Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht, BWV 124
| Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht | |
|---|---|
| BWV 124 | |
| Chorale cantata by J. S. Bach | |
Thomaskirche, Leipzig
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| Occasion | First Sunday after Epiphany |
| Performed | 7 January 1725: Leipzig |
| Movements | 6 |
| Cantata text | anonymous |
| Chorale | "Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht" by Christian Keymann |
| Vocal | SATB choir and solo |
| Instrumental |
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Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht (I will not let go of my Jesus),BWV 124, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for the first Sunday after Epiphany and first performed it on 7 January 1725. It is based on the hymn by Christian Keymann.
Bach wrote the chorale cantata in his second year in Leipzig for the First Sunday after Epiphany. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were taken from the Epistle to the Romans, speaking of the duties of a Christian (), and from the Gospel of Luke, the finding in the Temple ().
A year earlier, on the same occasion, Bach had reflected Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren, BWV 154, from the point of view of a person who had lost Jesus. This cantata text is based on the chorale in six stanzas by Christian Keymann (1658). The text of the hymn begins, as in the former work, with an idea close to the gospel: the Christian does not want to let go of Jesus, as his parents had wished not to lose their 12-year-old boy, but then the chorale pursues the thought of being united with Jesus after death. An unknown poet kept the first and the last stanza, and paraphrased the inner stanzas to a sequence of as many recitatives and arias. Bach first performed the cantata on 7 January 1725, one day after Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen, BWV 123, for Epiphany.
The cantata in six movements is scored for four soloists, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, a four-part choir, horn to play the cantus firmus with the soprano, oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
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