Cantata Ich habe genug BWV 82
32. COFFEE CONCERT – STBRENDAN’S CHURCH 11.00
Mark Padmore [tenor], Anna Besson [flute]
Camerata Øresund, Peter Spissky [Director]
Johann Sebastian Bach [1685-1750]
Cantata Ich habe genug BWV 82 [1727]
1. Aria: Ich habe genug
2. Recitative: Ich habe genug
3. Aria: Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen
4. Recitative: Mein Gott! wenn kömmt das schöne: Nun!
5. Aria: Ich freue mich auf meinen Tod
Bach’s Cantata BWV 82 is possibly his most famous solo-voice cantata; it was composed for Sunday, February 2, 1727 marking the Feast of the Purification. One of his most beautiful works for solo voice, Ich habe genug is one of only a relative handful of Bach cantatas without chorus. There are several versions in existence of the work; the original was written almost certainly for Johann Libsius, a student of the Leipzig University and is for bass voice in C minor. Four years later Bach made a soprano version, followed by an alto publication in 1735. The cantata is also a staple in modern Counter-tenor repertoire where the bass version is sung up an octave. Given the existence of several versions in the composers hand, it has been suggested by scholars that this particular cantata may have been one of Bach’s favourite compositions.
The text is anonymous but in keeping with Lutheran tradition refers to the Gospel reading for the day (Luke 2: 22-32) in which Mary presents the infant Jesus to Simeon in the temple. Upon seeing the Christ child, the old man Simeon joyfully realises that death and salvation are imminent.
The opening aria is a poignant beautiful movement, reminiscent of the alto aria Erbarme dich from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, that treats the end of Simeon’s long life with a combination of melancholy and resignation. The second aria, the lullaby Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen’, is perhaps Bach’s most searching and sensuous meditation on the metaphor of death as sleep and is what makes Ich habe genug one of Bach’s most beloved cantatas. It has been speculated that there may be a link between the lullaby and the death of Bach’s three year old daughter who died some months before the first performance and indeed it seems to have been a favourite of Bach’s second wife Anna Magdalena, who copied it into her personal music book. The final aria brings the work full circle and pursues the idea of joyful impatience which was introduced at the end of the first aria. The flurries of coloratura are reminiscent of the composer’s virtuosic keyboard toccatas, yet the key of C minor reminds the listener, that however blissful on this occasion, death is still to be regarded with awe.
Norah O’Leary
