Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen (Until now you have asked for nothing in My name),[1]BWV 87,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for Rogate, the fifth Sunday after Easter, and first performed it on 6 May 1725.
The text begins, as do several others of the period, with a bass solo as the vox Christi delivering a quotation from the Gospel, verse 24. The poet interprets it as a reproach. The final lines from the second movement, an aria, are a paraphrase of another Gospel verse.[2] One recitative is not part of the printed publication. Alfred Dürr assumes that Bach wrote it himself to improve the connection to the following Gospel quotation in movement 5.[5] The poet used as the closing chorale the ninth stanza of Heinrich Müller's hymn "Selig ist die Seele" (1659).[2][6]
Bach first performed the cantata on 6 May 1725.[7]
Arioso (bass): Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen
Recitative (alto): O Wort, das Geist und Seel erschreckt
Aria (alto): Vergib, o Vater, unsre Schuld
Recitative (tenor): Wenn unsre Schuld bis an den Himmel steigt
Arioso (bass): In der Welt habt ihr Angst
Aria (tenor): Ich will leiden, ich will schweigen
Chorale: Muß ich sein betrübet?
Music
As in the cantata for the same occasion in Bach's first year in Leipzig, Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch, BWV 86, the text begins with words of Jesus from the gospel, sung by the bass as the vox Christi, accompanied by the strings, doubled by the oboes. It is formally free and untitled, but resembles a fugue because the instruments enter in imitation, and the voice sings a similar theme.[2][7]
A secco recitative leads to an alto aria with two obbligato oboi da caccia. The prayer for forgiveness (Forgive, o Father, our guilt) is illustrated by sighing motifs.[7] The second recitative is accompanied by the strings and ends in an arioso on the words "Drum suche mich zu trösten" (therefore seek to comfort me).[1] In movement 5, the bass renders another word of Jesus from the Gospel, "In der Welt habt ihr Angst; aber seid getrost, ich habe die Welt überwunden" (In the world you have fear; however be comforted, I have conquered the world).[1] The music is serious, the voice only accompanied by the continuo, referring to the Passion as the price for the "comfort". Christoph Wolff notes the "almost hymn-like emphasis through measured, arioso declamation ... In the central fifth movement Bach reduces the accompaniment to the continuo, another means of underscoring the importance of Jesus’ words."[3] In response, the last aria expresses joy in suffering. Its pastoral mood, created by dotted rhythm in 12/8 time, has been compared to the Sinfonia beginning Part II of Bach's Christmas Oratorio.[5] The closing chorale on the melody of "Jesu, meine Freude" by Johann Crüger[8] is set for four parts.[2][7]
