Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199

The cantata, structured in eight movements, is scored as chamber music for a solo soprano voice (S), and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of oboe (Ob), violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo (Bc) including bassoon (Fg) and violone (Vo). In the Weimar version, it is in C minor, with a viola as the obbligato instrument in movement 6.[9] The title page of the parts for this version reads: "Geistliche Cantate / Mein Herze schwimt im Blut / â / Soprano solo / 1 Hautb. / 2 Viol. / Viola / e / Basso / di / J.S.Bach".[10] In the Leipzig version, it is in D minor, with an obbligato violoncello piccolo instead of the viola.[3]

In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe.[9] The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4).[3] The continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.

Movements of Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut

No.	Title	Text	Type	Vocal	Winds	Strings	Key	Time
1	Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut	Lehms	Recitative	S	Fg	2Vl Va	C minor
2	Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen	Lehms	Aria	S	Ob	Vo	C minor
3	Doch Gott muss mir genädig sein	Lehms	Recitative	S	Fg	2Vl Va Vo
4	Tief gebückt und voller Reue	Lehms	Aria	S	Fg	2Vl Va Vo	E-flat major	3/4
5	Auf diese Schmerzensreu	Lehms	Recitative	S		Vo
6	Ich, dein betrübtes Kind	Heermann	Chorale	S		Va (solo) Vo	F major
7	Ich lege mich in diese Wunden	Lehms	Recitative	S	Fg	2Vl Va Vo
8	Wie freudig ist mein Herz	Lehms	Aria	S	Ob Fg	2Vl Va	B-flat major	6/8

Although limited to one soprano voice, Bach achieves a variety of musical expression in the eight movements. All but one recitative are accompanied by the strings (accompagnato), and only movement 5 is secco, accompanied by the continuo only.[3] The solo voice is treated to dramatic declamation, close to contemporary opera.[8]

A recitative sets the scene, "Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut" ("My heart swims in blood").[1][3]

The musicologist Julian Mincham explains that it "drips with the self-obsessed agonies of sin, pain and abandonment ... with the torment of an abandoned soul swamped by its own sin and sorrow. Its finely wrought contours portray dramatically the vacillating emotions ranging from horror and terror to lonely and dispirited resignation."[8]

The first aria, a da capo aria, "Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen" (Mute sighs, silent cries),[1] is accompanied by the oboe. The theme of the ritornello is present throughout the movement.[3] The middle section begins with a dissonance to stress the sorrowful image of "Und ihr nassen Tränenquellen" ("And you, moist springs of tears"). It ends with a passage set as a secco recitative, described by Mincham: "Time almost appears to stand still with this final expression of misery".[8]

The following recitative, "Doch Gott muss mir genädig sein" ("But God must be gracious to me"),[1] ends in a statement of repentance.[8]

The second aria, "Tief gebückt und voller Reue" ("Deeply bowed and filled with regret"),[1] is dominated by rich string sound. An adagio passage leads to the da capo.[3] The aria expresses repentance in a "civilised and refined minuet".[8]

A short secco recitative, "Auf diese Schmerzensreu" ("Upon this painful repentance"),[1] introduces the following hymn stanza.[3] It begins with "a musical echo of the torments of the heart swimming in blood".[8]

Johann Heermann, the hymn writer

The only chorale stanza of the work is "Ich, dein betrübtes Kind" ("I, Your troubled child"),[1] the third stanza of Johann Heermann's "Wo soll ich fliehen hin" ("Where should I flee"), published in 1630.[5] Its term "troubled child" is a good summary of the position of the human being in relation to God. The wording of its conclusion, "In deine tiefen Wunden, da ich stets Heil gefunden" ("into Your deep wounds, where I have always found salvation") leads to the following recitative.[1] The voice is accompanied by an obbligato viola (violoncello piccolo in the Leipzig version) in a lively figuration.[3]

Bach used a rather unusual melody by Caspar von Stieler, whereas he based his later chorale cantata on this hymn on the melody by Jacob Regnart.[11] The hymn is treated as in a chorale fantasia, with string ritornellos between the verses.[8]

The last recitative, "Ich lege mich in diese Wunden" ("I lay myself on these wounds"),[1] introduces a different mood;[3] the final measures are a "soaring melisma", a "joyously uplifting prelude" to the last movement.[8]

The final aria, "Wie freudig ist mein Herz" ("How joyful is my heart"),[1] expresses joy as a cheerful gigue, with a long coloratura on "fröhlich" (joyful).[3][8] It is comparable to the gigues in Bach's French Suites. Mincham concludes:

This cantata, expressed throughout in the first person, is highly personal. It makes a clear and dramatic journey from the cesspools of sinful misery to the euphoria of redemption and salvation. It has no trumpets, horns or drums to drive its message home; they are not needed within this highly private context.[8]