Du Hirte Israel, höre, BWV 104

Bach wrote nearly 300 church cantatas in addition to secular cantatas.[3] During his first two or three years in Leipzig, he produced many new cantatas, sometimes at a rate of one per week.[4] An estimated forty percent of the works he composed for Sunday and holiday services have not survived.[5] BWV 104 is among the church cantatas preserved in the historical catalogues.[1]

As a musical form, the cantata may combine vocal solos and choruses, often alternating recitative and aria with orchestral accompaniment.[3] Sacred or chorale cantatas were frequently organized around a familiar hymn, with references to it appearing throughout the work and the chorus singing it at the conclusion.[5] The documented textual sources of BWV 104 include a stanza by Cornelius Becker alongside scripture and original libretto material.[1]

The Forkel/Terry catalogue dates BWV 104 to about 1725 and assigns it to the Second Sunday after Easter, identified as Misericordias Domini.[1] A separate catalogue confirms the same liturgical occasion without supplying a composition date.[2]

The Forkel/Terry entry identifies Psalm 80:1 and the first stanza of Cornelius Becker's hymn "Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt" as textual sources, with the remainder described as original libretto material.[1]

The Forkel/Terry catalogue specifies tenor and bass soloists but does not provide a complete instrumentation list or movement-by-movement description.[1] Schweitzer's discussion nevertheless identifies an opening chorus, a final aria and a prominent role for the oboes in another aria.[6] Charles Francis Abdy Williams records an English edition titled Thou Guide of Israel, published by Novello.[2]

Albert Schweitzer drew attention to a "charming triplet movement" running through the opening chorus and the final aria, "Beglückte Herde." He described the cantata as displaying delicate lyricism, euphony and grace, and judged its immediate appeal especially suitable for introducing audiences to Bach's cantatas.[6]

In the aria beginning "Verbirgt mein Hirte sich zu lange," Schweitzer observed that the oboes give a "delightful picture of haste."[6] His account contrasts the cantata's lyrical character with the more emphatically pictorial writing he identified in several of Bach's other works from the same period.

The Forkel/Terry catalogue contains an internal discrepancy: the heading for BWV 104 associates "Du Hirte Israel, höre" with Psalm 71:1, while its list of textual sources specifies Psalm 80:1.[1] The catalogue does not resolve the conflict. It also places a question mark before the name of Christian Weiss senior, so the attribution of the libretto to him remains uncertain rather than established.[1]