Johann Sebastian Bach Herr Gott, dich loben wir

1 Coro

Lord God, thy praise we sing,
Lord God, our thanks we bring.
Our Father, God forevermore,
all the world doth thee adore.

2 Recitativo

In warm devotion here on New Year’s Day
with joy we sing to thee,
and at this happy time,
on thee our gifts bestow,
our heart’s first fealty to show.
For hast thou not, since time began,
salvation wrought for man?
and can it be that we may not
within our hearts perceive it?
Thy grave has made our troubles cease,
and brought us rest and welcome peace.
Thy temples ring with psaltery and cymbal,
and all our spirits sing,
with deep devotion filled

1 Coro

Herr Gott, dich loben wir,
Herr Gott, wir danken dir.
Dich, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit,
ehret die Welt weit und breit.

2 Recitativo (Basso)

So stimmen wir bei dieser frohen Zeit
mit heißer Andacht an
und legen dir, o Gott,
auf dieses neue Jahr
das erste Herzensopfer dar.
Was hast du nicht von Ewigkeit
vor Heil an uns getan,
und was muß unsre Brust noch jetzt
vor Lieb und Treu verspüren!
Dein Zion sieht vollkommne Ruh,
es fällt ihm Glück und Segen zu;
der Tempel schallt von Psaltern und von Harfen,
und unsre Seele wallt,
wenn wir nur Andachtsglut

Foreword of the Edition Carus 31.016/03

Michael Märker
Translation: John Coombs

For the New Year’s Day church service in 1726 Johann Sebastian Bach composed the cantata Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16. He took the words from the cycle entitled Gottgefälliges Kirchen-Opffer (1711) by the Darmstadt Court librarian Georg Christian Lehms. The cantata begins with the first four lines of the Te Deum, as translated into German by Martin Luther in 1529, and it ends with the addition, by Bach, of the last verse of the New Year hymn “Helft mir Gotts Güte preisen” by Paul Eber (c. 1580). Between these extremes there are vividly expressed thanksgiving for past blessings and supplication for future blessings. Further performances of the cantata took place on New Year’s Day 1731 and, probably, 1749 (1746 at the earliest).

The opening chorus is a chorale arrangement of the first four lines of the liturgical melody for the Te Deum. Since the soprano and the corno da caccia perform only the cantus firmus, undecorated, there remains to be played the treble part in the contrapuntal texture of the movement, which is allotted solely to the first oboe and the first violins. The basso continuo sometimes differs from the bass