Sinfonia from Cantata “Ich hatte viel Bekummerniss”, BWV 21
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the cantata “Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis” BWV 21 during the Weimar period. Craig Smith of Emmanuel Music suggested that this work was not only written to accompany the readings for the third Sunday after Trinity, but also to bid farewell to the gravely ill Prince Johann Ernst of Sachsen-Weimar, one of Bach’s talented students. However, at the time, Prince Johann was seriously ill and was on his way to Swabia for recovery.
The first movement, Sinfonia, is a deeply sorrowful piece, characterized by a rich dialogue between the oboe and violin. Julian Mincham of “The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach” described “it is a continuous discourse between oboe and first violin, quite possibly suggestive of the dialogue structure (Christ and the Soul) to be found in later movements”, however, it sounds like a dialogue between the Prince and Bach for me.