Bach composed the cantata in his fourth year in Leipzig for the feast
Purification of Mary. The prescribed readings for the feast day were taken from the
book of Malachi, "the Lord will come to his temple" (), and from the
Gospel of Luke, the purification of Mary and the
presentation of Jesus at the Temple, including
Simeon's
canticle Nunc dimittis (), on which the libretto is based. In previous years Bach had composed two cantatas concentrating on Simeon's canticle, , in 1724 and the
chorale cantata on
Martin Luther's
paraphrase of the canticle, , in 1725. More than in these earlier works, the text of
Ich habe genug stresses the desire to escape earthly misery and be united with Jesus. Until recently the poet's identity was not known, but recent research suggests that he was
Christoph Birkmann, a student at the University of Leipzig in the 1720s. Bach first performed the cantata on 2 February 1727. The extant autograph score and the parts show that he performed it at least three more times, in a version for
soprano, BWV 82a, the first possibly in 1731 or even as early as 1730, another version for soprano in 1735; and again for bass, with minor changes to the original version, after 1745. Bach obviously had a high regard for this work. The first
recitative and most of the
aria "" were copied to the
Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach in a version with continuo accompaniment, presumably entered by
Anna Magdalena Bach for her own use. Other cantatas that Bach performed for the same occasion are, according to
Alfred Dürr, , , and , with similar topics. In the first version of the cantata, the choice of the bass voice probably illustrates the old man Simeon. The soprano voice shows more clearly that the situation applies to that of any believer.
Structure and scoring The cantata is structured in five movements, with alternating arias and recitatives. In the first version it was scored for a
bass soloist and a
Baroque instrumental ensemble of oboes (Ob), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and
basso continuo. It takes about 23 minutes to perform. Another version exists for
soprano, transposed from C minor to
E minor with the oboe part replaced by
flute and slightly altered. In the 1740s version for bass, an
oboe da caccia is the
obbligato instrument. In the following table, the scoring follows the (
New Bach Edition), for the version for bass in
C minor. The
keys and
time signatures are from
Alfred Dürr, and use the symbol for common time. The continuo, played throughout, is not shown. == Music ==