Composed for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity, which fell on August 1, 1723, Bach's Cantata No. 46 "Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei" (Look, then, and see if there is any sorrow) (BWV 46) sets a text by an unknown poet with a text taken from The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet 1:12 as the first movement and a chorale by Balthassar Schnurr from 1633 as the final movement. Typically for the tortured world-view of the early eighteenth century Lutheran, the first half of the cantata is filled with images of wrath and woe while the second half is filled with exhortations to "repent unceasing if your daily sins be increasing." The cantata is scored for tenor, bass and alto soloists, chorus, a solo corno da tirasi, pairs of recorders and oboes, strings, and basso continuo. "Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei" is in D minor with its first and final movements in the tonic, its second and fifth movements in the minor subdominant of G minor, its third movement in the relative major of B flat major, and its fourth movement in C minor. The first movement, by far the largest movement of the cantata, is an enormous triple-time prelude and fugue with a vast prelude for firmly moving voices beneath a descant of two recorders. It's followed by an Un piu allegro four-voice fugue on a single subject above a bustling forte continuo that gathers strength through instrumental additions to culminate in a massive, final tonic major chord. The second movement is a recitative for tenor soloist, quietly crying recorders, strings, and continuo. The third is a robust triple-time aria for bass soloists, solo corno da tirasi, and fast-pulsing strings and continuo. The fourth is a very brief secco recitative for alto soloist and continuo. The fifth is an aria in the form of a trio sonata for alto soloists, the pair of recorders as soloists above both oboe da caccia playing in unison. Almost unique in Bach's cantatas, "Schauet doch und sehet" has no continuo. The cantata concludes with a harmonization of Schnurr's chorale for chorus and string orchestra colla parte and obbligato recorders. Bach later re-set the opening chorus in the Qui tollis peccatata mundi in his B minor mass.

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