第1曲 アリア 変ホ長調 Widerstehe doch der Sunde 罪に手むかうべし
第2曲 レチタティーヴォ ハ短調－変イ長調 Die Art vverruchter Sunden
第3曲 アリア 変ホ長調。弦楽器の２声と独唱 Wer Sunde tut, der ist vom Teufel
Widerstehe doch der Sunde (Just resist sin), BWV 54,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the solo cantata for alto in Weimar between 1711 and 1714, and probably performed it on the seventh Sunday after Trinity, 15 July 1714. It is Bach's first extant church cantata for a solo voice.
The text of the short work was written by Georg Christian Lehms, for two arias and a connecting recitative. The topic is to resist sin, based on the Epistle of James. The text was published in a 1711 collection, dedicated to the Sunday Oculi. It is not known when Bach composed the work but is assumed that he performed it as part of his monthly cantata productions in 1714 on the seventh Sunday after Trinity, 15 July. The solo voice is accompanied by strings: two violin parts, two viola parts and continuo. The composition begins with a striking dissonant chord.
Scoring and structure
The cantata, structured in three movements, is scored as chamber music for a solo alto voice, two violins (Vl), two violas (Va), and basso continuo (Bc). The duration is given as 14 minutes. The manuscript title page reads: "Cantata.a 2 Violini, 2 Viole, Alto, Solo, e Cont.: del J.S.B.".
1st mov.
The first movement, "Widerstehe doch der Sunde" (Just resist sin) is a da capo aria, which opens with a surprising dissonance and leaves its key of E-flat major open until a cadence in measure 8. Durr describes it as a call to resistance and compares it to the beginning of the recitative "Siehe, ich stehe vor der Tur", a call to be ready, in the cantata for Advent Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, composed in 1714. Gardiner comments: "It is a deliberate shock tactic to rouse his listeners to the need to 'stand firm against all sinning, or its poison will possess you'". Bach used the first aria again in his St Mark Passion.
2nd mov.
The recitative "Die Art verruchter Sunden" (The way of vile sins) is secco, accompanied by the continuo. The words "So zeigt sich nur ein leerer Schatten und ubertunchtes Grab" (It shows itself as only an empty shadow and a whitewashed grave) are expressed in "pale" harmonies. The final lines are arioso and illustrate in Sie ist als wie ein scharfes Schwert, das uns durch Leib und Seele fahrt (It is like a sharp sword, that pierces through body and soul) the movement of the sword by fast runs in the continuo.
3rd mov.
The final aria "Wer Sunde tut, der ist vom Teufel" (He who sins is of the devil) is again a da capo aria, but shows elements of a four-part fugue for the voice, the violins in unison, the violas in unison and the continuo. Gardiner describes the theme as "insinuating chromatic" and the "contorted counter-subject to portray the wily shackles of the devil".