza is set as a spacious chorale with the decorated melody in the soprano line; the instrumental ritornello and the chorale are not, however, thematically or stylistically linked but simply follow one another, the ritornello performing the function of expressing the sentiments of sadness and consolation to which the words refer. The second stanza takes the form of a recitative which eventually develops into an arioso; the salient words of the text - 'joy' and 'salvation through God' - are highlighted with a degree of emphasis that would hardly be possible in a true aria. Stanzas 3 to 6 are arias arranged in the medieval binary 'Bar' form a-a-b, as is the whole chorale: 2 'Stollen' of two lines each and an 'Abgesang' of 4 lines. Stanzas 3 and 6 are in the major, the orchestration is somewhat fuller, the style is almost dance-like in its buoyancy, the inflection positively modern, almost in the galant manner; the chorale does not appear at all. The middle stanzas are in the minor; they are more lightly scored and contrast with one another in accordance with their texts. Stanza No. 4 depicts Satan rising up and raging in a quasi-ostinato continuo motif and wild coloratura. Stanza No. 5 presents 'seine Ehren' (His honor) and 'deine Seligkeit' (your bliss) as a pleasant pastoral scene; this is the only time, except in the first and last stanzas, that the hymn tune is used to emphasize the main message of the text. 'Er richts zu seinen Ehren' (He ordains it in his honor) is the first line with embellishments, and 'was Gott willt, das geschieht' (what God wills shall be done) repeats, in augmentation, the last line. In the final stanza the customary four-part chorale is built into an extended instrumental siciliano, recalling the end of the 5th stanza, which at the beginning paraphrases the hymn tune; a highly effective four-bar epilogue ending in the major appears to comment once again on the emotional progression from sadness to sure faith." - Ludwig Finscher