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German Original
BWV 159
Sehet! Wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem
1. Arioso B e Recitativo A
Baß
Sehet!
Alt
Komm, schaue doch, mein Sinn,
Wo geht dein Jesus hin?
Baß
Wir gehn hinauf
Alt
O harter Gang! hinauf?
O ungeheurer Berg, den meine Sünden zeigen!
Wie sauer wirst du müssen steigen!
Baß
Gen Jerusalem.
Alt
Ach, gehe nicht!
Dein Kreuz ist dir schon zugericht',
Wo du dich sollst zu Tode bluten;
Hier sucht man Geißeln vor, dort bindt man Ruten;
Die Bande warten dein;
Ach, gehe selber nicht hinein!
Doch bliebest du zurücke stehen,
So müßt ich selbst nicht nach Jerusalem,
Ach, leider in die Hölle gehen.
2. Aria A e Choral S
Ich folge dir nach
Ich will hier bei dir stehen,
Verachte mich doch nicht!
Durch Speichel und Schmach;
Von dir will ich nicht gehen,
Am Kreuz will ich dich noch umfangen,
Bis dir dein Herze bricht.
Dich laß ich nicht aus meiner Brust,
Wenn dein Haupt wird erblassen
Im letzten Todesstoß,
Und wenn du endlich scheiden mußt,
Alsdenn will ich dich fassen,
Sollst du dein Grab in mir erlangen.
In meinen Arm und Schoß.
3. Recitativo T
Nun will ich mich,
Mein Jesu, über dich
In meinem Winkel grämen;
Die Welt mag immerhin
Den Gift der Wollust zu sich nehmen,
Ich labe mich an meinen Tränen
Und will mich eher nicht
Nach einer Freude sehnen,
Bis dich mein Angesicht
Wird in der Herrlichkeit erblicken,
Bis ich durch dich erlöset bin;
Da will ich mich mit dir erquicken.
4. Aria B
Es ist vollbracht,
Das Leid ist alle,
Wir sind von unserm Sündenfalle
In Gott gerecht gemacht.
Nun will ich eilen
Und meinem Jesu Dank erteilen,
Welt, gute Nacht!
Es ist vollbracht!
5. Choral
Jesu, deine Passion
Ist mir lauter Freude,
Deine Wunden, Kron und Hohn
Meines Herzens Weide;
Meine Seel auf Rosen geht,
Wenn ich dran gedenke,
In dem Himmel eine Stätt
Mir deswegen schenke.
Besetzung Soli: A T B, Coro: S A T B, Oboe, Violino
I/II, Continuo (+ Fagotto)
Entstehungszeit 27. Februar 1729
Text Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) 1728;
1: Lukas 18,31; 2: Paul Gerhaardt 1656; 5: Paul Stockmann 1633
Anlass Estomihi
from the Bach Cantata Page
Created by Walter F. Bischof
Used with permission |
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English Translation
1. Arioso [Dictum] (B)(1) and Recit. (A)
(B)
See now!
(A)
Come, ponder well, my mind,
Where doth thy Jesus go?
(B)
We're going up
(A)
O cruel path! That way?
O uninviting hill, of all my sins the token!
How sorely wilt thou have to climb it!
(B)
To Jerusalem.
(A)
Ah, do not go!
Thy cross for thee is now prepared,
Where thou thy bloody death must suffer;
Here do they scourges seek, there, bind the switches;
The bonds now wait for thee;
Ah, take thyself not them to meet!
If thou couldst hold in check thy journey,
I would myself not to Jerusalem,
Ah, sadly down to hell then venture.
2. Aria (A) and Chorale (S)
I follow thy path
I will here by thee tarry,
Through spitting and scorn;
Do not treat me with scorn!(2)
On cross will I once more embrace thee,
From thee I will not venture
As now thy heart doth break.
I will not let thee from my breast,
And when thy head grows pallid
Upon death's final stroke,
And if thou in the end must part,
E'en then will I enfold thee
Thou shalt thy tomb in me discover.
Within my arm's embrace.
3. Recit. (T)
So now I will,
My Jesus, for thy sake
In my own corner sorrow;
The world may ever still
On venom of desire be nurtured,
But I'll restore myself with weeping
And will not sooner yearn
For any joy or pleasure
Ere thee my countenance
Have in thy majesty regarded;
Ere I through thee have been redeemed;
Where I will find with thee refreshment.
4. Aria (B)
It is complete,
The pain is over,
We are from all our sinful ruin
In God restored to right.
Now will I hasten
And to my Jesus make thanksgiving;
World, fare thee well,
It is complete!
5. Chorale (S, A, T, B)
Jesus, this thy passion
Is my purest pleasure,
All thy wounds, thy crown and scorn,
Are my heart's true pasture;
This my soul is all in bloom
Once I have considered
That in heaven is a home
To me by this offered.
(1). Representing the Vox Christi.
(2). Lines 3-4 are transposed in the PT.
Estomihi (Quinquagesima Sunday).
Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), Ernst-Schertzhaffte
und Satyrische Gedichte, Teil III (Leipzig, 1732); Facs: Neumann T, p.
339.
1. Lk. 18:31;
3. Paul Gerhardt, verse 6 of "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden,"
1656 (Fischer-Tümpel, III, #467) with interpolated aria;
5. Paul Stockmann, penultimate and 33rd verse of "Jesu
Leiden, Pein und Tod," 1633 (Fischer-Tümpel, II, #37).
Date unknown, perhaps 27 February 1729, Leipzig (Dürr).
BG 32; NBA I/8.
English translation:
© Copyright Z. Philip Ambrose
Used with permission. Visit his site at:
www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/
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Commentary
by David Smith
1. The introductory duet - arioso is between Christ, represented
by the bass voice and the believer, represented by the alto. The instrumental
accompaniment is founded on a "step" motif portraying the very deliberate
step of Christ towards Jerusalem. Schweitzer writes: " The
interruption after the interval of the seventh is very impressive: Jesus
pauses in His walk, turns to the disciples, and tells them of his approaching
death." The alto expresses the reluctance of the believer to see Jesus
go to his death. But if he did not, then the believer would never go there,
but rather to hell.
2. The next movement is an alto aria intertwined with
a chorus of sopranos singing a verse of Paul Gerhardt's "O Sacred Head."
In the interludes for the alto the reflective soul accompanies the Saviour
on the way to the cross and expresses love for the saviour in his passion.
The believer vows not to abandon Christ in his death on the cross and promises
that Christ will find his tomb in the believer's heart. This striking image
expresses both the meaning of Christ's death and the need for the believer
to become a place of death in order to welcome the saviour. The chorus
expresses the same determination not to turn away from Jesus in his death.
3. In the tenor recitative the believer gives his response
to the death of Christ - the giving up of the "venom of desire" that is
the "world." The antidote is the tears of repentance. The believer
will not look for any joy in this world but will look forward to the vision
of God, where he will find refreshment.
4. In this beautiful aria the believer sings "It is complete,"
the final words of Christ from the cross. There is another aria beginning
with the same words at the death of Christ in the St. John Passion. Here
the words don't directly refer to the death of Christ, but rather to the
death of the believer to the world. In giving up the desires that constitute
the world, the believer comes to apprehend his own salvation, being made
righteous through Christ. Now he hastens to give thanks to Christ and to
bid the world goodbye.
5. The final choral expresses in the voice of the church
that Christ's sacrifice is the true "pasture" of the believer's heart and
his hope for heaven. The believer will remain by the cross throughout his
life.
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