Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13

Structure and scoring

The cantata in six movements is intimately scored for four soloists, soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T), and bass (B), a four-part choir (SATB) in the chorales, two recorders (Fl), oboe da caccia (Oc), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo.^[4] The continuo is playing throughout.^[3]

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Movements of Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen

No.	Title	Text	Type	Vocal	Winds	Strings	Key	Time
1	Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen	Lehms	Aria	T	2Fl Oc		D minor	12/8
2	Mein liebster Gott läßt mich annoch	Lehms	Recitative	A
3	Der Gott, der mir hat versprochen	Heermann	Chorale	A	Fl Oc	2Vl VA	F major
4	Mein Kummer nimmet zu	Lehms	Recitativo	S
5	Ächzen und erbärmlich Weinen	Lehms	Aria	B	Fl	solo violin	G minor
6	So, sei nun, Seele, deine	Fleming	Chorale	SATB	Fl Oc	2Vl VA	B-flat major

Close

Movements

The cantata is opened by an aria, a lamento accompanied by soft recorders and the dark sound of the oboe da caccia which leads frequently. It is a da capo form, but the middle section is again divided in two parts. In it, the voice shows the "Weg zum Tod" (road to death)^[1] by several downward steps.^[4] Dürr points out that this composition "illustrates how the imagination of the Baroque musician is particularly fired by texts dealing with sighing and pain".^[7] The following short secco recitative ends as an arioso on the words "vergebens flehen" (plead in vain).^[1]

In the chorale, the woodwinds play the cantus firmus in unison with the alto voice, while the strings play independent figuration in F major, illustrating hope, although the text says that hope is not yet in sight. John Eliot Gardiner describes the "confident diatonic harmonies" as an "optimistic, wordless answer" to the voice's "prayer for comfort".^[7]

A second expressive recitative leads to a second aria, which is accompanied by violin I and the recorders, playing in unison an octave higher. The lamenting text of the beginning "Ächzen und erbärmlich Weinen" (groaning and pitiful weeping)^[1] is stressed by intervals such as augmented second, diminished fifth and diminished seventh. The ritornello has two distinctly different parts, a lamenting section and a hopeful one, full of fast runs and passages. In the middle section, the text "wer gen Himmel siehet" (he who looks towards heaven)^[1] is accented by an octave leap upwards in the voice and upwards runs in the instruments, contrasting the downward line in movement 1.

The closing chorale is a four-part setting of the melody of "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen" by Heinrich Isaac, which is featured twice in Bach's St Matthew Passion in movements 10 (Ich bin's, ich sollte büßen) and 37 (Wer hat dich so geschlagen).^[4][8]