A lovely aria from J. S. Bach

I have heard this aria (solo vocal movement) many times, but it was only recently that I began to really notice it. This is a recording of Andreas Scholl, on YouTube. I looked up the piece on Amazon, wanting to buy an Mp3 of it, and one of the more beautiful renderings of it is by a French mezzo soprano called Guillemette Laurens.


Another offering of this aria is by one of my most favorite sopranos, Magdalena Kozena. Unfortunately, it is taken too fast, making the words come out as rather a tirade, whereas it is probably intended to be a reflection. Another treasure hiding in YouTube is a recording by Alfred Deller, one of the earliest of the celebrated counter-tenors, and you can hear why he was so celebrated. Janet Baker, one of Britain's most precious voices, a woman with an austere and disciplined lyric talent, has recorded this cantata (BWV 170) for EMI, and I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival. Unfortunately it is not available on YouTube. I listen to the music, and it is almost as if Bach is trying to explain something so earnestly that he is in pain. The song is about renunciation, that true peace is not obtainable except in god. The music alone seems able to give some inkling of this sentiment. The solo wind instrument is a sort of oboe that was just going out of favor at the time of Bach: the Oboe d' Amore. Now, of course, the instrument has been revived, especially for use in the music of Bach and his contemporaries.

Archimedes