Cantata BWV 146
Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich
Examples from the Score

Mvt. 2 Chorus | Mvt. 3 Aria [Alto] | Mvt. 4 Recitative [Soprano] | Mvt. 5 Aria [Soprano] | Mvt. 7 Aria (Duet) [Tenor, Bass]

Mvt. 2 Chorus

Example 1 illustrates the 'grief' motif that Schweitzer first pointed out. It consists of two-note phrases. Harnoncourt was the first conductor to heed this phrasing indication by Bach, unfortunately he goes overboard in his interpretation in that the second note is deemphasized to such a degree that its time value is substantially shortened.

Mvt. 3 Aria [Alto]

Example 2 demonstrates two musical pictures: 1) the upward movement toward heaven and 2) the separation by means of a short rest between "ich" and "du."

Example 3 in the second section of the same mvt. shows an interesting imitation of a figure in the voice that is followed by the same figure in the bass line.

Mvt. 4 Recitative [Soprano]

Example 4 gives another example of Schweitzer's 'grief' motif. This time it is in the recitative.

Mvt. 5 Aria [Soprano]

Example 5 has some examples of the 'tear'motif

and Example 6 clearly indicates how Bach worked with this musical figure as he inverts it.

Mvt. 7 Aria (Duet) [Tenor, Bass]

Example 7: What would you instruct the singers to do here if you were the conductor? Sing the trills as a single trill or a continuous trill?

All snippets from NBA 11.2
Contributed by Thomas Braatz (May 11, 2001)

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