Not to be confused with the organ preludes of the same name from Bach's Clavier-Übung III

Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir (Out of deep distress I cry to you), BWV 38, is a church cantata

Bach cantata

Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....

 by Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

. Bach composed the chorale cantata

Chorale cantata

In music, a chorale cantata is a sacred composition for voices and instruments, principally from the German Baroque era, in which the organizing principle is the words and music to a chorale. Usually a chorale cantata is in multiple movements or parts. Most chorale cantatas were written between...

 in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 in 1724 in his second annual cycle for the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity

Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity...

 and first performed it on 19 October 1724. The cantata is based on the Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

's chorale

Chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....

 Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir

Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir

Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir , BWV 38, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig in 1724 in his second annual cycle for the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 19 October 1724...

, a paraphrase

Paraphrase

Paraphrase is restatement of a text or passages, using other words. The term "paraphrase" derives via the Latin "paraphrasis" from the Greek , meaning "additional manner of expression". The act of paraphrasing is also called "paraphrasis."...

 of Psalm 130

Psalm 130

Psalm 130 , traditionally De profundis from its Latin incipit, is one of the Penitential psalms.-Commentary:...

.

The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians

Epistle to the Ephesians

The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, often shortened to Ephesians, is the tenth book of the New Testament. Its authorship has traditionally been credited to Paul, but it is considered by some scholars to be "deutero-Pauline," that is, written in Paul's name by a later author strongly influenced by...

, "take unto you the whole armour of God" , and from the Gospel of John

Gospel of John

The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...

, the healing of the nobleman's son . The texts of the chorale is unchanged for the first and last movements. An unknown poet paraphrased the other three stanzas of the chorale for movements 2 to 5.

Scoring and structure

The piece is scored for oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

s I/II, tromboni

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

 I/II/III/IV, violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

s I/II, viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

, and basso continuo (specifically including fagotto, violone

Violone

The term violone can refer to several distinct large, bowed musical instruments which belong to either the viol or violin family. The violone is sometimes a fretted instrument, and may have six, five, four, or even only three strings. The violone is also not always a contrabass instrument...

, violoncello, and organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

), along with four vocal soloists (soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

, alto

Alto

Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...

, tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

, bass

Bass (voice type)

A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...

) and four-part choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

.

It is in six movements:

1. Coro (Chorale): "Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir" for choral and orchestral tutti colle parti.
2. Recitativo: "In Jesu Gnade wird allein" for altus and continuo.
3. Aria
   Aria
   An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
   
   : "Ich höre mitten in den Leiden" for tenor, oboes, and continuo.
4. Recitativo: "Ach! Dass mein Glaube noch so schwach" for soprano and continuo (chorale theme).
5. Aria (Terzetto): "Wenn meine Trübsal als mit Ketten" for soprano, altus, bass, and continuo.
6. Chorale: "Ob bei uns ist der Sünden viel" for choral and orchestral tutti colle parti.

Recordings

• J.S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk - Sacred Cantatas Vol. 3, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
  Nikolaus Harnoncourt
  Nikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
  
  , Wiener Sängerknaben, Chorus Viennensis, Concentus Musicus Wien
  Concentus Musicus Wien
  Concentus Musicus Wien is a baroque music ensemble founded by Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt in 1953. It generated the now well-established movement in performance and recordings to play early music on period instruments....
  
  , soloist of the Wiener Sängerknaben, Paul Esswood
  Paul Esswood
  Paul Esswood is an English countertenor. He is best known for his singing in Bach cantatas and the operas of Handel and Monteverdi. Along with his countrymen Alfred Deller and James Bowman, he led the revival of countertenor singing in modern times.Esswood was born in West Bridgford, England. He...
  
  , Kurt Equiluz
  Kurt Equiluz
  Kurt Equiluz is an Austrian classical tenor in opera and concert, known for recording works of Johann Sebastian Bach with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Helmuth Rilling, a member of the Vienna State Opera as a tenor buffo from 1957 until 1983.- Professional career :Kurt Equiluz was an alto soloist of...
  
  , Ruud van der Meer, Teldec
  Teldec
  The Teldec is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group.-History:...
  
   1974
• Bach Cantatas Vol. 5 - Sundays after Trinity II, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Chor
  Münchener Bach-Chor
  Münchener Bach-Chor is a mixed choir for concert and oratorio in Munich. Performances, international tours and recordings with Karl Richter and the Münchener Bach-Orchester made the choir internationally known.- Heinrich-Schütz-Kreis :...
  
  , Münchener Bach-Orchester, Edith Mathis
  Edith Mathis
  Edith Mathis is a renowned Swiss soprano and a leading exponent of the works of Mozart. She studied in Lucerne and debuted there in 1956 in The Magic Flute...
  
  , Trudeliese Schmidt, Peter Schreier
  Peter Schreier
  Peter Schreier is a German tenor and conductor.-Early life:Schreier was born in Meissen, Saxony, and spent his first years in the small village of Gauernitz, near Meissen, where his father was a teacher, cantor and organist...
  
  , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
  Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
  Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
  
  , Archiv Produktion
  Archiv Produktion
  Archiv Produktion is a subsidiary label of Deutsche Grammophon founded in 1948.The first head of Archiv from 1948–1957, was Fred Hamel, a musicologist who set out the early Archiv releases according to 12 research periods from 1. Gregorian Chant to 12. Mannheim and Vienna...
  
   1978
• Die Bach Kantate Vol. 56m Helmuth Rilling
  Helmuth Rilling
  Helmuth Rilling is an internationally known German choral conductor, founder of the Gächinger Kantorei , the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , the Oregon Bach Festival , the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and other Bach Academies worldwide, and the "Festival Ensemble Stuttgart"...
  
  , Gächinger Kantorei
  Gächinger Kantorei
  Gächinger Kantorei is an internationally known German mixed choir, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954 in Gächingen and still conducted by him. A "Kantorei" is a choir of high standard dedicated mostly, but not exclusively, to sacred music. The ensemble operates in Stuttgart now and is therefore...
  
  , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
  Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
  Bach-Collegium Stuttgart is an internationally known German instrumental ensemble, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1965 to accompany the Gächinger Kantorei in choral music with orchestra...
  
  , Arleen Augér
  Arleen Auger
  Joyce Arleen Auger was an American soprano singer, admired for her coloratura voice and interpretations of works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Monteverdi, Gluck, and Mozart.-Biography:...
  
  , Helen Watts
  Helen Watts
  Helen Watts CBE was a Welsh contralto. She was born at Wales in Milford Haven and educated at the School of S. Mary and S. Anne, Abbots Bromley and the Royal Academy of Music. She began her career with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, and was a regular broadcaster on the Welsh Home Service...
  
  , Lutz-Michael Harder
  Lutz-Michael Harder
  Lutz-Michael Harder is a German lyric tenor known mostly for his interpretation of Mozart opera roles and as a baroque concert soloist.-Biography:...
  
  , Philippe Huttenlocher
  Philippe Huttenlocher
  Philippe Huttenlocher is a Swiss baritone.He was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He first studied violin at the conservatory in Neuchâtel, and then voice in Fribourg...
  
  , Hänssler
  Hänssler Classic
  Hänssler Classic is a German classical record label based in Holzgerlingen.Friedrich Hänssler Senior founded Musikverlag Hänssler in 1919 to publish church music. Since 1972 Hänssler Classic has also published contemporary and jazz music...
  
   1980
• Deutsche Barock Kantaten (VIII): Aus der Tiefe, Erik Van Nevel
  Erik Van Nevel
  Erik Van Nevel is a Belgian conductor. He is the nephew of Paul Van Nevel.He pursued instrumental and vocal studies at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven and at the Koninklijk Conservatorium and the Koninklijk Conservatorium ....
  
  , Capella Sancti Michaelis Vocal Ensemble, Ricercar Consort
  Ricercar Consort
  The Ricercar Consort is a Belgian instrumental ensemble founded in 1980 together with the record label of Jérôme Lejeune.The founding members were François Fernandez, Bernard Foccroulle, and Philippe Pierlot. The initial repertoire was focussed on the German Baroque, and the Consort was closely...
  
  , Greta de Reyghere, James Bowman, Guy de Mey
  Guy de Mey
  Guy de Mey is a Belgian tenor from Sint-Niklaas. He studied with Stella Dalberg, Erna Spoorenberg, Sir Peter Pears and Eric Tappy....
  
  , Max van Egmond
  Max van Egmond
  Max van Egmond is a Dutch bass and baritone singer. He has focused on oratorio and Lied and is known for singing works of Johann Sebastian Bach.- Professional career :...
  
  , Ricercar 1991
• Bach Edition Vol. 18 - Cantatas Vol. 9, Pieter Jan Leusink
  Pieter Jan Leusink
  Pieter Jan Leusink is a Dutch conductor of classical music.He studied organ in Zwolle at the Municipal Conservatory and took conducting lessons from Gottfried van der Horst...
  
  , Holland Boys Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium, Ruth Holton
  Ruth Holton
  -Training:Holton won a choral exhibition at Clare College, Cambridge and studied music there. Her later musical studies were with Elizabeth Lane, Nancy Long and Julie Kennard.-Career:...
  
  , Sytse Buwalda
  Sytse Buwalda
  Sytse Buwalda is a Dutch counter-tenor.Buwalda studied at the Sweelinck School of Music in Amsterdam and has worked with conductors such as Frans Brüggen, Gustav Leonhardt, Sigiswald Kuijken and Sir David Willcocks...
  
  , Nico van der Meel, Bas Ramselaar, Brilliant Classics 2000
• Bach Cantatas Vol. 11: Genova/Greenwich / For the 20th Sunday after Trinity / For the 21st Sunday after Trinity, John Eliot Gardiner
  John Eliot Gardiner
  Sir John Eliot Gardiner CBE FKC is an English conductor. He founded the Monteverdi Choir , the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique...
  
  , Monteverdi Choir
  Monteverdi Choir
  The Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. A specialist Baroque ensemble, the Choir has become famous for its stylistic conviction and extensive repertoire, encompassing music from the early...
  
  , English Baroque Soloists
  English Baroque Soloists
  The English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on period instruments, formed in 1978 by English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early Baroque period to the Classical period...
  
  , Joanne Lunn
  Joanne Lunn
  - Professional career :Joanne Lunn studied at Royal College of Music, where she graduated and received the Tagore Gold Medal.Lunn performed in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, Gluck's operas Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste, and in Verdi's Falstaff...
  
  , William Towers, Paul Agnew
  Paul Agnew
  Paul Agnew is a Scottish operatic tenor.Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the Consort of Musicke, the Tallis Scholars, the Sixteen and the Gothic Voices, before embarking on a solo career in the early 1990s.Closely associated with William...
  
  , Gotthold Schwarz, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
• J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 13, Ton Koopman
  Ton Koopman
  Ton Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...
  
  , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
  Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
  The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir is a Dutch early-music group based in Amsterdam.The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir was created in two stages by the conductor, organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman. He founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in...
  
  , Deborah York
  Deborah York
  Deborah York is a British classical soprano in concert and opera, living in Berlin.- Biography :Deborah York studied voice at the University of Manchester, graduating with a First Class Honours Degree, and in London with Laura Sarti and Janice Chapman.She has appeared regularly at the Bayerische...
  
  , Franziska Gottwald
  Franziska Gottwald
  Franziska Gottwald is a German mezzo-soprano singer in opera and concert.- Biography :Franziska Gottwald received her first voice training at the age of 16 with Prof. Eugen Rabine and studied voice at the Academies of Music in Saarbrücken, Hannover and Weimar...
  
  , Paul Agnew
  Paul Agnew
  Paul Agnew is a Scottish operatic tenor.Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the Consort of Musicke, the Tallis Scholars, the Sixteen and the Gothic Voices, before embarking on a solo career in the early 1990s.Closely associated with William...
  
  , Klaus Mertens
  Klaus Mertens
  Klaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.-Professional career:Klaus Mertens took singing lessons while attending school...
  
  , Antoine Marchand 2000
• J.S. Bach: Weinen, Klagen…, Philippe Herreweghe
  Philippe Herreweghe
  Philippe Herreweghe is a Flemish conductor.In his school years at the University of Ghent, Herreweghe combined studies in medical science and psychiatry with a musical education at the Ghent Conservatory, where Marcel Gazelle, Yehudi Menuhin's accompanist, was his piano teacher...
  
  , Collegium Vocale Gent, Carolyn Sampson, Daniel Taylor
  Daniel Taylor (countertenor)
  Daniel Taylor is a Canadian countertenor and early music specialist. He completed his undergraduate studies in English, philosophy, and music at the the Faculty of Music of McGill University and his graduate work in religion and music at the Université de Montréal...
  
  , Mark Padmore
  Mark Padmore
  Mark Padmore is a British tenor appearing in concerts, recitals, and opera.Born in London 8 March 1961, and raised in Canterbury, Kent in England. Padmore studied clarinet and piano prior to his gaining a choral scholarship to King's College, Cambridge...
  
  , Peter Kooy
  Peter Kooy
  Peter Kooy is a Dutch bass singer specialized in baroque music.- Biography :Peter Kooy started his musical career at 6 years as a choir boy. However he started his musical studies as a violin student...
  
  , Harmonia Mundi France 2003
• J.S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 29 - Cantatas from Leipzig 1724, Masaaki Suzuki
  Masaaki Suzuki
  is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan.He was born in Kobe to parents who were both Christians and amateur musicians...
  
  , Bach Collegium Japan
  Bach Collegium Japan
  Bach Collegium Japan is composed of an orchestra and a chorus specialising in Baroque music, playing with period instruments. It was founded in 1990 by Masaaki Suzuki with the purpose of introducing Japanese audiences to European Baroque music. Suzuki still remains its music director...
  
   & Concerto Palatino Brass Ensemble, Dorothee Mields
  Dorothee Mields
  Dorothee Mields is a German soprano concert singer of Baroque and contemporary music.-Career:Mields was born in Gelsenkirchen. She studied at the University of the Arts Bremen with Elke Holzmann, Harry van der Kamp and Gabriele Schreckenbach...
  
  , Pascal Bertin, Gerd Türk
  Gerd Türk
  - Biography :Gerd Türk received his first musical training as a choir boy at the cathedral of Limburg. He studied in Frankfurt and then at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Richard Levitt and René Jacobs, continuing in master classes with Ernst Haefliger and Kurt Equiluz.In the field of...
  
  , Peter Kooy
  Peter Kooy
  Peter Kooy is a Dutch bass singer specialized in baroque music.- Biography :Peter Kooy started his musical career at 6 years as a choir boy. However he started his musical studies as a violin student...
  
  , BIS
  BIS Records
  BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden.BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings....
  
   2004

Sources

• Craig Smith
  Craig Smith (conductor)
  Craig Smith was an American conductor who is considered a seminal figure in Boston's Baroque music revival of the 1970s and 1980s. In subsequent years he became increasingly known as an international conductor...
  
  , Programme notes - BWV 38, Emmanuel Music
  Emmanuel Music
  Emmanuel Music is a Boston-based collective group of singers and instrumentalists founded in 1970 by Craig Smith. It was created specifically to perform the complete cycle of over 200 sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach in the liturgical setting for which they were intended, an endeavor twice completed...
  
  .
• Walter F. Bischof, Text and orchestration for BWV 38, Bach Cantatas, University of Alberta
  University of Alberta
  The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
  
  .
• Alfred Dürr
  Alfred Dürr
  Alfred Dürr was a German musicologist. He was a principal editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.- Professional career :...
  
  : Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kantaten. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3
• Alfred Dürr: The Cantatas of J.S. Bach, Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-19-929776-2
• Werner Neumann
  Werner Neumann
  Werner Neumann was a German musicologist. He founded the Bach-Archiv Leipzig on 20 November 1950 and was a principal editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.- Professional career :Neumann studied at the Conservatory of Leipzig from 1928 to...
  
  : Handbuch der Kantaten J.S.Bachs, 1947, 5th Ed. 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4
• Hans-Joachim Schulze: Die Bach-Kantaten: Einführungen zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt; Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag 2006 (Edition Bach-Archiv Leipzig) ISBN 3-374-02390-8 (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Carus-Verl.)
• Christoph Wolff
  Christoph Wolff
  Christoph Wolff is a German-born musicologist, presently on the faculty of Harvard University. Born and educated in Germany, Wolff studied organ and historical keyboard instruments, musicology and art history at the Universities of Berlin, Erlangen, and the Music Academy of Freiburg, receiving a...
  
  /Ton Koopman (Eds.): Die Welt der Bach-Kantaten, Metzler/Bärenreiter, Stuttgart und Kassel, 3 Bände Sonderausgabe 2006 ISBN 3-476-02127-0
• Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini. Studi sui testi delle Cantate sacre di J. S. Bach. Università di Padova, pubblicazioni della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, vol. XXXI, Padova & Kassel, 1956, xv-291.
• Geoffrey Turner. Singing The Word: The Cantatas of J S Bach. New Blackfriars, volume 87, issue 1008, pages 144-154.
• J. C. J. Day. The texts of Bach's Church cantatas: some observations. German Life and Letters, volume 13 (1960), num. 2, pages 137-144.
• Harald Streck. Die Verskunst in den poetischen Texten zu den Kantaten J. S. Bachs. Dissertation: Universität Hamburg 1971, 214 pages.

External links

• Piano & vocal score of BWV 38 on bach-cantatas.com
• Discussion of the work on bach-cantatas.com