Johann Sebastian Bach
Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält
“If the Lord God does not stay with us”
(Cantata BWV 178)

The Gospel reading for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity is St. Matthew 7:15–21, the text that inspires the vigorous spirit evident in this cantata composed for this Sunday. Conductor John Eliot Gardiner characterizes the mood of the cantata as one of “dire warning against hypocrites and false prophets.” The opening chorus is quite clear about the necessity of divine protection:

If the Lord God does not stay with us
when our enemies rage
and if he does not support our cause
in heaven high above,
if he is not Israel’s protection|
and does not himself break the enemy’s cunning
then all is lost with us.

Julian Mincham’s discussion of this cantata begins:

What a cracking opening chorus! Yet again a portentous, minor-key statement designed to capture immediate attention and succeeding wonderfully in so doing. There is nothing ambiguous about this bustling, energetic, monolithic movement. In fact the entire cantata is enthused with rhythmic and melodic drive, both conveying the vigorous Lutheran opposition to ‘false prophets’, hypocrites and other attackers of the faith.

Gardiner describes this chorus with more detail:

Bach constructs an opening chorus of immense power, sustained energy and astonishing compositional prowess with which to box his listeners’ ears. Of its 115 bars only two complete bars and thirteen beats stand outside the continuous stream of semiquavers trafficking to and fro from instrument to instrument and voice to voice, against a backdrop of pounding dotted rhythms and bellicose syllabic punctuation — quite astonishing!

The sense of danger for believers continues throughout the entire work. A complete text — German and English with helpful explanatory notes — is here.

In the performance below the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir is conducted by Ton Koopman. The soloists are Annette Markert, alto; Christoph Prégardien, tenor; and Klaus Mertens, bass.