Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir in E minor, BWV 38 ""Out of deep distress I cry to you""

The cantata is part of Bach's second annual cycle, which focused on Lutheran hymns. It is based on Martin Luther's penitential hymn "Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir", a paraphrase of Psalm 130. Luther's first and last stanza are used unchanged: the former treated as a chorale fantasia, the latter as a four-part closing chorale. An unknown librettist paraphrased the three inner stanzas as two sets of recitatives and arias. Bach scored the cantata for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of four trombones, two oboes, strings and continuo. The cantata is unusual in its use of the chorale tune not only in the outer movements, but as material for motifs in recitative and aria, once even taking the chorale melody as a continuo line. In keeping with the spirit of the 200-year-old hymn, which paraphrases the Old Testament, Bach used motet style in the outer movements, with all instruments, especially the four trombones, enforcing the vocal lines.