Like Cantata 72, which we heard in late 2020, this one was composed for the third Sunday after Epiphany in 1729. While the former had a libretto by Salomon Franck, Bach’s frequent collaborator in Weimar, this one is part of Bach’s partnership with Picander in Leipzig.

Picander based his libretto on the Gospel for the day, which narrates two episodes of Jesus’ healing of the sick, a man with leprosy and a centurion’s servant (Matthew 8, 1-13). The leprous man submits to Jesus’s will as he asks to be cured, and the centurion displays faith as he makes his request to Jesus. The centurion’s utterance (“Lord, I am not good enough for you to come into my house…”) became part of the standard text of Catholic Mass.

Picander picks up these elements in his text, most directly in Nos. 3 and 4, and they also influenced his choice of a chorale text, by Kaspar Bienemann (1582).

This brief cantata, scored for modest forces, opens with a sinfonia featuring a solo oboe line accompanied by strings and continuo. This movement is also known to us as the middle movement of the Harpsichord Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056. Scholars believe that both pieces are connected to an early instrumental concerto that didn’t survive.

The second movement is interesting in its structure, as it’s set as a tenor aria with a superimposed chorale tune by the soprano. The main motif is first stated by the strings and later imitated by the tenor, with word painting elements such as long sustained notes on the words “Ich steh” (“I stand”) and descending 16ths for “fällt” (“fall”). The chorale tune sung by the soprano is associated with a hymn by Johann Hermann Schein of 1628, and the two texts are intercalated.

An extensive secco recitative for the bass follows, in whose text Picander elaborates on the concepts of Matthew’s gospel. The last line, “je länger hier, je später dort” (“the longer here, the later there”) is emphasized by Bach by a switch to arioso, as he often does in compositions of this period. Word painting is also present in this final line, with “hier” (“here”) on the lowest note, and “dort” (“there”) on the highest one.

Next is another aria, this time for the alto, which also elaborates on the main concept from the scripture (“Herr, was du willt” – “Lord, whatever your will”). It’s set with solo oboe and violin, with imitative entrances on the upbeat theme, shifting the overall mood to one of hope and trust. The character gets a bit more somber for the middle section on the concept of “im Sterben” (“in death”).

Another bass recitative leads to a plain four-part harmonization of Bienemann’s chorale text, with the instruments doubling the voices.