Ihr werdet weinen und heulen
BWV 48 performed by the Netherlands Bach Society
conducted by Shunske Sato
Walloon Church, Amsterdam
Behind the music
Story
Story
Texts
Texts
Credits
Credits
Suffering is certain, and salvation questionable
Bach’s most eccentric cantata movement gives us little to go on
In the words of St John, Jesus prefers images to explanations, to the great frustration of his disciples. After announcing his death and resurrection in obscure language, he tells them, “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” Clear? Far from it, and Bach underlines the disciples’ confusion in his opening chorus, using precisely the words that would have been read in the sermon in Bach’s day, just before the cantata was sung.
Bach makes ‘weinen und heulen’ (weeping and wailing) extremely painful, and that is precisely why this movement (and these contrasting themes) are so thoroughly Baroque. Anyone who is confused by the term ‘chromaticism’ – how semitone intervals play on the emotions – will find one of Bach’s clearest examples here. Just listen to the strings of notes grating up and down to ‘weinen’. Or feel how ‘heulen’ yearns for the next ‘safe’ note. The tension becomes almost too much to bear.
Around all this harmonic confusion, Bach strikes a cheerful tone: the long instrumental introduction later becomes the foundation for what appears to be a jubilant song. Midway through, the choir suddenly falls silent for a dramatic recitative (for Jesus himself?), which of course is once again full of harsh chromaticism.
Bach borrowed the words of the two subsequent arias with recitative from Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, who in later life was a key musician and poet in the Leipzig cultural scene. However, in order to fully accentuate the contrast between sorrow and joy, he made enthusiastic cuts in the text, so that Ziegler’s rhyming scheme and subtle Enlightenment imagery became unrecognisable. The impressive recorder solos from the start make way in the tenor aria for a trumpet, which is a perfect match for Jesus’s valiant sacrifice. The cantata closes with a calm chorale of thanks.
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Vocal texts
Original
1. Chor
Ihr werdet weinen und heulen,
aber die Welt wird sich freuen.
Ihr aber werdet traurig sein.
Doch eure Traurigkeit
soll in Freude verkehret werden.
2. Rezitativ (Tenor)
Wer sollte nicht in Klagen untergehn,
wenn uns der Liebste wird entrissen?
Der Seelen Heil,
die Zuflucht kranker Herzen
acht' nicht auf unsre Schmerzen.
3. Arie (Alt)
Kein Arzt ist außer dir zu finden,
ich suche durch ganz Gilead;
wer heilt die Wunden meiner Sünden,
weil man hier keinen Balsam hat?
Verbirgst du dich, so muß ich sterben.
Erbarme dich, ach, höre doch!
Du suchest ja nicht mein Verderben,
wohlan, so hofft mein Herze noch.
4. Rezitativ (Alt)
Du wirst mich nach der Angst
auch wiederum erquicken;
so will ich mich zu deiner Ankunft schicken,
ich traue dem Verheißungswort,
daß meine Traurigkeit
in Freude soll verkehret werden.
5. Arie (Tenor)
Erholet euch, betrübte Sinnen,
ihr tut euch selber allzu weh.
Laßt von dem traurigen Beginnen,
eh ich in Tränen untergeh,
Mein Jesus läßt sich wieder sehen,
o Freude, der nichts gleichen kann:
wie wohl ist mir dadurch geschehen,
nimm, nimm mein Herz zum Opfer an.
6. Choral
Ich hab dich einen Augenblick,
o liebes Kind, verlassen;
sieh aber, sieh, mit großem Glück
und Trost ohn alle Maßen
will ich dir schon die Freudenkron
aufsetzen und verehren.
Dein kurzes Leid soll sich in Freud
und ewig Wohl verkehren.
Translation
1. Chorus
You shall weep and wail,
but the world will rejoice.
But you will be sorrowful.
Yet your sorrow
shall be changed into joy.
2. Recitative (Tenor)
Who would not collapse in lamentation,
when our beloved is torn from us?
The soul's salvation,
the remedy for ailing hearts
does not take heed of our pains.
3. Aria (Alto)
Besides you is no doctor to be found,
though I search throughout Gilead;
who shall heal the wounds of my sins,
since there is no balsam here?
If you conceal yourself, I must die.
Have mercy, ah, hear me!
Indeed you do not seek my destruction,
therefore my heart will still hope.
4. Recitative (Alto)
After my anxiety
you will revive me again;
therefore I will devote myself to your return,
I trust in the word of promise,
that my sorrow
shall be changed into joy.
5. Aria (Tenor)
Take hold of yourselves, troubled minds,
you do yourselves too much injury.
Give up the sorrowful course;
before I collapse in tears,
my Jesus will be seen again,
O joy unlike any other!
What well-being has found me through this;
take, take my heart as an offering!
6. Chorale
I have left you for a moment,
O beloved child;
see however, see, with great happiness
and comfort beyond measure,
already with the wreath of joy
I shall crown you and honor you,
your brief sorrow into joy
and eternal bliss shall be altered.
Translation © Pamela Dellal
Sourced August 2026
Credits
-
- Release date
- 22 June 2023
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- Recording date
- 27 May 2021
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- Location
- Walloon Church, Amsterdam
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- Direction
- Shunske Sato
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- Alto
- Alex Potter
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- Tenor
- Daniel Johannsen
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- Ripieno soprano
- Lauren Armishaw, Marta Paklar, Amelia Berridge
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- Ripieno alto
- Sofia Gvirts, Bernadett Nagy, Adriaan de Koster
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- Ripieno tenor
- Adriaan de Koster, Immo Schröder
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- Ripieno bass
- Matthew Baker, Pierre-Guy Le Gall White, Michiel Meijer
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- Violin 1
- Sayuri Yamagata, Annelies van der Vegt, Andrew Wong
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- Violin 2
- Pieter Affourtit, Anneke van Haaften, Manja Kruidhof-Okkerse
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- Viola
- Staas Swierstra, Deirdre Dowling
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- Cello
- Lucia Swarts, Barbara Kernig
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- Double bass
- Robert Franenberg
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- Oboe
- Rodrigo Lopez Paz, Katharina Verhaar
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- Bassoon
- Benny Aghassi
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- Trompet
- Robert Vanryne
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- Recorder
- Pieter-Jan Belder
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- Harpsichord
- Siebe Henstra
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- Organ
- Leo van Doeselaar
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- Director
- João MB Costa
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- Music recording
- Guido Tichelman, Bastiaan Kuijt, Pim van der Lee
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- Music edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
-
- Camera
- Santiago Rodriguez, Milo McCafferty, Oscar Widl, Enzo Dumettier
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- Lights
- Zen Bloot
-
- Grip
- Patrick Galvin, Harm Bredero, Sven Deen
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- Assistant director
- Santiago Rodriguez
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- Video editing
- Rob Gradisen, Robin van Erven Dorens
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- Assistent music recording
- Marloes Biermans
-
- Producer concerrt
- Imke Deters
-
- Producer film
- Jessie Verbrugh
-
- With support from
- MWH4impact
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