Kantate, BWV 20 "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort"
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (O eternity, you word of thunder), BWV 20, in Leipzig for the first Sunday after Trinity, which fell on 11 June in 1724. Bach composed it when beginning his second year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. It is the first cantata he composed for his second annual cycle which was planned to contain chorale cantatas, each based on a Lutheran hymn. The cantata is focused on Johann Rist's 1642 hymn "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort", with a chorale melody by Johann Schop. The topic of death and eternity matches the Gospel for the Sunday, the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus.
As usual for Bach's chorale cantatas to come in the cycle, selected hymn stanzas were retained while the others were paraphrased by a contemporary poet who transformed their ideas into a sequence of alternating recitatives and arias. For this cantata, the first stanza was used unchanged, and two more stanzas to conclude the cantata's two parts. The first part was performed before the sermon, the second part after the sermon. The first part is in seven movements, and the second part is in four movements.
Movements
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil I, I. Chorale "O Ewigkeit, du Donnertwort"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil I, II. Recitativo (Tenore) "Kein Unglück ist in aller Welt zu finden"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil I, III. Aria (Tenore) "Ewigkeit, du machst mir bange"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil I, IV. Recitativo (Basso) "Gesetzt, es dau'rte der Verdammten Qual"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil I, V. Aria (Basso) "Gott ist gerecht in seinen Werken"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil I, VI. Aria (Alto) "O Mensch, errette deine Seele"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil I, VII. Chorale "Solang ein Gott im Himmel lebt"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil II, VIII. Aria (Basso) "Wacht auf, wacht auf, verlorne Schafe"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil II, IX. Recitativo (Alto) "Verlaß, o Mensch, die Wollust dieser Welt"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil II, X. Aria (Duetto: Alto, Tenore) "O Menschenkind, hör auf geschwind"
- Kantate, BWV 20, "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort": Teil II, XI. Chorale "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort"