| Nur jedem das Seine | |
|---|---|
BWV 163 | |
| Church cantata byJ. S. Bach | |
 | |
| Occasion | 23rd Sunday afterTrinity |
| Cantata text | Salomon Franck |
| Chorale | byJohann Heermann |
| Performed | 24 November 1715 (1715-11-24):Weimar |
| Movements | 6 |
| Vocal | SATB solo and choir |
| Instrumental |
|
Nur jedem das Seine (To each his own!),[1]BWV 163,[a] is achurch cantata byJohann Sebastian Bach. He composed the work inWeimar for the twenty-third Sunday afterTrinity and first performed it on 24 November 1715.
This work was part of Bach's sequence ofmonthly church cantatas for the Weimar court, which he began in 1714. It was the first piece performed after a mourning period of several months forPrince Johann Ernst. The text, written by the court poetSalomon Franck, is based on the prescribed gospel reading for the Sunday, "Render unto Caesar...", and includes several allusions to money and gold. The cantata has sixmovements, beginning with anaria fortenor, followed by two pairs ofrecitatives and arias, one forbass and the other for the duet ofsoprano andalto, and a concluding chorale. Similar to other cantatas on words by Franck, the work is scored for a smallBaroque chamber ensemble of two violins, viola, two cellos and continuo. Bach composed a uniquearia with a dark texture of a bass voice and two obbligato cellos. A duet has been described as a love duet and compared to operatic duets. The music of the closing chorale is lost, except for the continuo part. It is not clear if Bach set thestanza printed in the libretto from Heermann's "Wo soll ich fliehen hin", or instead his "Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht" byChristian Keymann, in a tune that appears as acantus firmus in movement 5.[2]
On 2 March 1714 Bach was appointed concertmaster of the Weimar court orchestra (Kapelle) of the co-reigning dukesWilhelm Ernst andErnst August of Saxe-Weimar. As concertmaster, he assumed the principal responsibility for composing new works, specifically cantatas for theSchlosskirche (palace church), on a monthly schedule.[3] Bach composed the cantata in 1715 for the23rd Sunday after Trinity. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from theEpistle to the Philippians, "our conversation is in heaven" (Philippians 3:17–21), and from theGospel of Matthew, the question about paying taxes, answered by "Render unto Caesar..." (Matthew 22:15–22).[4] The librettist wasSalomon Franck, the court poet in Weimar. He began with a paraphrase of the famous answer "Render unto Caesar" from the gospel, and included several allusions to money and gold (he was also thenumismatist of the Weimar court).[2] Franck included astanza from ahymn byJohann Heermann as the sixth and lastmovement of this cantata, according to the printed libretto the final stanza of "Wo soll ich fliehen hin" (1630).[4] The music of that chorale is lost; only the continuo part has survived. Recent scholarship found that Bach possibly chose to set a stanza from Heermann's "Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht" instead, in a tune he used instrumentally in movement 5, which would match the continuo part.[2]
Bach led the first performance on 24 November 1715. It was the first cantata performed after a period of mourning forPrince Johann Ernst from August to November.[5] No account is extant of a later performance in Leipzig, but the Bach scholarChristoph Wolff writes: "it seems safe to assume that it was [revived]".[6]
The cantata is structured in six movements, beginning with anaria fortenor (T), followed by two pairs ofrecitative and aria, one forbass (B), the other for the duet ofsoprano (S) andalto (A), and a concluding chorale when all four parts are united.[6] As with several other cantatas on words by Franck, it is scored for a smallBaroque chamber ensemble of twoviolins (Vl),viola (Va), twocellos (Vc) andbasso continuo (Bc).[7]
In the following table of the movements, the scoring,keys andtime signatures are taken fromAlfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4).[7] The instruments are shown separately for winds and strings, while the continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.
| No. | Title | Text | Type | Vocal | Instruments | Key | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nur jedem das Seine | Franck | Aria | T | Vl VA Vc | B minor |  |
| 2 | Du bist, mein Gott, der Geber aller Gaben | Franck | Recitative | B | | ||
| 3 | Lass mein Herz die Münze sein | Franck | Aria | B | 2Vc | E minor | |
| 4 | Ich wollte dir | Franck | Duet recitative | S A | | ||
| 5 | Nimm mich mir und gib mich dir | Franck | Duet aria | S A | 2Vl Va | D major | 3/4 |
| 6 | Führ auch mein Herz und Sinn | Heermann | Chorale | SATB | D major | |
The openingda capo aria for tenor is based on a paraphrase of "Render to Caesar": "Nur jedem das Seine".[2] The aria features an unusualritornello in which the strings assume amotif introduced by the continuo, which is then repeated several times through all parts. The movement is ada capo aria emphasizing dualism and debt.[8]Craig Smith remarks that it is "almost academic in its metrical insistence".[9]
The second movement is asecco bassrecitative, "Du bist, mein Gott, der Geber aller Gaben" (You are, my God, the Giver of all gifts).[1] It has been described as "operatic in its intensity and subtle adjustments of character". The recitative is remarkable for its "aggressive, even belligerent" conclusion.[8]
The following bass aria, "Laß mein Herz die Münze sein" (Let my heart be the coin),[1] has an unusual and unique accompaniment of twoobbligato cellos with continuo.[2] The cellos present an imitative motif to introduce the bass.[8]John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted theBach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, comments that Bach "conjures up an irresistible picture of two coin-polishers at work, a sort of eighteenth-century sorcerer goading his apprentice", observing that "two cellos polish away in contrary motion with wide intervalic leaps".[2] Bach was interested in coins and precious metals.[2] The conductor Craig Smith compares the dark texture to the "descent into the earth in Wagner'sDas Rheingold".[9] The aria is in three thematic sections: "enjoining", "melodramatically rhetoric", and "imprecatory".[8]
The fourth movement is a soprano and alto duet recitative, "Ich wollte dir, o Gott, das Herze gerne geben" (I would gladly, o God, give you my heart).[1] It is rhythmically metrical and presents five sections based on mood and text.[8] The recitative is "high and light but very complicated in its myriad of detail".[9]
The duet aria, "Nimm mich mir und gib mich dir!" (Take me from myself and give me to You!),[1] again for soprano and alto, is intriple time. The tune ofJohann Heermann's hymn "Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht" (I will not let go of my Jesus)[1] is interwoven in the texture as acantus firmus of the upper strings inunison.[2] The movement is a "love duet" characterized by "antiphonal avowals of commitment" to God rather than a carnal desire. The musicologist Julian Mincham compares its presentation toMonteverdi'sL'incoronazione di Poppea. The movement begins with sparse scoring and becomes more richly textured as it progresses, adding the chorale tune.[8]
The final movement, possibly "Führ auch mein Herz und Sinn" (Also lead my heart and mind),[1] is a four-part chorale setting, marked "Chorale in semplice stylo"; however, only the continuo line is extant.[8] While the libretto shows that a stanza from Heermann's "Wo soll ich fliehen hin" was to be used, sung to a melody byChristian Friedrich Witt, the Bach scholarAndreas Glöckner found that the continuo part matches the tune in the previous movement, which appeared in a hymnal published by Witt.[2]
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