'O Christ My All'
Relayed from the Midland Institute,
Birmingham
DORIS VANE (Soprano).
JOHN ARMSTRONG (Tenor) JOSEPH FARRINGTON (Bass)
CYRIL CHRISTOPHER (Continuo)
THE BIRMINGHAM STUDIO CHORUS and ORCHESTRA
Conducted by JOSEPH LEWIS
BELONGING to the same group of chorale cantatas. and to the same period as the one which was sung last Sunday, this one makes use of three different chorales in a very beautiful way. The first chorus is two choral fantasias with a tenor solo between them. The orchestra begins the first with a little prelude on a syncopated figure - a rather dragging step as though Bach meant to illustrate the weariness of the spirit that longed for rest in the Lord. The tenor solo tells of the joy with which the soul prepares to leave this world, and the second chorale is quietly peaceful.
Then, after a little recitative, the soprano sings another old chorale, to a tune which is familiar to us in this country also.
The tenor air, with its wonderful blending of funeral bells with a kind of soothing lullaby in the accompaniment, used to he regarded as impossible for the ordinary tenor voice until at the 1922 Leeds Festival it was successfully sung. With its two oboes d'amore and the pizzicato strings, it is a very interesting and unusual Bach accompaniment. The final chorale is different from those which have been already heard, and is fully and eloquently harmonized without orchestral interludes between the lines of the verse.
The text is reprinted by courtesy of Messrs.
Kovello & Cp., Ltd.
1. Chorus :
0 Christ, my all in living. Dying brings me reward,
What joy to end the striving. And come to Thee, my Lord!
Tenor Solo :
With joyful, 0 yea, with joyful heart I make me ready to be departing, And if God call to me today. Content and glad am I to go ;
My weary limbs, my frail and wasted body, My feeble mortal frame,
To earth again do I willingly surrender. My dying song hath long been made ; If only the hour had come to sing It 1
Chorus :
In peace and joy from life I part, As God ordaineth,
And sweet content is o'er my heart, Soft and tender;
Now, as God foretold to me.
Is death made one with slumber.
II. Recitative and Chorale, Soprano :
Oh, sinful world, now have I done with thee for evermore !
My mansion is prepared, where sweeter rest is mine
Than when I was with thee, and tasted at thy bidding
The bitterness of idle pleasures, The vain delight of empty joys, The deadly fruit of disenchantment.
No, no I Now can I say, with calm, untroubled spirit:
Content am I to leave thee, O world of sin and pain,
For all I now surrender I count not loss but gain.
In Heav'n is joy eternal, And love beyond all worth.
For there the Saints are gathered, Who served their Lord on earth.
III. Recitative, Tenor :
0 would the hour were close at hand for me !
If only death the end of all my pain, Ere long would claim me for its own !
How eagerly would I prepare to give it welcome,
And count the hours until its coming!
IV. Air, Tenor:
Ah. toll for me soon, bell most holy,
Thou most desired and welcome bell !
Come, I give to thee my hand in greeting, tome, end for me my pain and sorrow Thou long awaited day of death !
V. Recitative, Bass:
For Mils I know and sure is my belief, that I shall soon arise from the grave and go unto my heav'nly Father's dwelling. My death is but a sleep that calleth me to rest from weariness and sorrow of earthly labour.
Doth not a shepherd seek bis sheep astray, and will not Jesus seek until He find me ? He is my head, and am I not His limbs f On one sure hope my faith is builded that I shall rise again-My Saviour's loving mercy.
VI. Chorale :
Since Thou hast risen from the grave, My soul to Thee ascendeth,
The pledge Thy loving mercy gave New strength and courage lcndetli. Where'er Thou art I come to Thee, For there alone is found for me A joy that never endeth !
(cantatas for Me next four Sundays are :—
September 1. No. 78—
* Jesu, der du meine Seele.'
' Jesu, Thou who art Salvation.'
September 8. No. 100—
' Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan.'
' What God doth, that is wise and right.'
September 15. No. 95-
'Christus dcr ist mein Leben.' 'O Christ my all."
September 22. No. 114-
' Ach lieben Christen, seid getrost.'
' Ye Christian people, weep no more.'