Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229

Komm, Jesu, komm (Come, Jesus, come), BWV 229, is a motet by Johann
Komm, Jesu, komm
Sebastian Bach, with a text by Paul Thymich. It was composed in Leipzig, and
BWV 229
received its first performance by 1731–1732.
Motet by J. S. Bach
Bach scored the motet for double choir. It was probably composed for a
funeral, as others of his motets but exact dates of composition and
performance are not known. It is his only motet without biblical text. He set a
poem by Paul Thymich, which Johann Schelle set as a funeral aria in 1684.
Also unusually, the motet is not closed by a chorale, but by an aria which is
harmonized like a chorale.

The work has been described as having a confident, intimate and tender
character, and making more use of polychorality (interplay of the two choirs)
than polyphony (interplay of the voices), containing no fugue. The theme of
the text is death as the happy moment when man, tired of earthly life, can
confide in Jesus, who is seen as Truth and Life and the only way to eternal
life.

Contents
History Key G minor
Composition Occasion Probably for a funeral
Concerto
Performed By 1731–1732
Aria
Movements 2
References
Text Paul Thymich
Bibliography
External links Vocal 2 SATB choirs

History
Very little is known about the circumstances surrounding the composition and performance of this work. It is commonly accepted that
this is a funeral motet. The musicologist Gilles Cantagrel emphasizes that the work contains elements commonly present in funeral
motets, such as the theme of farewell to the world, and the formula "Gute Nacht" (Good night) which is often found in poetry about
death, as in another motet by Bach,Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227, which is known to be a funeral motet.[1]

The text of the motet is the first and eleventh stanza of a poem by Paul Thymich, professor at the Thomasschule of Leipzig where
Bach was Thomaskantor. Johann Schelle, a predecessor of Bach at this post,[2] set this text for the funeral of a university professor,
the philosopher and jurist Jakob Thomasius who died in 1684.[1] His aria was published in 1697 in Leipzig in a collection of more
than five thousand hymns, theGesangbuch by Paul Wagner (1617–1697),[3] of which Bach had a copy in his library. It is thought that
Bach took the text for similar circumstances, and one hypothesis is that he composed the motet for the burial of Johann Schmid, an
eminent theologian who died in 1731.[4]
Bach knew Schelle's music, which was a five-part homophonic strophic setting.[5] Bach took a different path, setting the text in two
different parts for two four-part choirs. The melody of the second part, an aria, for the last lines shows similarities to Schelle's
work.[5]

The autograph manuscript is lost, but a copy is kept at the Berlin State Library, from the hand of the scribe Christoph Nichelmann, a
[6]
student of Bach who left the Thomasschule in 1731–1732, thus giving the latest possible date for this work.

Composition
Unlike all other Bach motets, Komm, Jesu, komm contains no excerpts directly from the Bible, but is based solely on Thymich's
poem.[7] His text is inspired by the Gospel of John and centred on Christ's phrase "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one
comes to the Father except through me". The musical atmosphere of this motet has been described as intimate and touching,[8] with a
climate of trust and appeasement.[4] The key of G minor evokes suffering, but the motet is never tragic.[9] Bach makes relatively little
use of polyphony, and in this motet there is a remarkable absence of a fugue.[2] On the other hand, he uses Venetian polychoral style
more than usually. According to John Eliot Gardiner, he explores the responsorial possibilities of the two four-part choirs much
further than the Venetian pioneers of polychoral writing, and the formal dialogues between two choirs in works by Giovanni Gabrieli
and Heinrich Schütz.[8] The music is structured in two parts, a concerto and an aria, with the concerto subdivided in sections.

Concerto
The concerto sets the first verse of Thymich's poem. The text structures the music, both in terms of its different sections, and
concerning the illustration of the text by the music. Each of the six lines of the stanza leads to a different section and musical
treatment, making this part a succession of independent musical panels.[10] The concerto is scored for eight voices in a double
chorus,[7] and structured in three sections of different rhythmic and general character.

The first section evokes the suffering of a person near the end of life. When weariness and weakness no longer allow the body to
travel the "bitter path of life",[11] it aspires to the peace given by the encounter with Jesus. This movement is dominated by a very
expressive minor scale in a triple metre.

The second section provides a contrast, by a metre in common time, imitational writing and its light and trustful character in accord
with the text "Come, I will give myself to you". The word Komm (Come!) is highlighted, bouncing repeatedly between voices and
[12]
choirs, transforming this movement into a trusting call to Jesus.

The third section, moving in the dance rhythm of a menuet,[8] in a "climate of trusting fullness and serenity",[12] is a long statement
of faith, particularly emphasizing the key phrase of the motet "Y
ou are the right way, the truth and the life." This phrase is repeated no
less than four times, by one choir and then by the other, on the same musical theme varying with each assertion, making the motet's
[8]
longest movement, as if this long moment of "lyricism and ecstasy" never wanted to end.
 Structure of the first part[13]
Section Time Form Measure German text Translation Style
1—9 Komm, Jesu, komm Come, Jesus, come, Antiphonic
A
10—15 Mein Leib ist müde, My body is weary, Imitative
Die Kraft verschwindt je mehr My strength is fading more
16—23
B und mehr, and more,
24—28 idem, variant
1 3
2
29—37 Ich sehne mich I long
C
38—43 nach deinem Friede; for your peace;
Der saure Weg wird mir zu The bitter path becomes
44—53 Imitative
D schwer! too difficult for me!
53—64 idem, variant Antiphonic

Come, I will give myself to

2 64—78 Komm, ich will mich dir ergeben; Fugato
you;

Du bist der rechte Weg, die You are the right path, the
A 78—100
Wahrheit und das Leben. truth and life.
100—
A' idem, variant
122
3 6
8
122—
A" idem, variant
144
144—
A"' idem, variant
167

Aria
The second part, labeled "Arie" on the copy, looks at first glance like a chorale but differs markedly in a number of aspects. The text
of this part is not a traditional hymn text, but the eleventh verse of the same poem by Thymish. The melody is probably by Bach
himself. It is indeed closer to an aria because it is freer, more complex and in a higher register than a typical chorale melody, for
example by Martin Luther and Johann Crüger.[14] This melody is harmonized in the manner of a chorale, with four voices, with the
two choirs then merge into one.

An example of the aria's melodic freedom is the final melisma on the word Weg (way), which rises more than one octave, illustrating
the ascent to Heaven.[14]

Drum schließ ich mich in deine Hände

So I put myself in your hands

Und sage, Welt, zu guter Nacht!

And I say, world, good night!

Eilt gleich mein Lebenslauf zu Ende,

Even if the course of my life rushes towards the end,

Ist doch der Geist wohl angebracht.

My soul is nevertheless well prepared.

Er soll bei seinem Schöpfer schweben,

It will rise up to its creator
Weil Jesus ist und bleibt
For Jesus is and remains

Der wahre Weg zum Leben.

The true path to life.

References
1. Cantagrel 2011, p. 360. 8. Gardiner 2013.
2. Jones 2013, p. 200. 9. Cantagrel 2011, p. 107.
3. Mathesen 1967, p. 107. 10. Mathesen 1967, p. 108.
4. Cantagrel 2011, p. 361. 11. "Motet BWV 229 – Komm, Jesu, komm"(http://bach.or
5. Melamed 2013, pp. 38–39. g/education/motet-bwv-229/). The Bach Choir of
Bethlehem. 2018.
6. Notes de concert In Memoriam (http://www.cascadianc
horale.org/concerts/1203-in-memoriam-concert-notes. 12. Cantagrel 2011, p. 362.
pdf) 13. Mathesen 1967, pp. 107–119.
7. Bach Digital 2018. 14. Cantagrel 2011, p. 363.

Bibliography
Cantagrel, Gilles (2011).J.-S. Bach Passions Messes et Motets(in French). Librairie Arthème Fayard.ISBN 978-2-
213-66302-9.
Gardiner, John Eliot (2013). "12". Music in the castle of heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach
. London:
Penguin. ISBN 978-1-84614-721-0.
Jones, Richard D. P. (2013). The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, V olume II: 1717–1750: Music to
Delight the Spirit. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-969628-4.
Mathesen, John A. (1967).The six authentic motets of J. S. Bach. Texas University Press.
Melamed, Daniel (2013).J. S. Bach and the German Motet. Cambridge University Press.
"Komm, Jesu, komm BWV 229; BC C 3 / Motet" . Bach Digital. 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.

External links
Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project(IMSLP)
Cinq strophes du poème originalKomm, Jesu, komm de Paul Tymish, sur la musique de Schelle H
( yperion)
Bach Motet Translations / BWV 229 – Komm, Jesu, komm Emmanuel Music
Motets BWV 225–231 Bach Cantatas Website
Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229: performance by the Netherlands Bach Society(video and background information)
Free MP3 recording ofKomm, Jesu Komm – BWV 229, from Umeå Akademiska Kör
Motet BWV 229 / Komm, Jesu, kommThe Bach Choir of Bethlehem
Bachs Motetten: "Jesu komm"Landeskirche Hannovers 2012
Bach Motet BWV 229 "Komm, Jesu, komm" / Cantus Cölln / Konrad Junghänel on YouTube

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