Vergnügte Ruh', beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170
Cantata for the sixth Sunday after Trinity
First performance: Leipzig, July 28, 1726
For alto solo, oboe d'amore, strings, and organ.
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Aria
Recitative
Aria: Adagio
Recitative
Aria
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
The cantata, Vergnügte Ruh', beliebte Seelenlust (Delightful repose, cherished pleasure of the soul) was first performed on July 28, 1726, the sixth Sunday after Trinity. It calls for a small ensemble: a single alto soloist with oboe d'amore, strings and organ. The oboe d'amore is here not an independent instrument; rather it simply doubles the first violin in the first and last aria, enriching the color of the middle range to complement that of the alto soloist. The organ, on the other hand has prominent obbligato parts in the second and third arias.
From the outset of the first aria, the ensemble creates a sense of peace and repose with slurred, repeated eighth notes. There are just hints of chromaticism where the text mentions sin and weakness.
The second aria is in a very different character. It is an Adagio in F# minor with a text that laments perverted hearts that are set against God. There is no continuo in this aria, but the organ plays an obbligato part with both hands up in the treble range. Its music is tortuous and chromatic, while the violins and viola play a bass line in unison. The organ music breaks momentarily into more agitated thirty-second notes at the phrases "Rach und Haß" ("vengeance and hatred") and "frech verlacht" ("insolently derides").
The final aria returns to D major with music that feels lively and cheerful, despite a text that says, "I am sick of living; therefore, Jesus, take me away." It is about death as the beginning of a better life. The one discordant hint in the music is the tritone with G# at the beginning of the main theme.
For a performance of this cantata later in his life, Bach substituted a flute for the the obbligato organ in the last movement, perhaps because he did not then have a second keyboard instrument to play continuo.
Boston Baroque Performances
Vergnügte Ruh', beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170
November 4, 1977
Paine Hall, Cambridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloists:
Jeffrey Gall, countertenor
Stephen Hammer, oboe d'amore
Martin Pearlman, organ