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• Prefatory Note
• Errata
• The St Matthew Passion (1728—1729)
• No. 1.: O Lamb of God Most Holy ( O Lamm Gottes Unschuldig ) 1
• No. 3.: O Blessed Jesu, How Hast Thou Offended ( Herzliebster Jesu, Was Hast Du Verbrochen )
• No. 16.: My Sin It Is Which Binds Thee ( Ich Bin’s, Ich Sollte Bussen )
• No. 21.: Receive Me, My Redeemer ( Erkenne Mich, Mein Huter )
• No. 23.: Here Would I Stand Beside Thee ( Ich Will Hier Bei Dir Stehen )
• No. 25.: My Saviour, Why Must All This Ill Befall Thee ? ( Was Ist Die Ursach’ Aller Solcher Plagen? )
• No. 31.: O Father, Let Thy Will Be Done ( Was Mein Gott Will )
• No. 35.: O Man, Thy Grievous Sin Bemoan ( O Mensch, Bewein’ Dein’ Sunde Gross )
• No. 38.: How Falsely Doth the World Accuse ! ( Mir Hat Die Welt Truglich Gericht’t )
• No. 46.: O Lord, Who Dares to Smite Thee ? ( Wer Hat Dich So Geschlagen )
• No. 49.: Lamb of God, I Fall Before Thee ( Bin Ich Gleich Von Dir Gewichen )
• No. 53.: Commit Thy Way to Jesus ( Befiehl Du Deine Wege )
• No. 55.: O Wondrous Love, That Suffers This Correction! ( Wie Wunderbarlich Ist Doch Diese Strafe! )
• No. 63.: O Sacred Head, Surrounded ( O Haupt Voll Blut )
• No. 72.: Be Near Me, Lord, When Dying ( Wenn Ich Einmal Soll Scheiden )
• The St John Passion (1723)
• No. 4 1 .: O Wondrous Love ( O Grosse Lieb ’) 2
• No. 5 1 .: Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done ( Dein Will’ Gescheh’ )
• No. 8 1 .: O Lord, Who Dares to Smite Thee ? ( Wer Hat Dich So Geschlagen )
• No. 11 2 .: Peter, Faithless, Thrice Denies ( Petrus, Der Nicht Denkt Zuruck )
• No. 12 1 .: See the Lord of Life and Light ( Christus, Der Uns Selig Macht )
• No. 15 1 .: O Mighty King ( Ach, Grosser Konig )
• No. 22 1 .: Thy Bonds, O Son of God Most High ( Durch Dein Gefangniss, Gottes Sohn )
• No. 28 1 .: Within Our Inmost Being ( In Meines Herzens Grunde )
• No. 30 1 .: While His Parting Spirit Sinks ( Er Nahm Alles Wohl In Acht )
• No. 32 1 .: Jesu, Thou Who Knewest Death ( Jesu, Der Du Warest Todt )
• No. 35 3 .: Help Us, Christ, Almighty Son ( O Hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn )
• No. 37 1 .: Lord Jesus, Thy Dear Angel Send ( Ach Herr, Lass Dein Lieb’ Engelein )
• The Christmas Oratorio (1734)
• No. 5.: How Shall I Fitly Meet Thee 1 ( Wie Soll Ich Dich Empfangen )
• No. 7.: For Us to Earth He Cometh Poor ( Er Ist Auf Erden Kommen Arm )
• No. 9.: Ah! Dearest Jesus, Holy Child ( Ach, Mein Herzliebes Jesulein! )
• No. 12.: Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light ( Brich An, O Schones Morgenlicht )
• No. 17.: Within Yon Gloomy Manger ( Schaut Hin! Dort Liegt )
• No. 23.: With All Thy Hosts ( Wir Singen Dir )
• No. 28.: The Lord Hath All These Wonders Wrought ( Dies Hat Er Alles Uns Gethan )
• No. 33.: Thee With Tender Care I’ll Cherish ( Ich Will Dich Mit Fleiss Bewahren )
• No. 35.: Rejoice, and Sing ( Seid Froh, Dieweil )
• Nos. 38 & 40.: Jesus, Thou That For Me Livest ( Jesu Du, Mein Liebstes Leben ) Jesu, Thou My Joy and Pleasure ( Jesu, Meine Freud’ Und Wonne )
• No. 42.: Jesus Who Didst Ever Guide Me ( Jesus Richte Mein Beginnen )
• No. 46.: All Darkness Flies ( Dein Glanz All’ Finsterniss Verzehrt )
• No. 53.: This Proud Heart Within Us Swelling ( Zwar Ist Solche Herzensstube )
• No. 59.: Beside Thy Cradle Here I Stand ( Ich Steh’ an Deiner Krippen Hier )
• No. 64.: Now Vengeance Hath Been Taken ( Nun Seid Ihr Wohl Gerochen )
• The Ascension Oratorio (cantata 11, Lobet Gott In Seinen Reichen ) ( Circ. 1736)
• No. 6.: Now At Thy Feet Creation Lies 1 ( Nun Lieget Alles Unter Dir )
• No. 11.: When Will the Night Be Over ? ( Wann Soll Es Doch Geschehen )

No. 281 .

Within our inmost being (In meines Herzens Grunde)

The melody, “Valet will ich dir geben,” composed by Melchior Teschner, was first published, along with the words of Valerius Herberger’s Hymn (see infra), as a broadsheet, at Leipzig, in 1614. A second melody was printed in the broadsheet, also by Teschner, which has fallen out of use. The surviving melody is familiar in Hymns Ancient and Modern as “St Theodulph,” No. 98. It bears a striking resemblance to the air of the anonymous 16th century “Sellenger’s Round” (see Grove iv. 409). But Teschner’s authorship is attested as early as 1656 (Johann Hildebrandt’s Geistlicher Zeit-Vertreiber, Leipzig, 1656). Of Melchior Teschner little is known beyond the fact that he was Lutheran Cantor at Fraustadt, Silesia, early in the seventeenth century.

Bach uses the melody in the Cantata “Christus, der ist mein Leben” (No. 95), for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. There is another harmonisation of the tune in the Choralgesange, No. 314.

The words of the Choral are the third stanza of Valerius Herberger’s Hymn for the Dying, “Valet will ich dir geben.” It was written during the Silesian plague in 1613, appeared first as a broadsheet (see supra) in 1614, and later in the Gotha Cantionale sacrum of 1648, whence it passed into common use. Valerius Herberger was born at Fraustadt in 1562. In 1590 he became deacon and in 1599 chief pastor of St Mary’s Church, Fraustadt, where Teschner was Cantor Ejected in 1604 as a Lutheran, Herberger on Christmas Eve opened a meeting-house at Fraustadt, the “Kripplein Christi.” He died in 1627. The Hymn is an acrostic on his name, Valerius, formed by the initial “Vale” of stanza i and the initial letter of the opening line of the following four stanzas.

• In meines Herzens Grunde,
• Dein Nam’ und Kreuz allein
• Funkelt allzeit und Stunde,
• Drauf kann ich frohlich sein.
• Erschein’ mir in dem Bilde
• Zu Trost in meiner Noth,
• Wie du, Herr Christ, so milde
• Dich hast geblut’t zu Tod.

• B.G. xii. (1) 95.

English translations of the Hymn are noted in the Dictionary of Hymnology, p. 511.

Form. Simple (2 Fl., 2 Ob., Strings, Organ, and Continuo).