When Bach was hired away from the town of Mühlhausen to work in Weimar, it was to work in the field of instrumental music, putting on hold his ambition to write a series of cantatas for the church year. He had to wait until a promotion in 1714 before he had any responsibilities to write vocal music; thereafter, he was expected to write and conduct a cantata every month. This one was written for the fourth Sunday after Trinity, which fell on July 14, 1715.

During this period Bach was frequently teamed with the Weimar court poet, Salomon Frank, who wrote the text. Bach used as a chorale theme the hymn "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" composed by Agricola in 1529. The title of this cantata means "Compassionate Heart of Eternal Love." The text is a call for selfless love and compassion, for a rejection of greed or vanity.

The vocal forces are a solo quartet and a four-part chorus. The orchestration is modest, using only an oboe and a bassoon in addition to the strings and an organ continuo. A nice coloristic touch is the use of only the soprano voices of the choir in the opening aria. The cantata is in six sections and at less than fifteen minutes is one of the shortest Bach cantatas.



© All Music Guide