Bach structured the cantata in six movements. The text and tune of the hymn are retained in the outer choral movements, a chorale fantasia and a four-part closing chorale, which frame two sets of recitative and aria. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of four trombones (Tb), two oboes (Ob), two violins (Vl), viola (Va) and basso continuo. This is one of three Bach cantatas to use four different trombone parts (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass), the others being "Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein", BWV 2 and "Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis", BWV 21. The instruments play colla parte with the voices in the outer movements in the style of Bach's motets. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the "Neue Bach-Ausgabe". The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4). The continuo, playing throughout, is not shown. In this cantata, Bach used the chorale melody not only in the opening chorale fantasia and the closing chorale, but also in the inner movements. He built an aria theme from parts of the melody, as in movement 3, used the melody as a continuo line (movement 4), and took motifs from the melody. The American musicologist Eric Chafe suggests that the entire cantata is also based on a "design" that descends tonally for the first five movements and rises again in the closing chorale, exploiting the textual theme of "destruction followed by restoration". The opening movement is a chorale fantasia, "" (Out of deep anguish I call to You), on the hymn tune in Phrygian mode. It combines the structure of a motet with chromatic and dissonant harmonies. As in his motets and the chorale cantata "Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein", BWV 2, Bach uses the old style of scoring, with all instruments doubling the vocal parts. The Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann notes that Bach's use of older musical style may reflect Bach pointing back at the source, Luther's paraphrase of a text from the Old Testament.