composed the church cantataWer Dank opfert, der preiset mich, 17\
History and words
Bach wrote the cantata in 1726, his fourth year in Leipzig, for the 14th Sunday after Trinity. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul's teaching on "works of the flesh" and "fruit of the Spirit", and from the Gospel of Luke, Cleansing ten lepers.. That year, Bach presented 18 cantatas by his relative Johann Ludwig Bach who was court musician in Meiningen. Bach seems to have been impressed also by the texts of those cantatas and follows similar structures: seven movements, divided in two parts to be performed before and after the sermon, both parts opened by Bible words, Part I by a quotation from the Old Testament, Part II by one from the New Testament. Bach composes some texts that his relative set before, including this cantata, which was written by Ernst Ludwig, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, according to Christoph Wolff. The cantata is regarded as part of Bach's third annual cycle. The poet derived from the gospel idea that thanks to God for his goodness are man's obligation. A profound scholar of the Bible, he quotes for the opening chorus a verse from Psalm 50 and for the first recitative in Part II verses 15 and 16 from the gospel. He alludes to the Bible several times, for example telling about God's creation by in movement 2 and in movement 3, to in movement 6, "Lieb, Fried, Gerechtigkeit und Freud in deinem Geist". The closing chorale is the third stanza of the hymn "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" by Johann Gramann. Bach first performed the cantata on 22 September 1726. He later used the opening movement for the movement Cum sancto Spritu in the Gloria of his Missa in G major, BWV 236.
Music
Structure and scoring
The cantata is structured in two parts, Part I of three movements to be performed before the sermon, Part II of four movements after the sermon. Bach scored it for four vocal soloists, alto, tenor and bass ), a four-part choir SATB, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes, two violins, two violas and basso continuo. The title of the autograph score reads: "Domin. 14 post Trin. / Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich / a / 4 Voci / 2 Hautb. / 2 Viol. / Viola / e Contin. / di / J.S.Bach". 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.
Movements
1
The opening chorus presents the verse from the psalm, "Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich", in two choral sections, preceded by a long instrumental section.
2
The first recitative is secco, as the two others: "Es muß die ganze Welt ein stummer Zeuge werden".
3
In the first aria, "Herr, deine Güte reicht, so weit der Himmel ist",soprano and two obbligato violins illustrate in raising lines the text "so weit die Wolken gehen", adding extended coloraturas on "preisen" and "weisen".
4
The recitative beginning Part II, "Einer aber unter ihnen, da er sahe, daß er gesund worden war", is of narrative character and therefore given to the tenor voice, similar to the Evangelist in Bach's Passions.
5
The second aria, "Welch Übermaß der Güte", is accompanied by the strings. Both arias share a structure of three vocal sections, avoiding a vocal da capo, but combining the last section with the ritornello, thus achieving a unity of the movement.
6
The last recitative, "Sieh meinen Willen an", is sung by the bass. It is accompanied by the continuo alone and expands on the theme of giving thanks to God.
7
admires particularly the closing chorale, "Wie sich ein Vater erbarmet", for its "wonderful word-painting for the 'flower and fallen leaves' and 'the wind only has to pass over. He compares it to the central movement of the motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225.
