After a brief cadential pause, Bach abruptly switches to duple meter at the words “sondern der Geist selbst” (but the Spirit itself), with breathless syncopations and sighing figures painting the words “unaussprechlichem Seufzen” (unutterable sighs).
A more sedate section, still in 3/8 time, ensues as the singers ruminate on the Spirit’s prayerful intercession. The opening evocation of the Holy Ghost soars aloft in swirling gusts of sixteenth notes. Structurally, the motet unfolds as a sequence of continuous, loosely linked sections that are differentiated both musically and textually. Paul’s, the university church), while the words of the concluding chorale are by Martin Luther. The main body of Der Geist hilft is taken from the apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Ernesti’s funeral service was held at St. For a man of such eminence, Bach naturally took full advantage of the resources at his disposal: not only does the score call for double chorus (plus the conventional continuo accompaniment of organ and contrabass viol), but the two four-voice choirs are reinforced by ensembles of string and wind instruments respectively.Īs is typical of Baroque motets, the text of BWV 226 combines scripture with contemporary devotional poetry in a manner designed to buttress the message of the day’s sermon. Thomas School’s long-time rector and a distinguished professor of poetry at Leipzig University.
In the case of Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (The Spirit gives aid to our weakness) the occasion was the funeral, on October 20, 1729, of Johann Heinrich Ernesti, the St. All were intended, as stipulated in his employment contract, to “incite the listeners to devotion.” Tonight’s program is built around four motets that Bach wrote for various special church services in the late 1720s and early 1730s. Thomas School, Bach composed or arranged dozens of religious motets, chorales, and sacred songs. In addition to the more than 200 church cantatas he wrote in his capacity as Leipzig’s municipal music director and cantor of the St. Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, BWV 226
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