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Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust

Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust (Contented rest, beloved soul's desire) is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. In Wolfgang Schmieder's catalogue of Bach's works, it it BWV 170. The words used are drawn from Georg Christian Lehms' Gottgefälliges Kirchen-Opffer (1711) and speak of the desire to lead a virtuous life and so enter heaven and avoid hell.

Composed in Leipzig in 1726, the cantata was written to be performed on the sixth Sunday after Trinity Sunday. It is one of only three Bach cantatas in which there are no singers apart from a single alto soloist (the others being Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35 and Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54, both of which also have texts by Lehms) and employs only a small orchestra made up of an oboe d'amore, violins, viola, organ solo and basso continuo.

The work is in five movements, three arias separated by two recitatives:

  1. "Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust" ("Contented rest, beloved soul's desire") - a da capo aria in the key of D major. The organ is prominent in the other two arias, but does not appear in this movement at all.
  2. "Die Welt, das Sündenhaus" ("The world, this house of sin") - a recitative accompanied by the continuo.
  3. "Wie jammern mich doch die verkehrten Herzen" ("How I pity those whose hearts have gone astray") - an aria in F sharp minor featuring a prominent organ solo, but very spare accompaniment. There is no real bass-line in this movement, often interpreted to be symbolic of the lack of direction in the lives of those who ignore the word of God, as spoken about in the text.
  4. "Wer sollte sich demnach, Wohl hier zu leben wünschen" ("Who therefore, would wish to live on earth") - recitative accompanied by the continuo and strings.
  5. "Mir ekelt mehr zu leben" ("To live is repugnant to me") - another da capo aria in D major, with the solo organ imitating the strings.

It is not clear who would have sung the alto part in Bach's time, although a countertenor is generally thought to be most likely. In modern performances, a woman sometimes takes the part.

A typical performance of the cantata will last around twenty minutes.

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