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GUEST,Q Warum (why) 'bereite dir'? (37) RE: Warum (why) 'bereite dir'? 14 Aug 03


Should be no problems with these (BWV 16, initial Coro, and a fragment from BWV 22, Aria A). More normal use of dir:

Herr Gott, dich loben wir,
Herr Gott, wir danken dir.
Dich, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit,
Ehret die Welt weit und breit.

Mein Jesu, ziehe mich nach dir,
Ich bin bereit, ich will von hier,
Und nach Jerusalem zu deinen Leiden gehn.


Bach's Cantatas went through several editions with annotations and corrections; little chance that any poor penmanship would have remained uncorrected.
His use of peasant and local dialect and slang does make it difficult for the modern German speaker, as well as the non-German.

From Cantata 212, "Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet":

Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet
an unsern Kammerherrn.
Ha gibt uns Bier, das steigt ins Heet,
das ist der klare Kern.
Der Pfarr mag immer büse tun;
ihr Speelleut, halt euch flink!
Der Kittel wackelt Mieken schun,
das klene luse Ding.

This was Saxony dialect, used by Bach in that Cantata.

Or his little verse on love from the same cantata:

Ach, es schmeckt doch gar zu gut,
wenn ein Parr recht freundlich tut.
Ei, da braust es in dem Ranzen,
als wenn eitel Flöh und Wanzen
und ein tolles Wespenheer
miteinander Zänkisch wär.

(Ah, it's just so tasty
When a couple gets nice and friendly.
Oh, the body shakes
Like having fleas and bugs
And as if an angry swarm of wasps
Were crashing together inside us.)


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