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| Salomo Franck |
The poet and author of cantata texts, Salomo Franck, came from a family with old traditions linking its members to the ducal court at Weimar. He studied at the University of Jena.
After his studies he occupied a government post as consistorial secretary, librarian, and head of the numismatic collection - a post held by members of his family for generations. Franck was a typical court poet of the German High Baroque. His main output consisted of sacred strophic texts and congratulatory poems, which were of a sufficiently high standard to earn him membership of the illustrious Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft. His sacred texts were at first confined to the types of church concerto typical of the 17th century, combining strophic verses with biblical passages (e.g. in his Evangelische Seelen-Lust, 1694). It is notable that in his mid-50’s Franck was ready to adopt new poetical principles for his cantata texts, integrating da capo arias and recitatives into his poetry. With these texts a fruitful collaboration between J.S. Bach and Franck was established in 1714. As far as is known, all Bach's cantatas written for the Weimar church use texts by Franck except two (by Erdmann Neumeister and Georg Christian Lehms). Even during his Leipzig years Bach continued to work with Franck's texts, partly by enlarging existing cantatas (e.g. BWV 70 and BWV 80) and partly by composing new ones (BWV 72 and BWV 168). |
Lyrics
| I Leave All Things to God’s Direction |
| By: Salomo Franck |
| I leave all things to God’s direction, |
| For he loves me in wealth or woe; |
| His will is good, and his affection, |
| His tender love is true, I know. |
| My strength, my fortress rock is he: |
| What pleases God, that pleases me. |
| My God has all things in his keeping, |
| He is my ever faithful friend; |
| He gives me laughter after weeping, |
| And all his ways in blessing end. |
| His love endures eternally: |
| What pleases God, that pleases me. |
| The will of God shall be my pleasure |
| While here I live life’s interim; |
| My will is wrong beyond all measure, |
| It does not will what pleases him. |
| The Christian’s motto then must be: |
| What pleases God, that pleases me. |
| God knows what must be done to save me, |
| His love for me will never cease; |
| And all my sins my Lord forgave me |
| With purest gold of loving grace. |
| His will supreme must ever be: |
| What pleases God, that pleases me. |
| My God desires each soul’s salvation, |
| My soul he too desires to save; |
| Therefore with Christian resignation |
| All earthly troubles I will brave. |
| His will be done eternally: |
| What pleases God, that pleases me. Hymn #529 The Lutheran Hymnal Text: Rom. 8: 28 Author: Salomo Franck, 1685 Translated by: August Crull, 1923, alt. Titled: "Ich halte Gott in allem stille" Composer: Georg Neumark, 1640 Tune: "Wer nur den lieben Gott" |
