I have to listen to a Bach cantata at least several times before I become familiar with the melodies and the structure of the music and can begin to make sense of it. And then, all of a sudden, I find the pathway through the music, understand how the music relates to the words, and it becomes a work of incomparable genius and ineffable beauty, one that makes me realize that there is a fundamental difference between me, a mere human, and Bach, who operated on an entirely different, a divine, plane, endowed as he was with incomprehensibly rich and complex creative powers. And this is just one of his works.
The text is:
-
Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn,
Der du von Ewigkeit in der Entfernung schon
Mein Herzeleid und meine Leibespein
Umständlich angesehn, erbarm dich mein!
Und lass durch deine Wunderhand,
Die so viel Böses abgewandt,
Mir gleichfalls Hilf und Trost geschehen.
You true God and Son of David,
you who from your eternal seat far off in the distance
have seen all my heart's woe and body's pain,
have mercy on me.
And through your miracle-working hand,
that has turned aside so much evil,
let help and comfort come to me too.
This is one of Bach's cantatas from the Quinquagesima, the Sunday before Lent, when the Gospel tells the story of Jesus healing the blind man. In other words, as your miraculous touch healed the blind man, Jesus, let it heal me too. The way the oboes intertwine with the duet of female voices...
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