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Subject Area: Music
Subject Area: Religion

Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ. - Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach’s Chorals, vol. 3 The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Organ Works [1921]

Edition used:

Bach’s Chorals. Part III: The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Organ Works, by Charles Sanford Terry (Cambridge University Press, 1915-1921). 3 vols. Vol. 3.

Part of: Bach’s Chorals, 3 vols.

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Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ.

lf1393-03_figure_054

Melody: “Ich ruf’ su dir, Herr Jesu Christ”

Anon. 1535

    • i.

      Lord, hear the voice of my complaint,
    • To Thee I now commend me,
    • Let not my heart and hope grow faint,
    • But deign Thy grace to send me.
    • True faith from Thee, my God, I seek,
    • The faith that loves Thee solely,
    • Keeps me lowly,
    • And prompt to aid the weak,
    • And mark each word that Thou dost speak.

    • ii.

      Yet more from Thee I dare to claim,
    • Whose goodness is unbounded;
    • Oh let me ne’er be put to shame,
    • My hope be ne’er confounded;
    • But e’en in death still find Thee true,
    • And in that hour, else lonely,
    • Trust Thee only,
    • Not aught that I can do,
    • For such false trust I sore should rue.

    • iii.

      Oh grant that from my very heart
    • My foes be all forgiven;
    • Forgive my sins and heal their smart,
    • And grant new life from heaven;
    • Thy word, that blessed food, bestow,
    • Which best the soul can nourish;
    • Make it flourish
    • Through all the storms of woe
    • That else my faith might overthrow.

    • iv.

      Then be the world my foe or friend,
    • Keep me to her a stranger,
    • Thy steadfast soldier to the end,
    • Through pleasure and through danger.
    • From Thee alone comes such high grace,
    • No works of ours obtain it,
    • Or can gain it;
    • Our pride hath here no place,
    • ’Tis Thy free promise we embrace.

    • v.

      Help me, for I am weak; I fight,
    • Yet scarce can battle longer;
    • I cling but to Thy grace and might,
    • ’Tis Thou must make me stronger.
    • When sore temptations are my lot,
    • And tempests round me lower,
    • Break their power.
    • So, through deliverance wrought,
    • I know that Thou forsak’st me not!

    • Johannes Agricola (1492-1566)     Tr. Catherine Winkworth1 .

Johannes Agricola’s hymn, “Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” was published, along with the anonymous melody (supra) in Klug’s Hymn-book in 1535 [1529]. The tune is also used by Bach in the Orgelbüchlein and Cantatas 177, 185 (1715-32). His text of it is invariable and follows Witt’s (No. 299).

[68]

N. xv. 111. The movement is the only completed number in the “Christian Life and Experience” section of Part II of the Orgelbuchlein. It may be conjectured that, when he wrote it, Bach had before him particularly the first stanza of the hymn. His treatment of the melody of the first two lines of the stanza conveys a wistfulness of appeal that may have been suggested by the words

  • Lord, hear the voice of my complaint,
  • To Thee I now commend me.

Underneath this petition the Pedal asserts a firm and confident rhythm which seems to express the

True faith from Thee, my God, I seek

of the fifth line, and may be compared with the steadfast procession of Pedal crotchets in the “Credo in unum Deum” of the B minor Mass, which symbolizes the unshakable solidarity of the Church’s faith.

[1 ]Chorale Book for England, No. 116. The original hymn has five stanzas.