Johann Sebastian Bach
Was frag ich nach der Welt
“What do I ask for from the world”
(Cantata BWV 94)

In composing this cantata for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, Bach had (as usual) the biblical readings for that Sunday in mind. The Epistle for that day is from the tenth chapter of I Corinthians. St. Paul reminds his readers how, during the long sojourn in the wilderness awaiting entry into the Promised Land, God was displeased with the sinful behavior of many of the Israelites. Believers should heed what must be learned from the bad exampled of their predecessors.

Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

The passage ends with a powerful encouragement about the possibilities for faithful living. 

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

On that Sunday in 1724 when the cantata was first performed, Bach’s congregation in Leipzig heard a reading of a familiar parable in the Gospel from St. Luke 15. It is the text most commonly referred to as the Story of the Prodigal Son. Even though the most important figure in the story is the loving father, it is the prodigality of the wayward son that is attended to in this cantata, specifically his recognition that his wanton pursuit of worldly pleasures is not the way of life.

Bach chose as the basic text for this cantata a hymn, Was frag ich nach der Welt, “Why should I have any concern about the world,” by the German poet, Balthasar Benjamin Kindermann (1636–1706). All eight movements of the cantata (a complete text with English translation and notes is here) incorprate stanzas from the hymn, often with interpolations and augmentations from an unknown writer (possibly Bach himself?) As Julian Mincham notes:

Like the hymn, the reworking of the text by an unknown author relies upon the varied transformation of a single fundamental concept in the form of an antithesis: on one side we have the ‘world’, on the other the faithful Christian with his heartfelt love for Jesus. The cantata is a single rejection of the world. ‘World’ in this context means everything earthly, everything material, everything that is too human in terms of emotions and desires, of selfishness, ambition and the craving for ostentation, of the pursuit of profit, falseness and vanity. The text tells us that all of these earthly things are fragile and transient; salvation lies in Jesus, who embodies the peace of the soul, confidence and refuge, who guarantees true honour and genuine, inner richness.

The hymn text undergirding the entire cantata is only one source of its coherence. In four of the eight movements of the work, Bach used the same melody, the tune to which this hymn was usually sung. The melody is most frequently known as O Gott, du frommer Gott, but sometimes referred to by other names, including DARSTADT. That’s how the tune is identified in our Hymnal, when it is sung to words of the Christmas hymns, “Now yield we thanks and praise” (Hymn #14). this In addition to Final chorale, Monteverdi Choir

The tune comes through most clearly (as is always the case) in the cantata’s final chorale. In this movement, two of the stanzas from the hymn are used. Here is an English translation by Michael Marissen & Daniel R. Melamed:

Why would I ask [anything] of the world?
In an instant it must vanish;
Its esteem can never bind pallid death.
[Earthly] goods must perish,
And all delight decays;
If Jesus just remains with me:
Why would I ask [anything] of the world?
Why would I ask [anything] of the world?
My Jesus is my life,
My treasure, my possession
To whom I have given myself up entirely,
My whole kingdom of heaven,
And that which assuredly pleases me.
Thus I say once again:
Why would I ask [anything] of the world?

And here is that closing chorale as sung by the Monteverdi Choir conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.

The opening chorus of the cantata expresses — with the help of an exuberant, virtuoso part for the flute — the joy of life in Christ.

Why would I ask [anything] of the world
And all its treasures
When I can find enjoyment,
My Jesus, only in you?
You alone have I set before me for delectation.
You, you are my repose;
Why would I ask [anything] of the world?

Here is that chorus performed by La Petite Bande, conducted by Sigiswald Kuijken.

The virtuoso flute returns in a very different mood in the cantata’s fourth movement, a minor key aria sung by an alto soloist. The text sung here is not taken from the hymn Bach has been using, but the sentiment is consistent.

Befooled world, befooled world!
Even your wealth, property, and money
Is deception and false pretense.
You may tally up vain mammon,
I wish to choose Jesus instead for me;
Jesus, Jesus shall alone be my soul’s wealth.
Befooled world, befooled world!

The melodic and harmonic structures in this the longest movement in the cantata are among the most poignant in the entire work. The aria is sung here by mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená, with La Petite Bande conducted by Sigiswald Kuijken.

This penetrating aria is followed by an extended bass recitative. In the movement’s text below, phrases form the hymn are rendered in bold.

The world aggrieves itself.
What ever must the grief yet be?
Oh foolishness! this [is what] causes it [the world] pain:
[It is aggrieved] in the case it is despised.
World, be ashamed!
God has indeed loved you so much
That he gives [over] his only-begotten child
For your sin to the greatest humiliation [on the cross], for your honor,
And you are not willing to suffer for Jesus’s sake?
The sorrow of the world is never greater
Than when one seeks after it! [the world]
[And] its honors with cunning.
Indeed it is better
[That] I [should] bear Christ’s humiliation
[For] as long as it pleases him.
It is only a single suffering [among the sufferings] of this present time;
I know for certain that eternity
Crowns me for it with praise and honor.
If the world mocks and scorns me,
If it holds me even to be contemptible
When my Jesus honors me,
Why would I ask [anything] of the world?

The recitative is sung here by bass Stephan MacLeod, with the ensemble Gli Angeli Genève.

Here is complete performance of the cantata. The performers are the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir conducted by Ton Koopman. The soloists are Sibylla Rubens, soprano; Annette Markert, alto; Christoph Prégardien, tenor; and Klaus Mertens, bass