Cantate BWV 145 - Ich lebe, mein Herze, zu deinem Ergötzen

About this work

The Easter cantata Ich lebe, mein Herze survives in a complicated state. Its five-movement core traces the joy of the Resurrection from a soprano-tenor duet to the closing chorale. Nineteenth-century sources place a chorale and a chorus by Telemann before it; whether Bach himself assembled this seven-number sequence is unknown.

The score makes that difference in character audible. After the two added collective pages, the duet sets the voices against a solo violin, while the bass aria suddenly broadens the colour with trumpet, flute and two oboes d’amore. Two recitatives then tighten the narrative before the final chorale.

In rehearsal, approach the seven numbers as a transmitted sequence rather than a perfectly unified design. Align consonants in the duet without stiffening its imitations; in the bass aria, keep the winds clear beneath the trumpet. The closing chorale should retain the soloists’ sense of Easter joy.

What the document containsDocument: The document contains 24 pages in PDF format. No MIDI file is currently attached to this historical record. The 24-page PDF contains all seven numbers of the transmitted version, including the two opening movements whose authorship or incorporation is uncertain.The historical record marks the work and file as public domain but does not document the editor or exact provenance of this copy. The file preserved by LesPartitions.info can be compared with the reference catalogue. Following that check, LesPartitions.info separates established facts from information that remains incomplete.