Motet: Schütz' "twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple" is one of the great masterpieces from the composer's late maturity. The panicked cries of the searching parents are answered by the cool knowing soprano of the boy Jesus. All three and the chorus join in a heavenly setting of words from Psalm 84 to end the piece.

Cantata: Bach Cantata BWV 32 treats the same story. Here the parents are abstracted into a single soprano voice which would have been sung in Bach's day by a boy. Curiously, the voice of Jesus is given to a bass. The opening plaintive aria is one of the great soprano arias in all of Bach. The aching oboe obbligato sings an extraordinary duet with the soprano accompanied by arpeggio string chords. The bass aria has a virtuoso violin obbligato which is like a halo over the expressive vocal line. The two voices finally join in the wonderful duet with the full orchestra. All of the melancholly of the first two arias is thrown off in the almost giddy vocal lines and lively string parts. A beautiful setting of the chorale "Freu dich sehr" closes the work.

©Craig Smith

Translation for this Cantata