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Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32
Church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen (Dearest Jesus, my desire),[1] BWV 32,[lower-alpha 1] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the dialogue cantata (Concerto in Dialogo) in Leipzig for the first Sunday after Epiphany and first performed it on 13 January 1726 as part of his third cantata cycle.
Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen | |
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BWV 32 | |
Dialogue church cantata by J. S. Bach | |
![]() Thomaskirche, Leipzig 1885 | |
Occasion | First Sunday after Epiphany |
Cantata text | Georg Christian Lehms |
Chorale | "Weg, mein Herz, mit den Gedanken" by Paul Gerhardt |
Performed | 13 January 1726 (1726-01-13): Leipzig |
Movements | 6 |
Vocal |
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Instrumental |
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Bach composed the cantata in his third year as Thomaskantor on a text which Georg Christian Lehms, a court poet in Darmstadt, had published already in 1711. Lehms derived from the prescribed gospel, the finding in the Temple, a dialogue. Instead of a parent missing a son, as in the gospel, an allegorical Soul (soprano) misses Jesus (bass). The motifs of the story, the loss and anxious search, are placed in a more general situation in which the listener can identify with the Soul. As Lehms did not provide a closing chorale, Bach chose the twelfth and final stanza of Paul Gerhardt's hymn "Weg, mein Herz, mit den Gedanken".
Bach structured the cantata in six movements, first alternating arias and recitative, then uniting the voices in recitative and aria, finally a chorale. The two soloists are supported by an intimate Baroque instrumental ensemble of oboe, strings and continuo. The oboe accompanies the soprano, a solo violin the bass, both play when the voices are united.