Johann Sebastian Bach
Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben
“You must love God, your Lord,”
(Cantata BWV 77) 

First sung in services in Leipzig in the summer of 1723, J. S. Bach’s Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben (“You must love God, your Lord,” BWV 77) presents an extended reflection on what it means to love God with all of one’s heart. With an opening text taken from the Gospel for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, this cantata features four solo movements — recitatives by bass and tenor soloists and arias by soprano and alto soloists — framed by an opening chorus and a closing chorale. This last movement is based on a melody from the early 15th-century.

The opening chorus is particularly worthy of attention. Perhaps when Bach thought about the challenge of loving God with all of his heart, he felt moved to construct a work that has an astonishing complexity. Here is a performance of that remarkable chorus sung by the Academy Baroque Soloists conducted by Masaaki Suzuki. Below the performance video is a detailed and learned analysis of this chorus’s structure by Richard Atkinson.

Below, Alison Bury, former leader of the English Baroque Soloists (an ensemble that recorded almost all of Bach’s cantatas) offers her thoughts on Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben.

In the performance below of the entire cantata, Pieter Jan Leusink conducts the Netherlands Bach Collegium. The soloists are Ruth Holton, soprano; Sytse Buwalda, alto; Nico van der Meel, tenor; and Bas Ramselaar, bass. The text with English translation is available here.