(The Lord is my faithful Shepherd), 112, is a

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

, a

church cantata A church cantata or sacred cantata is a cantata intended to be performed during Christian liturgy. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, with many composers writing an extensive output: Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, ...

for the second Sunday after

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

. Bach composed the

chorale cantata A chorale cantata is a church cantata based on a chorale—in this context a Lutheran chorale. It is principally from the Germany, German Baroque music, Baroque era. The organizing principle is the words and music of a Lutheran hymn. Usually a chora ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and first performed it on 8 April 1731. It is based on the

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

Wolfgang Meuslin Wolfgang Musculus, born "Müslin" or "Mauslein", (10 September 1497 – 30 August 1563) was a Reformed theologian of the Reformation. Life Born in the village of Duss ( Moselle), in a German-speaking area (French-speaking, from the Thirty Years ...

, a paraphrase of Psalm 23 written in 1530, sung to a melody by

Nikolaus Decius Nikolaus Decius (also ''Degius'', ''Deeg'', ''Tech a Curia'', and ''Nickel von Hof''; c. 1485 – 21 March 1541 (others say 1546) was a German monk, hymn-writer, Protestant reformer and composer. He was probably born in Hof in Upper Franconia, B ...

. Bach, the ''

Thomaskantor (Cantor at St. Thomas) is the common name for the musical director of the , now an internationally known boys' choir founded in Leipzig in 1212. The official historic title of the Thomaskantor in Latin, ', describes the two functions of cantor a ...

'' in Leipzig from May 1723, composed this cantata to complete his second cantata cycle of chorale cantatas, begun in 1724. He used the lyrics of the hymn unchanged, which reflect the psalm and Jesus as the

Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd ( el, ποιμὴν ὁ καλός, ''poimḗn ho kalós'') is an image used in the pericope of , in which Jesus Christ is depicted as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Similar imagery is used in Psalm 23 ...

. Bach structured the work in five

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

s. The outer choral movements are a

chorale fantasia Chorale fantasia is a type of large composition based on a chorale melody, both works for organ, and vocal settings, for example the opening movements of Bach's chorale cantatas, with the chorale melody as a cantus firmus. History Chorale fantas ...

and a four-part closing chorale, both on the hymn tune. Bach set the inner

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

s as

aria In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

– recitative – aria, with music unrelated to the hymn tune. He scored the cantata for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two horns, two oboes d'amore, strings and continuo. Bach scholars agree that the brass instruments, normally reserved for Feast days, could come from an earlier chorale fantasia of the same melody with the text of the German

Gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins) ...

History and words

In his second year as ''

'' in Leipzig, Bach composed chorale cantatas between the first Sunday after

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

of 1724 and Palm Sunday of 1725, but for

he returned to cantatas on more varied texts. He had not composed a chorale cantata yet for the occasion , the second Sunday after Easter. The prescribed readings for that Sunday were from the

First Epistle of Peter The First Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament. The author presents himself as Peter the Apostle. The ending of the letter includes a statement that implies that it was written from "Babylon", which is possibly a reference to Rome. T ...

(Christ as a model – ), and from the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

, (the

– ). During the cycle of 1724/25, the text of the inner

s of a hymn was paraphrased by a contemporary poet with whom Bach collaborated. In this cantata however, Bach used the hymn text unchanged, a 1530

in five stanzas written by

as a paraphrase of Psalm 23. The hymn is sung to the melody of "", the German

, by

(1522). Meusin's hymn is different from the one with the same opening line by

Cornelius Becker Cornelius Becker (1561–1604) was an Orthodox Lutheran pastor in Leipzig. He prepared the Becker Psalter, some of which Heinrich Schütz set to music.Jane Stuart Smith & Betty Carlson (1995), ''The Gift of Music: Great Composers and Their Influenc ...

, but sung to the same melody, which Bach had used in his other two cantatas for the same occasion, and . The hymn's topic, the Lord as the Good Shepherd, has traditionally been used for Jesus and is thus related to the gospel. Bach first performed the cantata at the on 8 April 1731.

Music

Structure and scoring

Bach structured the cantata in five

s. The text and tune of the hymn are kept in the outer choral movements, a

and a four-part closing chorale, which frame an alternating

s and a recitative. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

), a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

s (Co), two

oboes d'amore The oboe d'amore (; Italian for "oboe of love"), less commonly , is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and a more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the me ...

(Oa), two

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s (Vl),

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

(Va) and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the

Neue Bach-Ausgabe The New Bach Edition (NBE) (german: Neue Bach-Ausgabe; NBA), is the second complete edition of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, published by Bärenreiter. The name is short for Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): New Edition of the Complete Wo ...

. The

keys Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

and

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

s are taken from Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (). The continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.

Movements

In the opening chorus, a

, the melody of the German "" is embedded in an orchestral concerto. The movement opens with calls derived from the chorale tune played on the two horns, leading to a free concerto with the strings and oboes. The cantus firmus is sung by the soprano in long notes, while the lower voices engage in imitation. John Eliot Gardiner compares the movement to the openings of the two former cantatas for the same occasion: "The presence of two horns ... reveals a much more regal portrait of the Good Shepherd than we have previously met." Both Alfred Dürr and

Klaus Hofmann Klaus Hofmann (born 20 March 1939) is a German musicologist who is an expert on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Born in Würzburg, Hofmann studied after graduation (1958) from 1958 to 1959 at the University of Erlangen. He then continued his ...

assume that the music was not originally composed for this pastoral text, but previously, for the . Bach had composed a different chorale fantasia on the same melody in ''Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein'', BWV 128, with similar instrumentation. The inner three movements quote the text of the hymn without change, but their music is not related to the hymn tune. The alto

is accompanied by an obbligato oboe. It is structured in two similar parts, and is in pastoral . The steady flow of the oboe can be seen as depicting the "pure water" mentioned in the text, the steps in the continuo as "the steps made on this significant journey" "on the pathway of the righteousness of His commandments". The central movement begins as an arioso, accompanied by the continuo, illustrating the walk through the "valley of darkness". The second part is a dramatic recitative with strings, first expressing "" (persecution, sorrow, trouble) in a broken melodic line against sustained string chords, then "Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me", where the "first violins weave a comforting little melody". The following

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

expresses enjoyment at God's table in a dance, a

bourrée The bourrée ( oc, borrèia; also in England, borry or bore) is a dance of French origin and the words and music that accompany it. The bourrée resembles the gavotte in that it is in double time and often has a dactylic rhythm. However, it is ...

. The cantata closes with a four-part chorale, most instruments playing

colla parte A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...

, while the horns play different parts because of their limited range.

Recordings

The selection is taken from the listing on the Bach Cantatas Website. Ensembles playing period instruments in

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

s are marked green.

References

Sources

*
Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt BWV 112; BC A 67 / Chorale cantata (3rd Sunday of Easter)
Bach Digital
BWV 112 Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt
English translation,

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

* Luke Dahn
BWV 112.5
bach-chorales.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Herr Ist Mein Getreuer Hirt Bwv 112 Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach 1731 compositions Psalm-related compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach Chorale cantatas