| Jesu, der du meine Seele | |
|---|---|
BWV 78 | |
| Chorale cantata by J. S. Bach | |
 Johann Rist, the author of the hymn | |
| Occasion | 14th Sunday after Trinity |
| Chorale | "Jesu, der du meine Seele" by Johann Rist |
| Performed | 10 September 1724: Leipzig |
| Movements | seven |
| Vocal | SATB choir and solo |
| Instrumental |
|
Jesu, der du meine Seele (Jesus, you who [rescued] my soul),[1] BWV 78, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the 14th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 10 September 1724. It is based on the 1641 hymn by Johann Rist, "Jesu, der du meine Seele", for which it is named. The topic of the chorale, the Passion of Jesus cleansing the believer, is only distantly related to the Sunday's readings.
Jesu, der du meine Seele belongs to Bach's chorale cantata cycle, the second cycle during his tenure as Thomaskantor that began in 1723. The text retains the first and last stanza of the hymn unchanged, while the text of the inner stanzas was paraphrased by an unknown librettist into a sequence of five movements of alternating arias and recitatives, retaining several more lines from the original chorale. The first movement is a chorale fantasia in passacaglia form, and the work is closed by a four-part chorale setting.
The cantata is scored for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of flauto traverso, two oboes, strings and basso continuo, with a horn in the opening chorus. Bach achieved expression of contrasting affects in dramatic recitatives, anguish in "contrapuntal density"[2] and accessible arias illustrating hope.