Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht (Lord, do not pass judgment on Your servant), BWV 105, is a church cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig for the ninth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 25 July 1723. It is a work of his first Leipzig cantata cycle.
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Bach composed the cantata for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 25 July 1723. The prescribed readings for the Sunday are from the Epistle to the Romans, 1 Corinthians 10:6–13, a warning of false gods and consolation in temptation, and from the Gospel of Luke, Luke 16:1–9, the parable of the Unjust Steward.The opening lines of the cantata, by an unknown librettist, come from Psalm 143. The theme of the cantata is derived from the Gospel: since mankind cannot survive before God's judgement, he should forswear earthly pleasures, the mammon of unrighteousness, for the friendship of Jesus alone; for by His death mankind's guilt was absolved, opening up the everlasting habitations.
The cantata is scored for four soloists, soprano, alto, tenor and bass, a four-part choir, corno, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
The cantata opens with a sombre harmonically complex orchestral prelude (adagio), with tortured chromatic modulations, suspended sevenths and a sighing, mournful motif in the violins and oboes. Similar chromaticism has been used elsewhere by Bach as an affective device[1] to illustrate the crucifixion, for example for the Crucifixus section of the Credo in the Mass in B minor[2] and for the last stanza, "trug uns'rer Sünden schwere Bürd' wohl an dem Kreuze lange", in the choral prelude O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß, BWV 622.[3] The chorus enters independently in polyphonic motet style over this rich orchestral texture. This is followed by a measured permutation fugue (allegro), initially for only the concertante singers and continuo, but eventually taken up by the whole ripieno choir, doubled by the orchestra. The short but expressive alto recitative is followed by one of Bach's most original and striking arias, depicting in musical terms the anxiety and restless desperation of the sinner. Over a background of repeated tremolo notes in the upper strings, the obbligato oboe and then the soprano interweave two highly ornate but tortuous melodic lines, their melismas and disturbing dissonances representing the troubled soul. The mood becomes hopeful in the following accompanied bass recitative, leading to the ecstatic and animated concerto-like aria for tenor, corno and strings, with rapid passagework for the first violins. The tremolo string motif returns in the final chorale. With each successive stanza, the tremolo gradually becomes less rapid, echoing the calming of man after conciliation with his Maker and bringing to an end what the musicologst Alfred Dürr described as one of "the most sublime descriptions of the soul in baroque and Christian art".
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