Johann Sebastian Bach

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BWV 185
Title O heart filled with mercy and love everlasting
Composed 14th July 1715, Weimar
Scoring

Choir for 4 voices
Soprano solo
Alto solo
Tenor solo
Bass solo

Oboe
Violin I + II
Viola
Bassoon
Basso continuo

Movements Aria (Duetto, Soprano, Tenor): O heart filled with mercy and love everlasting
Recitative (Alto): Ye hearts which have yourselves
Aria (Alto): Be concerned within this life
Recitative (Bass): How selfishness deceives itself
Aria (Bass): This is the Christian art
Chorale: I call to thee, Lord Jesus Christ
Category Spiritual Cantata
Event Fourth Sunday after Trinity
Author of text Salomo Franck 1715, Johann Agricola 1529
Text
Aria (Duetto):
Soprano solo, Tenor solo
Oboe
Basso continuo

Recitative: Alto solo
Violin I + II
Viola
Bassoon
Basso continuo














Aria: Alto solo
Oboe
Violin I + II
Viola
Bassoon
Basso continuo


Recitative: Bass solo
Bassoon
Basso continuo










Aria: Bass solo
Bassoon
Basso continuo









Chorale: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass
Oboe
Violin I + II
Viola
Bassoon
Basso continuo




O heart filled with mercy and love everlasting,
Stir up and arouse now my spirit with thine;
So that I may practise both goodness and mercy,
O thou, flame of loving, come soften my heart.

Ye hearts which have yourselves
To stony cliffs perverted,
Now melt to softness mild;
Now weigh what you the Savior teacheth,
Act, act with charity
And strive while yet on earth now
To be just like the Father!
Ah! Summon not through that forbidden judgment
Almighty God to judgment's seat,
Else will his zealous wrath destroy you.
Forgive and ye will be forgiven;
Give, give within this lifetime;
Store up a principal
Which there one day
God will repay with ample store of interest.
For as ye judge, so will ye be judged also.

Be concerned within this life,
Spirit, ample seed to scatter,
So the harvest thee may gladden
In the rich eternity
Where those who good things here have planted
Gladly there the sheaves shall gather.

How selfishness deceives itself!
Concern thyself
First from thine eye the beam to loosen,
Then may'st thou for the mote be also troubled
Which in thy neighbor's eye is found. (1.)
If now thy neighbor be not fully pure,
Remember, thou art, too, no angel;
Amend, then, thine own failings!
How can one blind man with another
Still walk the straight and narrow?
What, will they not to their great sorrow
Fall in the pit now both together?

This is the Christian art:
But God and self discerning,
With true affection burning,
Not, when forbidden, judging,
Nor stranger's work destroying,
One's neighbor not forgetting.
With gen'rous measure measuring:
This makes with God and men goodwill,
This is the Christian art.

I call to thee, Lord Jesus Christ,
I pray thee, hear my crying;
Both lend me grace within this life
And let me not lose courage;
The proper path, O Lord, I seek,
Which thou didst wish to give me:
For thee living,
My neighbor serving well,
Thy word upholding justly.

Epistle

Romans 8: 18-23

Gospel

Luke 6: 36-42

Bibletext 1. Luke 6:41
Manuscript Singakademie, Berlin; Nachlass C.Ph.E. Bach

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