This cantata, like BWV 49 that we heard a few weeks ago, is written as a dialogue between the soul and Jesus, assigned to soprano and bass respectively.

It was composed for the first Sunday of 1727 and contains references to early episodes of the Gospel, such as the flight to Egypt and the slaughter of the children by Herod.

The libretto is by Christoph Birkman like several of the cantatas from this period, and is mostly self-reflective. The theme focuses on the soul, tormented by the difficulties of the earthly world, who receives consolation from Jesus (“Vox Christi”) and longs for the transition to the “Heavenly Paradise”. An unspoken parallel is established between the pilgrimage of Jesus and his parents to Egypt and the transition of the soul to Eden.

The structure of the cantata is symmetrical. The exterior movements are two dialogues, in which the soprano sings chorales to the same melody and the bass responds with elaborate arias, offering patience in the first and consolation in the last. The chorale verses (Martin Moller, 1587 and Martin Behm, 1610) are interspersed line by line with Brikmann’s text assigned to the bass.

In the second movement, a recitative for bass, the “Vox Christi” offers reflection and consolation to the soul, paraphrasing the Gospel episodes of that Sunday (Matthew 2: 13-23).

The central point of the structure is an aria for soprano with solo violin, which elaborates on resignation and trust in God expressed as “letter and seal” (“Brief und Siegel”).

In the following recitative, the soul mentions the passage from the earthly world to Eden. The movement begins as a “secco” recitative but becomes an arioso to express the longing for an early transition.

The final movement replicates the structure of the first, with the same melody on the soprano chorale. However the bass aria is different, with a more celebratory and definitive character with respect to the offer of blessings and comfort.