(Weeping, lamenting, worrying, fearing), 12, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Weimar for Jubilate, the third Sunday after Easter, and led the first performance on 22 April 1714 in the , the court chapel of the Schloss in Weimar.
Bach was appointed in Weimar in the spring of 1714, a position that called for the performance of a church cantata each month. He composed Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen as the second cantata in the series, on a text probably written by court poet Salomon Franck. The work is structured in seven movements, an instrumental Sinfonia, a choral passacaglia, a recitative on a Bible quotation, three arias and, as the closing chorale, the last stanza from Samuel Rodigast's hymn "" (1674). The cantata is scored for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir, trumpet, oboe, bassoon, two violins, two violas, and basso continuo.
Bach performed the cantata again in his first year as Thomaskantor – director of church music – in Leipzig, on 30 April 1724. He reworked the first section of the first chorus to form the Crucifixus movement of the Credo in his Mass in B minor. Franz Liszt based extended keyboard compositions on the same material.
History and words
On 2 March 1714 Bach was appointed concertmaster of the Weimar court capelle of the co-reigning dukes Wilhelm Ernst and Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar. As concertmaster, he assumed principal responsibility for composing new works, specifically cantatas for the (palace church), on a monthly schedule. is the second cantata in this series, composed for the Third Sunday after Easter, called Jubilate, after , for Palm Sunday and Annunciation, and before , for Pentecost. The prescribed readings for that Sunday were from the First Epistle of Peter, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man" (), and from the Gospel of John, Jesus announcing his second coming in the so-called Farewell Discourse, saying "your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (). The text, depicting the affliction that Christians have to pass, is assumed to have been written by Salomon Franck, the Weimar court poet who wrote most texts for Bach cantatas of the Weimar period. It follows details of the Gospel and the idea from the epistle reading: "For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." (verse 19). The text of the opening chorus corresponds to , the text of the first recitative is taken from , "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God". Franck contends that this is true not only for the disciples who were addressed directly, but for every Christian. Movement 4 sees the suffering of Jesus as a consolation for the afflicted Christian, movement 5 voices a decision to follow Jesus even in suffering, movement 6 offers the consolation that it will be only a short time until all sadness is overcome, alluding to (as in movement 4) . The cantata is closed by the sixth and final stanza of the hymn "" (1674) by Samuel Rodigast. The theme of the first part of the text is a situation of God's temporary absence.
Bach first performed the cantata in the Weimar court chapel on 22 April 1714, then performed it in Leipzig in his first year as on 30 April 1724. In Leipzig, Jubilate was the beginning of the trade fair (Easter fair) which attracted visitors for three weeks. His predecessor, Johan Kuhnau, had already noted that "visitors and distinguished gentlemen certainly want to hear something fine in the principal churches."
Bach reworked the first section of the first chorus to form the movement of the in his Mass in B minor, the central movement of that work, three decades later. Franz Liszt based two keyboard works on the first section of movement 2, Prelude after a 'theme from Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen' by J. S. Bach (S. 179, 1854) [for organ or piano] and Variations on a theme from 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen' by J. S. Bach (S. 180, 1862) [for piano].
Scoring and structure
The cantata in seven movements is scored for three vocal soloists (alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir SATB, trumpet (Tr), oboe (Ob), bassoon (Fg), two violins (Vl), two violas (Va) and basso continuo (Bc). The duration is given as .
In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4).
Music
The autograph score is titled "". John Eliot Gardiner notes that the keys of the arias and the closing chorale move upwards like a ladder, ascending by thirds.