Eins ist not, ach Herr, dies eine
BWV 304 performed by the Netherlands Bach Society
Sint-Gertrudiskerk, Bergen op Zoom
Behind the music
Story
Story
Texts
Texts
Credits
Credits
Different and equal
In this chorale, Bach points you towards the most important thing
In the Gospel according to St Luke, Jesus travels to a village where he is welcomed by a woman named Martha. While she is busy looking after her guest, her sister Mary sits at Jesus’s feet listening rapt to his words. Indignantly, Martha calls her to order through Jesus, saying, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” But it is Martha that Jesus calls to account, saying, “Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
It is not easy to decipher this symbolic passage. As so often in the Bible, it remains a question of interpretation. If you turn the pages of a traditional biblical commentary, the explanation in the notes will go something like: Jesus chides the busy Martha because, aside from all the earthly work, listening to Jesus is the only truly important thing. Over the centuries, however, theologians have come up with other explanations. Maybe Jesus is calling Martha to order because she is talking down her sister’s behaviour, while they are both doing important tasks in their own way.
In Bach’s day, however, the traditional interpretation was still the accepted one, and the text of this melodious chorale is testimony to that: the only thing that really counts is listening to Jesus’s message. The words of the chorale express this message in a thousand and one ways. And Bach’s composition, too, clings to a single harmonic message. Unlike in many other chorales, where nearly every phrase changes key, the music here stays almost exclusively in a glorious D major.
As in many chorales, the piece is divided into two musical phrases, but the unusual thing about this chorale is that these phrases are in two different times. Are they maybe the two sisters – each one different, yet equal in the greater whole?
- BWV
- 304
- Title
- Eins ist not, ach Herr, dies eine
- Genre
- chorales
- Lyricist
- Johann Heinrich Schröder (1695)
- Special notes
- Melody: Halle 1704, after a secular song by Adam Krieger (1657)
Extra videos
Vocal texts
Original
Eins ist Not! ach Herr, dies Eine
lehre mich erkennen doch!
Alles andre, wie's auch scheine,
ist ja nur ein schweres Joch,
darunter das Herze sich naget und plaget
und dennoch kein wahres Vergnügen erjaget.
Erlang ich dies Eine, das alles ersetzt,
so wird ich mit Einem in allem ergötzt.
Translation
All I need, O Lord, this only;
teach me, Lord, so I can see:
All temptations turn out phony
loading us down heavily;
it burdens your heart and will gnaw you and claw you,
yet in the end happiness never will give you.
If I get the one thing that all others exceeds,
then with that one thing I have all that I need.
translation © Ruth van Baak Griffioen, 2025
Credits
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- Release date
- 30 October 2025
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- Recording date
- 5 May 2024
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- Location
- Sint-Gertrudiskerk, Bergen op Zoom
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- Soprano
- Mónica Monteiro
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- Alto
- Bernadett Nagy
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- Tenor
- Immo Schröder
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- Bass
- Bram Trouwborst
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- Director and editor
- Onno van Ameijde
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- Music recording
- Guido Tichelman, Pim van der Lee
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- Music edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
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- Camera
- Jesper Blok, Jorne Tielemans
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- Focus pull
- Glenn van Neerden
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- Lights
- Jorne Tielemans, Patrick Galvin
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- Project manager nep
- Ron Vermeulen
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- Assistant music recording
- Marloes Biermans
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- Producer
- Lisanne Marlou de Kok, Stephan Esmeijer
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