Composed for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, which fell on October 13, 1726, Bach's Cantata No. 47 "Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden" (Who shall himself exalt, shall be debased again) (BWV 47) sets a text by Johann Friedrich Helbig based on two verses from the

Gospel According to Luke 14:11, 18, 14. The cantata is scored for soprano and bass soloists, chorus, a pair of oboes, strings, and basso continuo, but with the organ stepping out from its usual role in the continuo to perform a virtuoso obbligato part in the second movement. "Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden" is in G minor, with its first and fifth movements in the tonic, its second movement in the minor dominant of D minor, its third ends in the same relative major of E flat major that serves as the tonality of its fourth movement. The first movement sets the first verse from Luke as one of the biggest and most impressive choral fugues in all of Bach's cantatas. The second movement is a triple-time da capo aria for soprano soloists with a virtuoso organ obbligato. The third movement is a recitative for bass soloist, strings, and continuo and the fourth is a radiant aria in the form of a trio sonata for bass soloist, oboe, first violins, and continuo. "Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden" concludes with a harmonization of the last line from Luke set as a straightforward chorale for chorus and full orchestra colla parte.

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