Johann Sebastian Bach Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn (3ère version)

Thou very God and David‘s son,
Thou who, ere Adam was,
or time had yet begun
forsaw my woes,
my bitter mortal plight,
who all my sorrow knows,
be kind to me!
Do thou with thy Magician’s hand
help me all evil to withstand,
and give me Faith and Hope and Comfort.

Ah, pass thou not now by me,
thou who of all mankind hast been the Saviour,
for thou didst come to heal the sick and not the healthy,
I pray thee likewise of thy strength give me a share.
When I with manmade ills am coping,
and in the dark am blindly groping,
then may I find thee there.
Receive thou me, nor leave I thee

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Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn,
der du von Ewigkeit in der Entfernung schon
mein Herzeleid und meine Leibespein
umständlich angesehn,
erbarm dich mein!
Und lass durch deine Wunderhand,
die so viel Böses abgewandt,
mir gleichfalls Hülf und Trost geschehen!

Ach, gehe nicht vorüber,
du, aller Menschen Heil, bist ja erschienen,
die Kranken und nicht die Gesunden zu bedienen.
Drum nehm ich ebenfalls an deiner Allmacht teil;
ich sehe dich auf diesen Wegen,
worauf man mich hat wollen legen,
auch in der Blindheit an.
Ich fasse mich und lasse dich
nicht ohne deinen Segen.

...

Ulrich Leisinger
Translation: David Kosviner/John Coombs

With the cantatas Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn (Thou very God and David’s Son) BWV 23 and Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe (Jesus calling then the Twelve unto him) BWV 22,1 Johann Sebastian Bach applied to become the successor of Johann Kuhnau, the Thomaskantor in Leipzig who had died on 5 June 1722. Comparisons of the texts lead us to the conclusion that Johann Sebastian Bach did not choose the texts of the two pieces submitted, but that the texts had been sent them from Leipzig. The two cantatas also seem to form a pair of works insofar as the unnamed librettist – from whom the texts of at least the cantatas Die Elenden sollen essen (All the starving shall be nourished) BWV 75 and Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (The heavens are telling of God in glory) BWV 76 may also have originated and with which Bach introduced himself in Leipzig during Trinity in 1723 – only addressed one aspect of the gospel reading in the cantata Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn. The librettist alludes to the healing of a blind person, the account of which is transformed, in an impressive manner, from the sphere of a

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