Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal

As in many of Bach’s cantatas, BWV146 traces a satisfying spiritual path from grief and suffering to rejoicing and fulfilment, as its title suggests: Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal (We must through much tribulation). It belongs to the sporadic works of the later 1720s, when Bach was working at his final post in Leipzig, and was probably first performed in either 1726 or 1728. Its popularity today rests firmly on its glittering instrumental introduction. Marked “Sinfonia”, this reused the opening movement of a now lost violin concerto, Bach rearranging the soloist’s part for the organ. If this was a quick fix, he spent much longer on the opening chorus, composing the vocal parts so they could be superimposed over the music of the concerto’s slow movement. (Bach later returned to this concerto, creating the now famous D minor Harpsichord Concerto BWV1052a). The alto aria is sensitively accompanied by a solo violin, while the soprano aria breathes a lighter, more modern style with a flute and two oboes for company. About J.S. Bach’s Cantatas Although Bach seldom used the word, “cantata” has become the accepted term for the multi-movement church pieces and celebratory secular works composed in large numbers by Bach and his contemporaries. Bach himself wrote more cantatas than anything else, mostly during two bursts of creativity between 1713 and 1716 in Weimar, and 1723 and 1729 in Leipzig. Around 200 works survive in a wide range of styles but usually including a chorus, solo arias, linking (speech-like) recitatives and a hymn (chorale). Bach probably completed five annual cycles of church cantatas for regular Sunday worship, festivals and celebrations. Because they were occasional pieces for court and public entertainment, fewer secular cantatas survive, though some were later revised for church use.