The search for the elusive source now has an end: In a recent research project on theological sources from Bach’s time, I was finally able to identify the source. We find the words exactly as Bach uses them in the book Hundert Evangelische Todes-Gedancken (One hundred evangelical thoughts about death), published in 1664 by the seventeenth-century theologian David von Schweinitz (1600-1679). Schweinitz opens his interpretation of the gospel for the Feast of Purification with the exact text Bach later uses in his cantata: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit. In ihm leben/ weben und sind wir/ so lange er will/in ihm sterben wir zu rechter Zeit/ wenn er will.” And not only that, just like Bach’s cantata combines the contemplation of God’s time with a quote from the Lutheran Nunc dimittis, von Schweinitz also cites the song of Simeon, which is part of the gospel text for the Feast of Purification. In other words, Bach not only borrowed the text, but we also find it in a similar context.
One question remains: could Bach have possibly known the book by von Schweinitz? While we don’t have Bach’s own copy, it was hard not to encounter the book in the decades around 1700. The devotional text was an international bestseller: between 1664 and 1750, the book appeared in nine German editions as well as in translations into French and Swedish. It was an extremely popular tome, and it is more than likely that either Bach or one of the pastors he worked with knew and owned the volume.
The discovery of the source for the opening movement demonstrates again how valuable theological scholarship can be for a deeper understanding of some of our most remarkable musical works. A detailed discussion of the book will soon be published in the German Bach Jahrbuch.
Markus Rathey, the Robert S. Tangeman Professor in the Practice of Music History
Literature
Markus Rathey, “Zur Datierung einer Vokalwerke Bachs in den Jahren 1707 und 1708,” Bach-Jahrbuch (2006), 65-92
Markus Rathey, “‘Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit’—Anmerkungen zu einer unbeachteten Quelle für den Eingangschor des Actus tragicus,” Bach-Jahrbuch (2024), 185-193