J.S. Bach: Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13 - The Church Cantatas, Vol. 95

Bach composed Cantata 13 ‘Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen’ for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 20 January 1726. The main theme is the disconsolateness and despair of those who have abandoned God and do not believe. The character of the work is therefore mainly poignant, plaintive and melancholic. Only towards the end, when the believer recovers from despair and seeks comfort in God, does the music cheer up and conclude with a calm and serene chorale. The poignant and abandoned mood of the text naturally provided Bach with every opportunity to create expressive Baroque affects. In the alto recitative (No.2), where the mortal weeps in vain and cries out for God’s help, we hear an impressive musical translation of the word plead (‘flehen’). Here Bach makes use of the melancholic minor second (a sighing effect or ‘seufzer’) and its inversion, large descending intervals, the diminished fifth, rhythmic ties and chromaticism. The latter four elements are most suitable for the evocation of an unstable, uncertain and