Bach: Cantata No. 163 “Nur jedem das Seine” / Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Cantata from the Weimar period, text by Salomon Frank. In the first aria “Nur jedem das Seine” Ritornello’s starting motive dominates the entire piece. Harnoncourt has the string ensemble accompanying (the oboe d’amore in the score is not used). The lyrics are “Must have authority Customs, taxes and gifts,Do not refuse The duty you owe! Customs, taxes and gifts,Do not refuse The duty you owe!”. It sounds like a commercial for the tax office. The bass recitative was followed by the bass aria “Lass mein Herz die Münze sein”. This aria is a very unique piece of music with an unconventional double cello obbligato. The two cellos’ melodies intertwine　actually humorously as they swap up and down. The double recitative for soprano and alto is more like an arioso than a recitative. The next duet aria for soprano and alto, “Nimm mich mir und gib mich dir” is overlaped with chorale melody of the modest strings. The chorale “Führ auch mein Herz und Sinn” in the last movement, of which only the figured bass notes remain, is known to be the last stanza (No. 11) of the hymn “Wo soll ich” fliehen hin” by Johann Heermann. Moreover, the third stanza of this hymn matches the words of the chorale “Ich, dein betrübtes Kind” in the sixth movement of Cantata No. 199, “Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut” and the entire chorale can be reconstructed from its melody. It’s somthing a complicated story.　#baroque #bach #cantata #片山俊幸 https://excelkobo.net/bachwerke/archive/BWV0163.pdf