Bach Choir of Bethlehem

Cantata BWV 102, "Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben!"

Cantata BWV 102, "Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben!", was written in 1726 in Leipgiz for the 10^th Sunday after Trinity. This was one of the first of Bach’s cantatas (along with BWV 101 and 103) to be published in the 19^th century, when A.B. Marz published them in 1830. The librettist is unknown, though there is some speculation that Ernst Ludwig (1672-1724) may have been the author. Some of the text comes from the Bible. A cantata composed of seven movements, Bach groups them into Part I (nos. 1-4) and Part II (nos. 5-7).

The movements are summarized in the table below.

Movt.	Meter, tempo	Key	Text	Scoring	Texture
1	4/4, moderate	g minor	Jeremiah 5:3	SATB choir, 2 oboes, strings, continuo	Part 1 is ornamented homophonic; part 2 is imitative; part 3 is fugal
2	4/4	B-flat major	Poetic; source unknown	Solo bass, continuo	Secco recitative
3	4/4, adagio	f minor	Poetic; source unknown	Alto solo, oboe solo, continuo	Trio sonata texture; polyphonic
4	3/8, vivace	E-flat major	Romans 2:4-5	Bass solo, strings, continuo	Ornamented homophonic; active string parts fill out the texture when the bass sings, but are clearly secondary characters
5	3/4, moderate	g minor	Poetic, source unknown	Tenor solo, flute (or violino piccolo), continuo. Note: dal segno aria	Homophonic initially; later, the flute takes on a more active role, making the texture more like a trio sonata
6	4/4	c minor	Poetic, source unknonw	Also solo, 2 oboes, continuo	Simple recitative
7	4/4	c minor	Chorale tune—vs. 6 and 7 of "So wahr ich lebe, spricht dein Gott"	SATB choir, doubled by orchestra	4-part chorale texture (homophonic)

Perhaps because the "Zweiter Teil" contains only a tenor aria, a recitative, and a 4-part chorale, most scholars and performers find the first part of this cantata the most musically interesting. I find the first movement the most interesting, perhaps because it is the longest and most varied movement of Cantata 102. This movement begins with a lengthy orchestral introduction that sets the mood of the movement; because the primary melodic material is different from what we hear later in the choir, this instrumental introduction serves, in my mind, almost as an independent prelude—though the transition to the choral music is seamless. The oboe melody (marked in red in the excerpt below) returns occasionally as a ritornello underneath the choral singing. A motive first introduced in the continuo (marked in green) actually foreshadows the first ornamental idea in the choir (which appears initially in the altos, then later in other parts) (shown in green in the second excerpt). In the continuo part, this idea appears as part of a sequence (marked in pink). This motive then is stated numerous times in the oboes and strings, and becomes a prominent figure throughout this first section of the movement.

Two imitative sections follow, introducing new melodic material, though musical elements from the first section spill over; most notably, this includes the green motive identified above, and an undulating motive, initially heard in the oboes, but appearing later in the voices and in the oboes again. This resurfacing of certain motives helps provide musical unity in this long movement, despite the textual, textural, and melodic variety we hear along the way.

The third movement is notable because Bach recrafts this movement as part of his Mass in F major ("Qui tollis" movement). For our purposes, we note the reappearance of the "green" motive above, in the following passage: