About this work
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ was first performed in 1732 to fill the Sunday missing from Bach’s 1724–1725 chorale-cantata cycle. Bach retains all five stanzas of Johann Agricola’s hymn: there are no recitatives, but a large opening chorus, three solo movements and a final chorale.
In the first movement, the soprano carries the chorale melody above counterpoint animated by concertante violin and oboes. The alto sings the second stanza with continuo alone; the soprano then dialogues with oboe da caccia, followed by the tenor with concertante violin and obbligato bassoon.
The opening chorus must keep the soprano tune immediately audible despite the activity of the other lines. Change colour across the three verses without losing the hymn’s continuity. The alto needs a very stable bass; in the next two arias, obbligato instruments and voices should share articulation and phrasing.
What the document containsDocument: The document contains 34 pages in PDF format. No MIDI file is currently attached to this historical record. The 34-page PDF contains all five stanzas and all five movements of this chorale cantata without recitatives.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.