Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2

Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein
BWV 2
Chorale cantata by J. S. Bach
Thomaskirche, Leipzig 1885
Occasion	Second Sunday after Trinity
Performed	18 June 1724 (1724-06-18): Leipzig
Movements	6
Cantata text	anonymous
Chorale	"Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein" by Martin Luther
Vocal	SATB choir solo: alto, tenor and bass
Instrumental	2 oboes 4 trombones 2 violins viola continuo

Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein (Oh God, look down from heaven),^[1] BWV 2,^{[lower-alpha 1]} is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, composed in Leipzig for the second Sunday after Trinity and first performed on 18 June 1724. It is the second cantata of his second annual cycle of chorale cantatas, and is based on Martin Luther's hymn "Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein", published in 1524 in the first Lutheran hymnal.

History and words

Bach composed the cantata for the Second Sunday after Trinity in Leipzig as the second cantata of his second annual cycle, which began a week before with O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20.^[2]^[3] The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle of John, "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death" (1 John 3:13–18), and from the Gospel of Luke, the parable of the great banquet (Luke 14:16–24). The cantata is based on the six-stanza chorale Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, published by Martin Luther in 1524 in the Achtliederbuch, paraphrasing Psalm 12. The words are used unchanged in movements 1 and 6. An unknown poet transcribed the ideas of stanzas 2–5 into recitatives and arias.^[2]^[3] Bach first performed the cantata on 18 June 1724.^[2]

Scoring and structure

The work in six movements is scored for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor, and bass), a four-part choir, four trombones, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo. The trombones play colla parte with the choir.^[2]

Chorus: Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein
Recitative (tenor, bass): Sie lehren eitel falsche List
Aria (alto, violin solo): Tilg, o Gott, die Lehren
Recitative (bass, strings): Die Armen sind verstört
Aria (tenor): Durchs Feuer wird das Silber rein
Chorale: Das wollst du, Gott, bewahren rein

Music

In the first and last movements, which use the original words of Luther's hymn, the style of the music is "archaic"—the instruments include a choir of trombones doubling the voices.^[3]^[4] In the first movement the melody of the chorale is sung by the alto in long notes, doubled by two oboes. Each line is prepared by fugal entrances of the other parts on the same theme.^[5] The second movement is a secco recitative, changing to arioso for two lines that resemble the words of the chorale, marked adagio. The alto aria is written in "modern" style with a solo violin in lively figuration. The bass recitative is accompanied by the strings. In contrast, the tenor aria is accompanied by a concerto of the oboes and strings, which are silent in the middle section until its transition to the da capo. The closing chorale is a four-part setting.^[2]

Selected recordings

The sortable listing is taken from the selection provided by Aryeh Oron on the Bach-Cantatas website.^[6] The type of choir and orchestra is roughly shown as a large group by red background, and as an ensemble with period instruments in historically informed performance or a choir of one voice per part (OVPP) by green background.

Recordings of *Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein*, BWV 2
Title	Conductor / Choir / Orchestra	Soloists	Label	Year	Choir type	Orch. type
J. S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk – Sacred Cantatas Vol. 1	Harnoncourt, Nikolaus Nikolaus Harnoncourt Wiener Sängerknaben Chorus Viennensis Concentus Musicus Wien	Paul Esswood Kurt Equiluz Max van Egmond	Teldec	1971 (1971)		Period
Die Bach Kantate Vol. 39	Rilling, HelmuthHelmuth Rilling Gächinger Kantorei Bach-Collegium Stuttgart	Helen Watts Aldo Baldin Walter Heldwein	Hänssler	1979 (1979)
J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 10	Koopman, TonTon Koopman Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir	Michael Chance Paul Agnew Klaus Mertens	Antoine Marchand	1998 (1998)		Period
J.S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 8 – Leipzig Cantatas	Suzuki, MasaakiMasaaki Suzuki Bach Collegium Japan	Yoshikazu Mera Gerd Türk Peter Kooy	BIS	1996 (1996)		Period
Bach Edition Vol. 12 – Cantatas Vol. 6	Leusink, Pieter JanPieter Jan Leusink Holland Boys Choir Netherlands Bach Collegium	Sytse Buwalda Knut Schoch Bas Ramselaar	Brilliant Classics	1999 (1999)	Boys	Period
Bach Cantatas Vol. 2: Paris/Zürich	Gardiner, John EliotJohn Eliot Gardiner Monteverdi Choir English Baroque Soloists	Daniel Taylor James Gilchrist Stephen Varcoe	Archiv Produktion	1999 (1999)		Period
J.S. Bach: Cantatas for the First and Second Sundays After Trinity	Smith, CraigCraig Smith Chorus of Emmanuel Music Orchestra of Emmanuel Music	Susan Trout William Hite Paul Guttry	Koch International	2001 (2001)
J.S. Bach: "O Ewigkeit du Donnerwort" – Cantatas BWV 2, 20 & 176	Herreweghe, PhilippePhilippe Herreweghe Collegium Vocale Gent	Ingeborg Danz Jan Kobow Peter Kooy	Harmonia Mundi France	2002 (2002)		Period
J.S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 29 – Cantatas from Leipzig 1724	Suzuki, MasaakiMasaaki Suzuki Bach Collegium Japan Concerto Palatino Brass Ensemble	Pascal Bertin Gerd Türk Peter Kooy	BIS	2004 (2004)		Period
J. S. Bach: Cantatas for the Complete Liturgical Year Vol. 11	Kuijken, SigiswaldSigiswald Kuijken La Petite Bande	Siri Thornhill Petra Noskaiová Marcus Ullmann Jan van der Crabben	Accent	2007 (2007)	OVPP	Period

Notes

↑ "BWV" is Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, a thematic catalogue of Bach's works.

References

↑ Dellal, Pamela. "BWV 2 – Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein". Emmanuel Music. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
1 2 3 4 5 Dürr, Alfred (1981). Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach (in German). 1 (4 ed.). Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag. pp. 340–342. ISBN 3-423-04080-7.
1 2 3 Hofmann, Klaus (2004). "Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2 / Oh God, Look Down from Heaven" (PDF). bach-cantatas.com. p. 6. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
↑ Julian Mincham (2010). "Chapter 3 BWV 2 Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein". jsbachcantatas.com. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
↑ John Eliot Gardiner (2010). "Cantatas for the Second Sunday after Trinity / Basilique Saint-Denis, Paris" (PDF). bach-cantatas.com. p. 1. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
↑ Oron, Aryeh (2012). "Cantata BWV 2 Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein". bach-cantatas.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.

Sources

Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein BWV 2; BC A 98 / Chorale cantata (2nd Sunday after Trinity) Leipzig University
BWV 2 Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein: English translation, University of Vermont
BWV 2 Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein: text, scoring, University of Alberta

Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach

Before Leipzig	Early: BWV 4 131 71 106 196 150 143 Weimar: BWV 61 70a 186a 132 174a 63 152 155 18 54 80a 182 31 12 172 165 21 185 199 161 162 163 Köthen: BWV Anh. 5

First cycle (1723–24)	Between Trinity and Advent: BWV 75 76 24 167 147 186 136 105 46 179 69a 77 25 138 95 148 48 109 89 60 90 70 From Advent to Trinity: BWV 40 64 190 153 65 154 73 81 83 144 181 22 23 66 134 67 104 166 86 37 44 59 184

Second cycle (& chorale cantatas)	Chorale cantatas between Trinity and Easter: BWV 20 2 7 135 10 93 107 178 94 101 113 33 78 99 8 130 114 96 5 180 38 115 139 26 116 62 91 121 133 122 41 123 124 3 111 92 125 126 127 1 Continuation of the second cycle: BWV 6 42 85 103 108 87 128 183 74 68 175 176 Later additions to the chorale cantata cycle: BWV 80 137 129 58 112 140 177 9 14 Other late chorale cantatas: BWV 117 192 100 97

Third cycle	After Trinity 1725: BWV 168 164 79 Liturgical year 1725–26: BWV 110 57 151 28 16 32 13 72 146 43 39 88 170 187 45 102 35 17 19 27 47 169 56 49 98 55 52 1727: BWV 82 84 34 173

Later and other	Picander cycle: BWV 149 188 197a 171 156 159 145 174 Late parodies: BWV 36 30 191 200 1083 Council election: BWV 119 193 Anh. 3 29 120 69 Wedding: BWV 34a 195 120a 197 Funeral: 157 244a Other: 194 190a 120b 51 158 50 248/VIa Doubtful: 53 142 189 217 220 221 223 224

Bach cantata List of Bach cantatas Discography: Monteverdi Choir/Koopman/Teldec

Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach by BWV number

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 (oratorio) 12 13 14 15^** 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30a 31 32 33 34 34a 35 36 36a 36b 36c 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 (53)^* 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 66a 67 68 69 69a 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 80a 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 (motet) 119 120 120a 120b 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 (131a)^* 132 133 134 134a 135 136 137 138 139 140 ~~141~~^** (142)^* 143 144 145 146 147 147a 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 ~~160~~^** 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 173a 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 (189)^* 190 190a 191 192 193 193a 194 195 196 197 197a 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 205a 206 207 207a 208 208a 209 210 210a 211 212 213 214 215 216 216a (217)^* ~~218~~^ ~~219~~^ (220)^* (221)^* ~~222~~^** 223 224 244a 248a 249a 249b 1040 1045 1083 1127 Anh. 3 Anh. 5 Anh. 9 Anh. 11 Anh. 18 — ^(Doubtful) ^*~~Spurious~~

Lists: Compositions Cantatas ; Church cantatas: Chorale cantatas Early Weimar 1st cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle Picander cycle Late ; Secular cantatas

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 176284778 LCCN: n90705032 GND: 300397178 BNF: cb13909540x (data) BNE: XX5063097

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