Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ
BWV 261 performed by the Netherlands Bach Society
conducted by Lionel Meunier
Geertekerk, Utrecht
Behind the music
Story
Story
Texts
Texts
Credits
Credits
Stylish alto part
An inventive and colourful piece that once gave rise to both connection and polemics
In Bach’s day, chorales were great connectors: everyone knew the words and everyone could sing along. At a time when illiteracy was still common, chorales were one of the few cultural expressions shared by the elite and ordinary people. The clever thing about Bach’s chorale versions is the way he shines a new musical light on familiar melodies. When you listen to other four-part chorale arrangements from Bach’s time, you often find there is actually no ‘music’ left over if you take away the chorale melody, or if you listen to one of the lower parts. This is seldom the case with Bach’s music. The harmonic details of the four-part whole are inventive and colourful, and often the individual parts are musically more interesting than the chorale melody in the soprano part. This is also the case in BWV 261. Just listen to the wonderful alto part, which is much more stylish than the chorale melody itself.
Of course there is a big difference between our experience and that of listeners in Bach’s day. For instance, the first words of this chorale were interpreted back then as a statement against the Roman Catholic Church. In his Ausführliche Lieder-Erklärung (1748), for example, the seventeenth-century German hymnologist Gabriel Wimmer writes about Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ: “This can certainly not be sung under the papacy, as the number of dead saints there is matched by the number of comforters and helpers in need. Every town has its patron saint, and every disease its own helper”. Or in other words, anything but Christ alone.
Nowadays, our ears are no longer tuned to these confessional, theological or polemic points. Though we do still recognise the chorale melodies quite often today, we listen to them mainly for the music – Bach’s music; with an interesting alto part, colourful harmonies with dissonants here and there, and varied melodic twists. In Bach’s day, chorales were common property on which he could build further. In our secularised time, it is rather Bach’s music itself that contributes to our continued recognition of these age-old melodies.
Extra videos
Vocal texts
Original
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,
mein Hoffnung steht auf Erden;
ich weiß, daß du mein Tröster bist,
kein Trost mag mir sonst werden.
Von Anbeginn ist nichts erkorn,
auf Erden war kein Mensch geborn,
der mir aus Nöten helfen kann.
Ich ruf dich an,
zu dem ich mein Vertrauen hab.
Gib mir durch dein Barmherzigkeit
den wahren Christenglauben,
auf daß ich deine Süßigkeit
mög inniglich anschauen,
vor allen Dingen lieben dich
und meinen Nächsten gleich wie mich.
Am letzten End dein Hilf mir send,
damit behend
des Teufels List sich von mir wend.
Translation
Alone in you, Lord Jesus Christ,
My earthly hope resides with you.
I know that you're my Comforter
And I have none beside you.
For no one, from time's very birth
Has ever here appeared on earth
Who can save me from my distress
I call to you
On you in whom I've put my trust.
Grant through your mercy giv’n to me
true christian faith be keeping,
so that your sweetness I may see
and contemplate most deeply,
to love you high above all else
and love my neighbor as my self.
At my end send to me your aid,
So I evade
The devil’s wiles, and turn away.
Translation by Ruth van Baak Griffioen, 2026
Credits
-
- Release date
- 15 October 2026
-
- Recording date
- 6 November 2025
-
- Location
- Geertekerk, Utrecht
-
- Conductor
- Lionel Meunier
-
- Soprano
- Amelia Berridge, Marta Paklar
-
- Alto
- Bernadett Nagy, Michaela Riener
-
- Tenor
- Adriaan De Koster, João Moreira
-
- Bass
- Lionel Meunier, Matthew Baker
-
- Organ
- Daniel Seeger
-
- Kirchenbass
- Ira Givol
-
- Director and editor
- Gijs Besseling
-
- Music recording
- Guido Tichelman, Pim van der Lee
-
- Music edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
-
- Camera
- Gijs Besseling, Danny Noordanus, Jorne Tielemans, Luc Roes
-
- Lights
- Jorne Tielemans
-
- Datahandling
- Luc Roes
-
- Assistant music recording
- Marloes Biermans
-
- Producer concert
- Imke Deters
-
- Producer film
- Erik Laarman
Help us to complete All of Bach
There are still many recordings to be made before the whole of Bach’s oeuvre is online. And we can’t complete the task without the financial support of our patrons. Please help us to complete the musical heritage of Bach, by supporting us with a donation!