page_title: Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199
section_title: History and words
hierarchical_section_title: Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199 / History and words
caption_attribution_description: de: Dies ist ein Scan des Buches: en: This is a scan of the book: Teutschlands Galante Poetinnen Mit Ihren sinnreichen und netten Proben; Nebst einem Anhang Ausländischer Dames / So sich gleichfalls durch Schöne Poesien Bey der curieusen Welt bekannt gemacht, und einer Vorrede. Daß das Weibliche Geschlecht so geschickt zum Studieren / als das Männliche / ausgefertiget Von Georg Christian Lehms., Franckfurt am Mayn / Zu finden bey Samuel Tobias Hocker. Gedruckt bey Anton Heinscheidt / Anno 1715. Inhalt: Titel / Widmung Vorrede Teutschlands Galante Poetinnen Anhang Ausländischer Poetinnen
context_page_description: Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut BWV 199 in Weimar between 1711 and 1714, and performed it on the eleventh Sunday after Trinity, 12 August 1714. It is a solo cantata for soprano.
  The text was written by Georg Christian Lehms and published in Darmstadt in 1711 in the collection Gottgefälliges Kirchen-Opffer, on the general topic of redemption. The librettist wrote a series of alternating recitatives and arias, and included as the sixth movement the third stanza of Johann Heermann's hymn "Wo soll ich fliehen hin". It is not known when Bach composed the work, but he performed it as part of his monthly cantata productions on the eleventh Sunday after Trinity, 12 August 1714. The solo voice is accompanied by a Baroque instrumental ensemble of oboe, strings and continuo. The singer expresses in a style similar to Baroque opera the dramatic development from feeling like a "monster in God's eyes" to being forgiven. Bach revised the work for later performances, leading to three different editions in the Neue Bach-Ausgabe.
context_section_description: On 2 March 1714 Bach was appointed concertmaster of the Weimar court orchestra (Kapelle) of the co-reigning dukes Wilhelm Ernst and Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar. As concertmaster, he assumed the principal responsibility for composing new works, specifically cantatas for the Schlosskirche (palace church), on a monthly schedule. He performed the cantata on the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity as the fifth cantata of the series, following Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, on the gospel of Christ and his (Paul's) duty as an apostle (1 Corinthians 15:1–10), and from the Gospel of Luke, the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9–14).
  The text, which concerns a sinner seeking and finding redemption, was written by Georg Christian Lehms. Lehms was based in Darmstadt, and it is not known whether Bach knew him personally, but he may well have had access to Lehms's 1711 publication Gottgefälliges Kirchen-Opffer, which includes this text and that of another solo cantata, Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54, performed the month before. The third stanza of Johann Heermann's hymn "Wo soll ich fliehen hin" is integrated as the sixths movement. The text in the first person shows the dramatic change of a person initially feeling as "a monster in God's eyes" to finally feeling accepted as God's child. The cantata text was set to music in 1712 by Christoph Graupner in Darmstadt. It is not known if Bach knew of Graupner's composition. The text has no specific relation to the prescribed readings, therefore it is possible that Bach may have already composed the work before his promotion to concert master with regular Sunday services, like the other cantata on a text by Lehms.
  Bach first performed the cantata on 12 August 1714. When he performed it again in Leipzig on the eleventh Sunday after Trinity in 1723 (8 August) it was the first solo cantata and the most operatic work which he had presented to the congregation up to that point. He made revisions for that performance, such as transposing it from C minor to D minor and changing the obbligato viola to violoncello piccolo. In the same service, he also performed a new work, Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei, BWV 179: one before and one after the sermon.
  The Neue Bach-Ausgabe recognises three distinct versions: the Weimar version, a Köthen version, and the Leipzig version.
caption: Georg Christian Lehms, copper engraving c. 1713
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