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Ich bin ein guter Hirt, BWV 85

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Ich bin ein guter Hirt
BWV 85
Church cantata by J. S. Bach
The Good Shepherd by Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne
OccasionSecond Sunday after Easter
Bible textJohn 10:11
Chorale
Performed14 April 1725 (1725-04-14): Leipzig
Movements6
VocalSATB solo and choir
Instrumental
  • 2 oboes
  • 2 violins
  • viola
  • violoncello piccolo
  • continuo

Ich bin ein guter Hirt (I am a Good Shepherd),[1] BWV 85, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the second Sunday after Easter and first performed it on 15 April 1725. He wrote the cantata in his second year of his tenure as Thomaskantor that began in 1723, but it is not a chorale cantata, and he later assigned it to his third cantata cycle.

An unknown librettist included a verse from the Gospel reading and two hymn stanzas, one from "Ist Gott mein Schild und Helfersmann" by Ernst Christoph Homberg and one from "Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt" by Cornelius Becker. Bach structured the cantata in six movements and scored it for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir only in the closing chorale, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes, bassoon, strings and basso continuo.

History, hymns and words

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Bach composed Ich bin ein guter Hirt in 1724, in his second year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, for the second Sunday after Easter called Misericordias Domini which fell on 15 May in 1724.[2] He had ended his chorale cantata cycle on Palm Sunday that year,[3] and later assigned Ich bin ein guter Hirt to his third cantata cycle.[2]

The prescribed readings for that Sunday were from the First Epistle of Peter, Christ as a model (1 Peter 2:21–25), and from the Gospel of John, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11–16).[4][5]

According to John Eliot Gardiner, the librettist is likely the same as for two preceding cantatas, Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6, and Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, BWV 42,[6] before Christiana Mariana von Ziegler became the poet for the following cantatas of the period.[7] The three cantata texts were probably written for Bach's first year in Leipzig, but postponed due to the workload of the first performance of the St John Passion that year. The three cantatas form a sequence on themes from the Gospel of John.[6]

The librettist opened the cantata with the beginning of the Gospel, verse 11: Jesus describing himself as the Good Shepherd.[8] The second movement explains that being a Good Shepherd was realised in the Passion. The thought is commented by the first stanza of Cornelius Becker's 1598 hymn "Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt", a paraphrase of Psalm 23.[3][2][6] The poet refers in movement 4 to verse 12 of the Gospel, the contrast of the shepherd who is awake to watch over the sheep, whereas the hired servants sleep and neglect them. Movement 5 names love as the shepherd's motivation to care for the sheep and points at the death of Jesus.[2] The cantata ends with the fourth stanza, "Ist Gott mein Schutz und treuer Hirt", of the 1658 hymn "Ist Gott mein Schild und Helfersmann" for which Ernst Christoph Homberg supplied text and melody.[2][9] All movements are closely connected to the Gospel theme. The sequence of movements is found also in the two cantatas preceding it and in other Bach cantatas, which may also have been written by the same unknown librettist.[3][2]

Bach led the Thomanerchor in the first performance on 15 April 1725.[4][10]

Music

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Scoring and structure

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Bach structured the cantata in six movements and scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A)tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir only in the closing chorale, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes (Ob), bassoon (Fg), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), cello piccolo (Vp) and basso continuo.[11] The duration of the cantata is given as 20 minutes.[12]

In the following table of the movements, the scoring, keys and time signatures are taken from Dürr's standard work Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach.[13] The continuo, which plays throughout, is not shown.

Movements of Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats
No. Title Type Vocal Winds Strings Key Time
1 Ich bin ein guter Hirt B 2Ob 2Vl Va C minor common time
2 Jesus ist ein guter Hirt Aria A Vp G minor common time
3 Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt Chorale S 2Ob B-flat major 3
4
4 Wenn die Mietlinge schlafen Recitative T 2Vl Va common time
5 Seht, was die Liebe tut Aria T 2Vl Va E-flat major 9
8
6 Ist Gott mein Schutz und treuer Hirt Chorale SATB 2Ob 2Vl Va C minor common time

Movements

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1

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In the first movement, the bass as the vox Christi[2] sings a line from the Gospel of John, "Ich bin ein guter Hirt, ein guter Hirt läßt sein Leben für die Schafe" (I am a Good Shepherd; a good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep)[1] in two passages framed by instrumental ritornellos.[2] The motif for the first words appears in the ritornello four times.[2][14] The movement's form is between aria and arioso, with the oboes as obbligato instruments in "a mood of tranquil seriousness", as Klaus Hofmann described.[8] Hans-Joachim Schulze notes that the obbligato two oboes in unison may have been planned for penetrating sharpness.[3]

2

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The alto aria, "Jesus ist ein guter Hirt;" (Jesus is a good shepherd;),[1] is accompanied by an obbligato violoncello piccolo.[8] The content is a reflection of the preceding Gospel words.[7] Unusually, the alto sings the full text three times,[10] with only minor variations in motifs and harmonies.[2]

3

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The chorale stanza, "Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt" (The Lord is my faithful shepherd),[1] is sung by the soprano to the tune of "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" by Nikolaus Decius,[2] with a slightly ornamented melody, while the two oboes play a theme in the ritornellos which is derived from the first line of the tune[10] and appears in imitation.[2]

4

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The cantata's only recitative, "Wenn die Mietlinge schlafen, da wachtet dieser Hirt bei seinen Schafen" (When the hired servants sleep, then this Shepherd watches over his sheep),[1] is sung by the tenor as a miniature sermon, accompanied by the strings that play long notes and accent phrases of the text towards the end.[2][10]

5

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The tenor aria, "Seht, was die Liebe tut" (Behold what love does),[1] is in pastorale rhythm, the cantata's only movement to relate to the shepherd theme in this way,[3][2][10] while the word "shepherd" is not mentioned.[3][10] The strings, violins and violas, play in unison in low register. Thus the tenor voice frequently appears as the highest part, beginning with "Seht" (look) three times. Gardiner observed the similarity to an alto aria (movement 60) of the St Matthew Passion, "Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand", both in the theme of "pastoral love emanating from the cross", and in the music, described as "rich, flowing melody and gently rocking rhythm".[6]

6

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The closing chorale, "Ist Gott mein Schutz und treuer Hirt" (If God is my Protector and faithful Shepherd),[1] is a four-part setting,[9][15] repeating that God is the faithful shepherd.[2] The movement is C minor, but Bach ended its seven cadences in a major mode.[3]

Manuscripts and publication

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Bach's autograph score of the cantata and a set of parts that Bach had partly revised himself are extant.[2] The cantata was first published in 1872 in the first complete edition of Bach's work, the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe. The volume in question was edited by Wilhelm Rust.[2][16] In the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, it was published in 1989, edited by Reinmar Emans.[2][16]

Recordings

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The selection is taken from the listing on the Bach Cantatas Website.[17] Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked green.

Recordings of Ich bin ein guter Hirt
Title Conductor / Choir / Orchestra Soloists Label Year Instr.
Bach: Cantata 85; Cantata 151 Anthon van der Horst
De Nederlandse Bachvereniging
Amsterdam Kamerorkest
Telefunken 1957 (1957)
J. S. Bach: Kantate BWV 85 Ich bin ein guter Hirt Karl Ristenpart
Chorus of the Conservatory of Sarrebruck
Chamber Orchestra of the Saar
Saarländischer Rundfunk 1960 (1960)
J. S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 6 & BWV 19 Hans Grischkat
Stuttgart Choral Society
Bach-Orchester Stuttgart
Renaissance 1951 (1951)
Les Grandes Cantates de J. S. Bach Vol. 24 Fritz Werner
Heinrich-Schütz-Chor Heilbronn
Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn
Erato 1970 (1970)
J. S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk • Complete Cantatas • Les Cantates, Folge / Vol. 7 Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Tölzer Knabenchor
Concentus Musicus Wien
Teldec 1977 (1977) Period
Die Bach Kantate Vol. 13 Helmuth Rilling
Gächinger Kantorei
Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
Hänssler 1981 (1981)
Bach Edition Vol. 11 – Cantatas Vol. 2 Pieter Jan Leusink
Holland Boys Choir
Netherlands Bach Collegium
Brilliant Classics 1999 (1999) Period
Bach Cantatas Vol. 23: Arnstadt/Echternach[6] John Eliot Gardiner
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists
Soli Deo Gloria 2000 (2000) Period
J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 15 Ton Koopman
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
Antoine Marchand 2001 (2001) Period
J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 39 Masaaki Suzuki
Bach Collegium Japan
BIS 2007 (2007) Period
J. S. Bach: Cantatas for the Complete Liturgical Year Vol. 11 Sigiswald Kuijken
La Petite Bande
YouTube 2008 (2008) Period

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Dellal 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wollschläger 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Schulze 2024.
  4. ^ a b Bach Digital 2025.
  5. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 298.
  6. ^ a b c d e Gardiner 2007.
  7. ^ a b Wolff 2001.
  8. ^ a b c Hofmann 2008.
  9. ^ a b Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 303.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 302.
  11. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, pp. 300–302.
  12. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 300.
  13. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, pp. 303–304.
  14. ^ Mincham 2010.
  15. ^ Dahn 2025.
  16. ^ a b Bach Digital 2025.
  17. ^ Oron 2025.

Cited sources

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