Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata (I, wretched man, a servant to sin), BWV55, in Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 17 November 1726.
History and words.
Bach wrote the cantata, a solo cantata for a tenor, in 1726 in Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity. It is Bach's only extant cantata for tenor.
The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Philippians, thanks and prayer for the congregation in Philippi (), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the unforgiving servant (). Christoph Birkmann, the poet of the cantata text stressed the opposites of the gospel, God's justice versus unjust men, in the words of the first aria "" ("He is just, unjust am I"). In the first two movements the singer reflects his sinful condition, in the following two he asks God for mercy, beginning both with "Erbarme dich" ("Have mercy"). The following closing chorale is verse 6 of Johann Rist "" (1642). Bach used the same verse later in his "St Matthew Passion", again following "Erbarme dich", the aria of Peter, regretting his denial of Jesus.
Bach led the first performance on 17 November 1726.
Scoring and structure.
The cantata in five movements is scored for a tenor soloist, a four-part choir (only for the final chorale), flauto traverso, oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
Music.
A rich polyphonic setting for flute, oboe d'amore and two violins, without viola, accompanies the opening aria. The motifs seem to illustrate the faltering steps and a despairing heart of the steward summoned before his master. The second aria is as expressive, accompanied by a virtuoso flute. The first recitative is secco, but the second one accompanied by string chords.
The closing chorale is verse 6 of Johann Rist's "Werde munter", to Johann Schop's tune. The same text and melody occur in the "St Matthew Passion", there in a simpler four-part setting, and Bach uses Schop's melody with other texts such as the well known "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" in "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147".
The last three movements of the autograph score differ from the Leipzig performance parts, leading some to conclude they were originally part of an earlier composition, possibly the lost 1717 Weimar Passion.
References.
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