Cantate (Fourth Sunday after Easter).

Poet unknown.

1. Jn. 16:5; 3. Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, verse 3 of "Herr Jesu Christ, ich weiß gar wohl," 1582 (Wackernagel, IV, #1473); 6. Ämilie Juliane von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, verse 1 of the hymn, 1686 (Fischer-Tümpel, V, #631).

7 May 1724, Leipzig.

BG 33; NBA I/12.

1. Aria [Dictum] (B)

Whither goest thou?

2. Aria (T)

I'll be unto heaven mindful,
Nor the world my heart surrender.

For in leaving or in staying
I'll e'er keep that question near:
Man, ah man, where goest thou?

3. Chorale (S)

I pray to thee, Lord Jesus Christ,
Hold me to these reflections
And let me never any time
From this resolve to waver,
Instead to it be ever true
Until my soul will leave its nest
And into heaven journey.

4. Recit. (B)

Like as the rain-sent water soon subsideth
And many hues are quickly faded,
So is it, too, with pleasure in the world,
For which so many folk such admiration hold;
For though we now and then may see
That our most hoped-for fortune blooms,
Yet can still in the best conditions
Quite unannounced the final hour strike us.

5. Aria (A)

Let ev'ryone beware
When his good fortune laughs.

On earth it is so easy
That evenings things are other
Than in the morning we had thought.(1)

6. Chorale (S, A, T, B)

Who knows how near to me mine end is?
Hence fleeth time, here cometh death;
Ah, with what promptness and what quickness
Can come to me my trial of death.
My God, I pray through Christ his blood:
Allow but that my end be good!

1. Cf. Ecclus. 18:26.

© Copyright Z. Philip Ambrose

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