Composed for the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, which fell on September 5, 1724, Bach's Cantata No. 138 "Was betrübst du dich, mein Herz" (What troubles you, my heart) (BWV 138) sets a hymn in its first, third, and seventh movements written by Hans Sachs, the famous singing cobbler from Nuremberg. Unusually, several of the internal movements of the cantata are joined attaca: the second to the third and the fourth to the fifth. "Was betrübst du dich, mein Herz" is scored for alto, bass, soprano, and tenor soloists and chorus, a pair of oboe d'amore, strings, and basso continuo. "Was betrübst du dich, mein Herz" is in stern B minor with its first, sixth, and seventh movements in the tonic; its second movement starting in the minor subdominant of E minor and ending on its dominant; its third wholly in the minor subdominant; and its fourth starting in E minor and ending on the dominant of its fifth movement's relative major of D major. The first movement is a chorale fantasia with the orchestra playing its own ritornello around the choral sopranos intoning Sachs' hymn above more expansive lines for the choral tenors and altos. The second is an expressive secco recitative for bass soloist and continuo. The third is a chorale setting of the Sachs' hymn with full statements of the hymn for full chorus and orchestra surrounding quasi-recitative sections, the first for choral sopranos, strings, and continuo and the second for choral altos and continuo. The fourth movement is secco recitative for impassioned tenor soloist and continuo. The fifth is a graceful triple-time aria for bass soloist, expressive first violins, strings, and continuo. The sixth is a very brief secco recitative for alto soloist and continuo. "Was betrübst du dich, mein Herz" concludes with a chorale harmonization of Sachs hymn in the chorus surrounded by waves of string lines above a purposeful continuo.

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