Cantata 77

Abstract The first movement of Cantata 77,”Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben:’ the cantata that will serve as the focus of interest for this and the following chapter (see Table 7.1), centers on Luther’s chorale “Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot:’ which summarizes the Ten Commandments in poetic form. This chorale, which was apparently written in early 1524 and first appeared in Lutheran chorale books in that year, set to the melody of a medieval pilgrimage hymn, “In Gottes Namen fahren wir;’ was from the time of its publication one of the core chorales of the Lutheran catechism. Luther, in fact, wrote chorales for all six principal parts of the catechism: the three basic summaries of the word of God—the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer—along with the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, with penitence (confession and absolution) included as a preparation for the Lord’s Supper.1 Luther viewed not only the creeds (the three so-called Symbola of the church) but also the Ten Commandments, the first commandment alone and the catechism as a whole as comprising the meaning of scripture in summary forms. As he remarked in his introduction to the Large Catechism, “This much is certain: anyone who knows the Ten Commandments perfectly knows the entire Scriptures… What is the whole Psalter but meditations and exercises based on the First Commandment? … the Catechism … is a brief compend and summary of all the Holy Scriptures:’2 As a result, certain of the oldest chorale books were organized according to the catechism, beginning with “Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot:’ while others that followed the order of the liturgical year tended, as mentioned previously, to associate the catechism with the beginning of the Trinity season.3