J.S. Bach / Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? BWV 8 (Herreweghe)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Cantata BWV 8: Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? (24 September 1724)

1. Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? (Chorus)
2. Was willst du dich, mein Geist, entsetzen (Aria: T) 06:40
3. Zwar fühlt mein schwaches Herz (Recitative: A) 10:25
4. Doch weichet, ihr tollen, vergeblichen Sorgen! (Aria: B) 11:19
5. Behalte nur, o Welt, das Meine! (Recitative: S) 16:05
6. Herrscher über Tod und Leben (Chorale) 17:08

Soloists:
Soprano: Deborah York
Alto: Ingeborg Danz
Tenor: Mark Padmore
Bass: Peter Kooy

Collegium Vocale Gent performs under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe. Recorded by Harmonia Mundi France in 1998.

"'Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?' was completed on 24 September 1724. For a performance in Bach's later years the work was transposed from E major to D major, which resulted in a number of minor changes. [The version here is the one in E major.] Caspar Neumann's chorale melody appears in an expressively ornamented form in the opening chorus, but in comparison with most of the other chorale-cantatas, this choral writing is conspicuously simple. Bach makes one of the lines of the chorale -- 'Meine Zeit läuft immer hin' -- the point of departure for an atmospherically extremely dense musical depiction. The main weight of the opening movement lies in the unusually expansive instrumental ritornelli, for which Bach has devised an extraordinary 'pictorial' sound texture. Over an unremitting quaver movement in the muted strings, the musical equivalent of the time continuum, two oboes d'amore unfurl a constantly varied ritornello theme, which stands for the idea of fleeting time. They are joined by a piccolo whose repeated notes are a stylised representation of the death bell. In the sharpest imaginable contrast to the elegiac serenity of the opening chorus, the following aria, 'Was willst du dich, mein Geist, entsetzen', is an expressively highly charged, rhythmically and melodically driven piece that captures the anguished tension before the moment of death. An accompanied recitative leads into the bass aria in which the fear of death appears to change into the certitude of a better life. In a variety of ways Bach reaches back to the opening chorus, where, as here, a rocking 12/8 time sets the tone of a restful, pastoral gesture, and even in the bass aria the solo flute plays a significant role." - Thomas Seedorf

Painting: A Visit (detail), Carl Spitzweg

[katherinewyatt]

I can never listen to Bach without crying yet it can get me up in the morning. There is need for any more explanations, those that love Bach know what I mean. He is the ultimate and most sublime of any composer.

[rogerbodey]

When I listen to Bach, I have to suspend my unbelief.

[JGBaroque]

This was just the very thing I needed right now. I am so thankful for finding this clip, thank you for uploading it!

[stephentrahair]

The repeated piccolo notes high above everything else in the 1st movement are too quick to represent funeral bells, and the style is far from funereal. They are better seen as the ticking of life's clock, as the poet asks "how much longer have I got?"

[MrRuplenas]

Nothing in Bach is simple - it just sounds that way. ("There is one art, no more, no less; to do all things with artlessness" - Piet Hein) The flute is not a bird call. Each time it plays, it sounds the same pitch 24 times. When local residents died in Bach's time and place, bells tolled 24 times to mark the death. Listen also to how the accompaniment in the 1st movement mimics the ticking of a clock, and how suddenly the first movement ends. Life is transient, Bach is telling us.

[ericwicherts]

How is it that this 17th century genius still hold us spellbound

[ivaibhavgoyal]

How beautiful! I can now deal with life

[rogerbodey]

Bach confronts our mortality and makes its burden bearable.

[wimolo]

Bach is absolutely the greatest composer ever. How unbelieveble that he wrote down his music he just heared in his head and soul and that it all sounds more than perfect, even like heaven and touch you so much, so deep.. I hope to meet him at last as the chiefmusician in heaven.

[rogerbodey]

It seems to me that the two great spiritual composers are Bach and Beethoven. The difference is that Bach concentrates the Infinite in his music, Beethoven expands his music to fill the infinite. All great composers create cosmic music but not, perhaps, so frequently as Bach and Beethoven, who stand at the very forefront of human achievement.

[MrMark]

1.Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? (0:00)
2.Was willst du dich, mein Geist, entsetzen (6:41)
3.Zwar fuhlt mein schwaches Herz Furcht (10:25)
4.Doch weichet, ihr tollen, vergeblichen Sorgen! (11:20)
5.Behalte nur, o Welt, das Meine! (16:07)
6.Herrscher über Tor und Leben (17:11)

[southernbiscuits]

This is one of the most beautiful pieces of Bach's music I've ever heard. This is the first time I've ever heard it. The opening chorus with the repeating notes of the flute is so affective. For me, Bach is the greatest composer that has ever lived. He shows us heaven through his music.

[albertfocarius]

Quelle beauté et quelle interprétation magnifiquement réussie. Merci Philippe Herreweghe.

[danielschlosberg]

I really don't think organized sound gets any better than this opening chorus.

[Jalapablo]

The "Liebster Gott" chorus is timeless. There's nothing like it anywhere. It is unearthly, eternal, the intangible stuff from dreams and the mysterious hypnogogic realm of the spirit. The endless universe is in Bach's music.

[antoniaseyschab]

J.S.BACH ist für mich der größte, feinfühligste, sensibelste, weiseste.Wenn ich Bach höre dann glaube ich mich bereits im Himmel zu wissen..

[abirdthatflew]

Utterly sublime masterwork by the incomparable Bach. Thank you so much Philippe Herreweghe for the glory days of the Collegium Vocale Gent.

[SlateFx]

This Cantata, I may have found his best yet, it really sounds like a wistful dream, a fantasy land, completely surreal and magical. What a treat.

[johnsilverton]

1. Chor
Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?
Meine Zeit läuft immer hin,
Und des alten Adams Erben,
Unter denen ich auch bin,
Haben dies zum Vaterteil,
Daß sie eine kleine Weil
Arm und elend sein auf Erden
Und denn selber Erde werden.
("Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?" verse 1)

1. Chorus
Dearest God, when will I die?
My time runs away continually,
and the old legacy of Adam,
which includes me as well,
has this as its inheritance;
for a little time
to be poor and wretched on the earth
and then to become earth itself.

2. Arie T
Was willst du dich, mein Geist, entsetzen,
Wenn meine letzte Stunde schlägt?
Mein Leib neigt täglich sich zur Erden,
Und da muß seine Ruhstatt werden,
Wohin man so viel tausend trägt.

2. Aria T
Why should you recoil, my spirit,
when my last hour strikes?
My body bows itself daily to the earth,
and there must my resting-place be,
to which so many thousand are borne.

3. Recitativ A
Zwar fühlt mein schwaches Herz
Furcht, Sorge, Schmerz:
Wo wird mein Leib die Ruhe finden?
Wer wird die Seele doch
Vom aufgelegten Sündenjoch
Befreien und entbinden?
Das Meine wird zerstreut,
Und wohin werden meine Lieben
In ihrer Traurigkeit
Zertrennt, vertrieben?

3. Recitative A
Indeed my weak heart feels
fear, worry, pain:
where will my body find rest?
Who will yet
from its overlaid burden of sin
release and free my soul?
All that is mine will be destroyed,
and what will become of my loved ones,
in their grief
cut off, exiled?

4. Arie B
Doch weichet, ihr tollen, vergeblichen Sorgen!
Mich rufet mein Jesus: wer sollte nicht gehn?
Nichts, was mir gefällt,
Besitzet die Welt.
Erscheine mir, seliger, fröhlicher Morgen,
Verkläret und herrlich vor Jesu zu stehn.

4. Aria B
But hence, you foolish, useless worries!
My Jesus calls me: who wouldn't go?
Nothing that delights me
belongs to the world.
Dawn on me, blessed, joyful morning,
transfigured and glorious, standing before Jesus.

5. Recitativ S
Behalte nur, o Welt, das Meine!
Du nimmst ja selbst mein Fleisch und mein Gebeine,
So nimm auch meine Armut hin;
Genug, daß mir aus Gottes Überfluß
Das höchste Gut noch werden muß,
Genug, daß ich dort reich und selig bin.
Was aber ist von mir zu erben,
Als meines Gottes Vatertreu?
Die wird ja alle Morgen neu
Und kann nicht sterben.

5. Recitative S
Keep then, o world, my possessions!
You take indeed my flesh and my bones,
so take also these poor belongings;
it is enough, that from God's abundance
the greatest good must come to me,
enough, that I shall be rich and happy there.
What else is there to inherit from me,
other than the fatherly love of my God?
This is renewed every morning
and can never die.

6. Choral
Herrscher über Tod und Leben,
Mach einmal mein Ende gut,
Lehre mich den Geist aufgeben
Mit recht wohlgefaßtem Mut.
Hilf, daß ich ein ehrlich Grab
Neben frommen Christen hab
Und auch endlich in der Erde
Nimmermehr zuschanden werde!
("Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?" verse 5)

6. Chorale
Sovereign over death and life,
make my end a good one,
teach me to resign my spirit
with a well-composed courage.
Help, that I might have an honorable grave
next to righteous Christians
and also at last, in the earth,
nevermore be dishonored!

"Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?" Kaspar Neumann (before 1697) (verse 1, mov't 1; verses 2-4, source for mov'ts. 2-5; verse 5, mov't. 6)

[ZORRO]

I'm in another world when i hear Bach, and this one is georgeous.