¹ The “[White] Elster River” was near the “Wiederau” country estate (see fn. 2, below).

² Wiederau was a “Rittergut” (“manor”) about 14 miles south of Leipzig. This cantata was composed for the celebrations surrounding the installation in 1737 of Johann Christian von Hennicke (1681–1752) as new owner and lord of the Wiederau manor, which had been built on low, soft ground near the White Elster River.

³ The sense of the line is not “Go out into your meadows and rejoice there.”

⁴ This is probably, in part, an allusion to the Wiederau estate’s location on insecure ground (see fn. 2 above), and the need for an elaborate pile foundation to ensure stability.

⁵ The verb “bauen” in this context means not “to build” but “to tend” or “to cultivate”; see fn. 6, below.

⁶ This sentiment is apparently adapted from Genesis 2:15, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Und Gott der Herr nahm den Menschen und setzte ihn in den Garten Eden, dass er ihn baut und bewahrt” (“And God the Lord took the man [that he had created, Adam] and put him into the garden, Eden, that he [Adam] might tend and ward it [the garden]”).

⁷ “The verb “einziehen,” with dative (where accusative might have been expected?), seems to be used here in the sense of “to draw together” or “to gather.”

⁸ This language is apparently based on the common biblical formula, “du sollst nicht mehr [X] heissen, sondern [Y]” (“you shall no longer be called [X] but [Y]”), for example, in Genesis 17:5, 17:15, 32:28, 35:10; Isaiah 47:5, 62:4. Such language in the cantata apparently suggests divine blessing.

⁹ Regarding “Hennicke,” see fn. 2, above.

¹⁰ The printed libretto distributed to the original audience reads not “dir” (“you”) but “hier” (“here”).

¹¹ The noun “Heil” has a wide variety of meanings; in this libretto it is apparently used in its general sense of “Wohlstand” (“prosperity”).

¹² “Die Allmacht” means “the omnipotence [of God].” The German equivalent of “the Almighty” (a name for God) would be “der Allmächtige.”

¹³ Literally, the last two lines would read “The hearts spread themselves under you, but omnipotence spread[s] wings over you.” The challenge is that the poet uses two separable verbs with a common root: “unterbreiten” (“to submit to”; hyperliterally, “to spread under”) and “ausbreiten” (“to spread over”). The poet’s grammar is not pristine, either. The separable “breiten” is plural and here has to do work for “die Herzen” (plural, “the hearts”) and “die Allmacht” (singular, “the omnipotence”); i.e., the latter requires “breitet . . . aus,” not “[breiten] . . . aus.”

¹⁴ Both the printed libretto distributed to the original audience and the original Bach sources read “schwer,” which is simply an older spelling of “schwör.”

¹⁵ This cantata was performed on Saturday, September 28, 1737, at an “Erbhuldigung,” a feudal ceremony in which an oath of fealty was sworn by subjects upon the arrival of a new manorial lord.

¹⁶ In Bach’s handwriting it is often unclear whether the “L” at the beginning of a word is uppercase or lowercase. Modern editions of the cantata give “Lehn” (a noun) here, but the printed libretto distributed to the original audience gives “lehn” (an adjective), understood as a clipped version of “lehnbar” (“feudal/manorial”). The adjectives “lehn” and “erblich” in this line would correspond to the dedication formulation on the title page of the original printed libretto: “dem . . . Johann Christian von Hennicke, Erb- Lehn- und Gerichts-Herr auf Wiederau” (“to . . . Johann Christian von Hennicke, Hereditary Lord, Feudal/Manorial Lord, and Justice of the Peace [literally, “Tribunal Lord”] in Wiederau”).

¹⁷ On this word being an adjective, see fn. 16, above.

¹⁸ The “marble columns” metaphor is probably meant to suggest that Fate will see to the manorial lord’s immortality.

¹⁹ Normally, “zollen” means “to pay taxes,” but in poetry the verb was often used simply as a synonym for “geben” (“to give”) or “gewähren” (“to vouchsafe”), as the various forms of “zollen” accommodated many quick rhyme schemes.

²⁰ The printed libretto distributed to the original audience reads “Und beider Augen-Lust” (“And the eyes’ delight of both [husband and wife]”).

²¹ The dative formulation “dem Gemahl” could refer to a male or female spouse, but the context here dictates that it refers to Hennicke’s wife, Countess Sophia Elisabeth, née (von) Götze (1686–1749). “Das Gemahl” can mean “the wife” or “the bride”; “der Gemahl” can mean “the husband,” or “the lord,” or “the male consort of a female monarch”; and “die Gemahlin” means “the female consort of a male monarch.”

²² Modern editions of the libretto often indicate that only Time, Fortune, and Fate sing here, but in fact the River Elster joins them.

²³ Their only son, Friedrich August von Hennicke (1720–53), heir of the Wiederau manor. It is often mistakenly suggested that the “August” in this poem refers to the ruler who was called “Friedrich August II” as Elector of Saxony and “Augustus III” as King of Poland. (This ruler was Friedrich August von Hennicke’s namesake.)

²⁴ Henrici was the librettist for several Bach works, and because his name is among the supporters listed on the title page of the printed libretto that was distributed to the original audience, it is assumed that he was the librettist.

²⁵ “Prangen” seems to be used here in its sense as a synonym for “prahlen” (“to show off,” “to boast”).

²⁶ The sense of the line is not “Go out into your meadows now and be resplendent there.”