O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn
BWV 1084 performed by the Netherlands Bach Society
Sint-Gertrudiskerk, Bergen op Zoom
Behind the music
Story
Story
Texts
Texts
Credits
Credits
Missing thirds
A chorale that Bach rewrote when he performed the work again in Leipzig
Naturally, All of Bach revolves around Bach as a composer, but of course he also conducted other people’s music. On Good Friday 1726 – one year before he presented his own St Matthew Passion – Bach conducted a performance of the St Mark Passion by Reinhard Keiser. He had already performed the work on a previous occasion in Weimar.
When Bach performed Keiser’s Passion again in Leipzig, he made a few alterations here and there. One change was the replacement of the earlier setting of the chorale O hilf Christe, Gottes Sohn. Instead of a fairly simple harmonisation, he wrote a new version with harmonic and rhythmic variation. The reason for this new version was probably a practical one, as the chorale melody used in Leipzig was slightly different to the one used in Weimar.
At first sight, Bach’s new four-part version is indistinguishable from the many other four-part chorale harmonisations he wrote. But on closer listening, you start to notice something: it seems that notes are missing from several chords. This is particularly striking in the interim final chords without a third (to the words ‘Gottes Sohn’, ‘meiden’ and ‘arm und schwach’). These ‘open’ chords without a major or minor third, and so without ‘timbre’, have a rather archaic sound.
This may have been a deliberate choice, but there’s probably something else going on here. Keizer’s Passion was written for a five-part group of strings. In Weimar, both the first and second violins double the soprano in O hilf Christe, Gottes Sohn. The instrumental parts for the performance in 1726 have not survived, but it seems likely that when Bach wrote a new version of the chorale he gave an independent part to the first violins. When the violin part was lost, so were the thirds.
- BWV
- 1084
- Title
- O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn
- Genre
- chorales
- Lyricist
- Michael Weisse (1531)
- First performance
- 19 April 1726
- Special notes
- This chorale was included in the Markus Passion, BWV 1116.2, a composite passion based on the Gospel of Mark by probably Gottfried Keiser
Extra videos
Vocal texts
Original
O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn,
durch dein bitter Leiden,
dass wir dir stets untertan
all unzugend meiden,
deinen Tod und sein Ursach
fruchtbarlich bedenken,
dafür, wiewohl arm und schwach,
dir Dankopfer schenken!
Translation
Christ, o Son of God we pray
Help us, through your sorrow
That we always will obey;
Paths of justice follow.
May your death then give us pause,
Since our sins were all the cause
Then although we're poor and weak
We can bring the praise you seek.
translation © Ruth van Baak Griffioen, 2025
Credits
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- Release date
- 10 April 2025
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- Recording date
- 5 May 2024
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- Location
- Sint-Gertrudiskerk, Bergen op Zoom
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- Soprano
- Monica Monteiro
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- Alto
- Bernadett Nagy
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- Tenor
- Immo Schröder
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- Bass
- Bram Trouwborst
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- Director and editor
- Onno van Ameijde
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- Music recording
- Guido Tichelman, Pim van der Lee
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- Music edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
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- Camera
- Jesper Blok, Jorne Tielemans
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- Focus pull
- Glenn van Neerden
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- Lights
- Jorne Tielemans, Patrick Galvin
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- Project manager nep
- Ron Vermeulen
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- Assistant music recording
- Marloes Biermans
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- Producer
- Lisanne Marlou de Kok, Stephan Esmeijer
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