BWV 103  Ihr werdet weinen und heulen

Jubilate(Third Sunday after Easter).

Christiane Mariane von Ziegler, Versuch in Gebundender Schreibart, Teil I (Leipzig, 1728);  Facs:  Neumann T, p. 359.

1.  Jn. 16:20;  6.  Paul Gerhardt, verse 9 of "Barmherz'ger Vater, höchster Gott," 1653 (Fischer-Tümpel, III, #449).

22 April 1725, Leipzig;  again 15 April 1731.

BG 23;  NBA I/11.



1.  Chorus and Arioso [Dictum] (S, A, T, B, and B)

(S, A, T, B)
Ye will be weeping and wailing, although the world will be joyful.

(B)
But ye will be most sorrowful.  Yet all your sadness shall to gladness find transformation.

2.  Recit. (T)

Who ought then not in lamentation sink,
If our belovéd is torn from us?
Our souls' true health, the refuge of sick spirits,
Pays no heed to our sorrow.
 

3.  Aria (A)

There is besides thee no physician,
Though I should search all Gilead (1);
Who'll heal the wounds of my transgressions,
While here there is no balm for me?
If thou dost hide, then I must perish.
Have mercy now, ah, hear my prayer!
Thou seekest, yea, not my destruction,
So come, in hope my heart's yet firm.
 

4.  Recit. (A)

 When once my fear is past, thou shalt again restore me (2);
Thus will I me for thine approach get ready,
I trust in what thy word assures,
That all my sadness now
To gladness shall find transformation (3).

5.  Aria (T)

Recover now, O troubled feelings,
Ye cause yourselves excess of woe.
Leave off your sorrowful beginning,
Ere I in tears collapse and fall,
My Jesus is again appearing,
O gladness which nought else can match!
What good to me thereby is given,
Take, take my heart, my gift to thee

6.  Chorale (S, A, T, B)

I have thee but a little while,
O dearest child, forsaken;
But lo, see thou, with fortune fair
And comfort past all measure,
Will I for sure the crown of joy
Put on thee for thine honor.
And thy brief pain shall be to joy
And lasting health converted.



1. Cf. Jer. 8:22: "Is there no balm in Gilead?  Is there no physician there?  Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?"

2. Cf. Ps. 138:7.

3. Ziegler's printed edition is as follows:

Du wirst, mein Heyland, mich schon nach der Angst erquicken.
Wohlan! ich will mich auch zu deiner Ankunfft schicken.
Ich traue dem Verheissung-Wort,
Daß meine Traurigkeit,
Und diß vielleicht in kurtzer Zeit,
Nach bäng-und ängstlichen Gebehrden,
In Freude soll verkehret werden.

Thou shalt, my Savior, when once my fear is past, restore me.
So come! I will me also for thy coming ready.
I trust in what thy word assures,
That all my sadness shall,
And this perhaps in briefest time,
With timid, anxious gestures over,
To gladness find its transformation.

Bach's abbreviation focuses on the Gospel text in the first movement.


© Copyright   Z. Philip Ambrose


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