Ich steh' mit einem Fuss im Grabe

Ich steh’ mit einem Fuss im Grabe (I stand with one foot in the grave) is an intimate, lightly scored cantata whose arias offer glimpses of Bach’s late vocal style at its most nuanced and subtle. But it opens with a fine instrumental Sinfonia in F major for oboe and strings which Bach drew from one of his existing concertos. Since the concerto no longer survives, this is a movement of great importance, and one Bach must have rated highly, since he returned to it—considerably embellishing the solo part—in his Keyboard Concerto in F minor. This overture leads seamlessly into one of Bach’s hymn-infused movements, in which the aria, sung by a tenor, is commented on by phrases from a chorale slowly intoned by the sopranos. The accompaniment reflects the text closely, the lingering opening note mirroring the tenor’s first phrase “Ich steh” (“I stand”). In the final airy alto aria Bach once again delays a little to emphasize the key word—“Sterben” (death). About J.S. Bach’s Cantatas Although Bach seldom used the word, “cantata” has become the accepted term for the multimovement 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.