Lord Jesus ‘Christian, true’ man and God – Wikipédia

“Saint-Jérôme and the trumpet of the Last Judgment”, Pasquale Catti oil painting, c. 1600.

Lord Jesus ‘Christian, true’ man and God ( Lord Jesus Christ, true man and true God ), BWV 127, is a religious cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach composed in Leipzig in 1725.

The theme of the choral is taken up from the psalm “Command your ways” . This song was originally composed by Hans Leo Hassler in imitation of profane love song ‘ My G’Müt is confused by a virgin » , printed in 1601.

Bach composes this choral cantata during its second year in Leipzig for Estomihi. This Sunday, also called “quinquagésime”, is the last Sunday before Carlme, when Leipzig observes the time locked and that no cantata is played ^{[ first ] , [ 2 ]} . For this liturgical destination, three other cantatas crossed the threshold of posterity: the BWV 22, 23 and 159. In 1723, Bach probably directed two cantatas in Leipzig this Sunday, You true God and David’s son , (BWV 23), previously written in Köthen, and Jesus took the twelve , (BWV 22), both pieces of demonstration to go to Thomaskantor’s post in Leipzig ^{[ 3 ]} .

The readings prescribed for this Sunday are taken from the first epistle to the Corinthians, “Praise of love” (13: 1–13) and the Gospel according to Luke, the healing of the blind person near Jericho (18: 31 –43). The Gospel also announces the passion of Christ ^{[ 2 ]} . The text of the first and last movements is based on the funeral song in eight stanzas of Paul Eber (1562). The hymn agrees with the Gospel, highlighting as much passion as the demand for the blind in the last line of the first stanza: “You want to be gracious to me” (“Have mercy on me who is a sinner”). Further on, the song sees the path of Jesus in Jerusalem as a model for the believer’s path to its end in salvation. An unknown self -employment (probably Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) kept the first and last stanzas and paraphrassed intermediate stanzas in a succession of recitatives and arias. The second and third stanzas are transformed into a recitative, the fourth stanza in an aria , the fifth stanza again in a recitative and the sixth and seventh stanza in another Aria.

Bach directs the canta le February 11, 1725 for the first time ^{[ 2 ]} .

Cantata is written for trumpet, oboe, two flutes, two violins, viola and continuous bass, two vocal soloists (tenor, bass) and choir in four parts.

There are six movements:

1. Choir: Lord Jesus ‘Christian, true’ man and God
2. Recitative (tenor): If everything was horrified in recent times
3. Air (soprano): The soul rests in Jesus’ hands
4. Recitative (bass): When the trombones sound
5. Air (low): For your way around, I will tell you
6. Choir: Oh gentleman, forgive all our guilt

The opening choral is structured by a long introduction and interludes. These parties play on a concerted motive from the first line of the choral, but also have a singing firm taken from the choral “Christian, you lamb of God” , first played by the strings and then by the oboe and the beaks. Bach later used this choral, the Agnus Dei Lutheran ^{[ 4 ]} , as singing firm In the opening choir of his passion according to Saint Matthew. His request, “Mercy out of our” (have mercy of us), corresponds to the request of the blind ^{[ 2 ]} . A third choral is cited repeatedly in the continuo, ” Oh head, full of blood and wounds ” ^{[ first ]} . Christoph Wolff observes that the following work that Bach directs is the second version of his passion according to Saint John, in which he replaces the opening and closing movements of the first version with music based on chorals “O man whip your sin big” which will become the last movement of the first part of the passion according to Saint Matthew, and again “Christian, you lamb of God” ^{[ first ]} .

Bach has chosen a rare instrumentation for the first ARIA in which the oboe plays a melody supported by brief beak flutes agreements and where “Coloring steers” (funeral bells) of the central section are represented by strings pizzicati. The fourth movement illustrates the day of judgment. The trumpets make their entry on the text “When the trombones sound” (When the trumpets resonate one day). This unusual movement combines the recitative accompanied With an Aria, opposing the end of the world to the safety of believers, expressed by the words and the music of the choral. John Eliot Gardiner describes this movement as “a vast evocation of the Last Judgment … in which hell is unleashed in the way excited (excited) of Monteverdi ” ^{[ 4 ]} . He compares it to “striking double choir “If flashes are, thunder in clouds have disappeared” passion according to Saint Matthew ” ^{[ 4 ]} .

The final choral is arranged as a quarter attentive to the details of the text, such as the movement of the low voices on the “Our belief is always back” (May our faith remain valiant) and the colored harmony of the last line “Until we fall asleep” (Until we sleep soothed) ^{[ 2 ]} .