Er Rufet Seinen Schafen Mit Namen, BWV 175

(He calls His sheep by name), 175, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the cantata in Leipzig for the third day of Pentecost and first performed it on 22 May 1725.

History and words

Bach wrote the cantata in his second year in Leipzig for Pentecost Tuesday, the third day of Pentecost. In this second year Bach had composed chorale cantatas between the first Sunday after Trinity and Palm Sunday, but for Easter returned to cantatas on more varied texts, possibly because he lost his librettist. Nine of his cantatas for the period between Easter and Pentecost are based on texts of Christiana Mariana von Ziegler. Bach later assigned most of them, including this cantata, to his third annual cycle.

The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit in Samaria (), and from the Gospel of John, the Good Shepherd (). The cantata is thematically divided in two parts, movements 1 to 4 and movements 5 to 7, but performed consecutively. Both begin with a quotation from the gospel. The first part deals with Jesus as the Good Shepherd and the sheep who hear his voice. The second part deals with those who don't hear this voice. The poet uses the term "" (deluded reason), possibly addressing the attitude of the intellectual movement "" (Age of Enlightenment). The cantata is closed with the ninth stanza of Johann Rist's hymn "".

Bach first performed the cantata on 22 May 1725.

Scoring and structure

The cantata in seven movements is distinctively scored for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir only in the closing chorale, two trumpets, three recorders, two violins, viola, violoncello piccolo and basso continuo. The recorders give a pastorale character to the first part about the Good Shepherd.

# Recitative (tenor):
# Aria (alto):
# Recitative (tenor):
# Aria (tenor):
# Recitative (alto, bass):
# Aria (bass):
# Chorale:

Music

The first quotation from the Bible is sung by the tenor, like an Evangelist. This recitative, saying "" (He calls His sheep by name and leads them out), is accompanied by three recorders, an instrument with pastoral associations. The recorders also colour the first aria, a movement in time with a text which refers to green fields.

The following short recitative asks in a dissonant and dramatic way, like a lost sheep for its shepherd: "" (Where can I find you? Ah, where are you hidden?).
The second aria is about the shepherd's arrival. Bach took the music from the secular cantata , although the meter of Ziegler's poetry does not fit, as if Bach had not communicated the idea of the parody with the poet.
Bach transposes movement 7 from his congratulatory cantata up a minor third for tenor rather than bass voice and with an obbligato part for violoncello piccolo contrasting with the low range of the instruments he used in the first version. It is in the form of an extended ''da capo'' bourrée.

The central recitative, movement 5, is the first movement of the cantata accompanied by the strings. It begins with the quotation from the gospel "" (But they did not grasp what it was, that He had said to them), sung by the alto as the Evangelist, and leads to an arioso on the final warning not to overhear the words of Jesus, which "may be to your well-being" (). This warning is enforced by two trumpets in the bass aria which reminds of the death of Jesus: "" (Jesus has sworn to you that He has laid low devil, death). The trumpets are silent in the middle section, dealing with the gifts of Jesus, "grace, sufficiency, abundant life" (). The aria may also be a parody, but the model is not known.

The chorale is repeated from the cantata for Pentecost, . The melody of the hymn for Pentecost "" is set for four parts and three independent recorder parts, instead of strings in the earlier version, thus returning to the scoring of the beginning of the cantata.

Recordings

* ''J. S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 100 & BWV 175'', Heinz Wunderlich, Kantorei St. Jacobi Hamburg, Hamburger Kammerorchester, Lotte Wolf-Matthäus, Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, Hans-Olaf Hudemann, Cantate 1961
* ''Bach Cantatas Vol. 3 – Ascension Day, Whitsun, Trinity'', Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Chor, Münchener Bach-Orchester, Anna Reynolds, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Cantate 1975
* ''Die Bach Kantate Vol. 38'', Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Carolyn Watkinson, Peter Schreier, Philippe Huttenlocher, Hänssler 1981
* ''J. S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk – Sacred Cantatas (Vol. 9)'', Gustav Leonhardt, Knabenchor Hannover, Collegium Vocale Gent, Leonhardt-Consort, Paul Esswood, Marius van Altena, Max van Egmond, Teldec 1988
* ''J. S. Bach: Cantatas with Violoncelle Piccolo (Vol. 2)'', Christophe Coin, Das Leipziger Concerto Vocale, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, Barbara Schlick, Andreas Scholl, Christoph Prégardien, Gotthold Schwarz, Auvidis Astrée 1994
* ''Bach Cantatas Vol. 27: Blythburgh/Kirkwell'', John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Nathalie Stutzmann, Christoph Genz, Stephan Loges, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
* ''J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 15'', Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bogna Bartosz, Christoph Prégardien, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 2001
* ''J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 39 (Cantatas from Leipzig 1725)'', Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Peter Kooy, BIS 2007

References

Sources

*

Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen BWV 175; BC A 89 / Sacred cantata (3rd Day of Pentecost)
Bach Digital

Cantata BWV 175 Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen
history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, Bach Cantatas Website


history, scoring, Bach website


English translation, University of Vermont

BWV 175 Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen
text, scoring, University of Alberta

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen'', BWV 175

Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach
1725 compositions