About this edition
Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (BWV 106), universally known as the Actus Tragicus, is among the most profoundly moving works of Bach's youth. Composed around 1707–1708, likely in Mühlhausen for a funeral service, this cantata sets aside the trumpets and strings of Bach's later church works in favor of an intimate, almost otherworldly scoring for two recorders, two violas da gamba, and continuo. Within its brief span, Bach weaves Old and New Testament texts, Lutheran chorales, and an aria structure of striking originality into a meditation on mortality and divine will that still leaves listeners quietly astonished more than three centuries later.
This edition reproduces the score as published in the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Band 23 (pp. 147–78), issued by Breitkopf und Härtel in Leipzig in 1876 (Plate B.W. XXIII). The Bach-Gesellschaft was founded in 1850, on the bicentennial of Bach's death, with the mission of producing the first complete critical edition of his works. Band 23 was edited by Wilhelm Rust (1822–1892), a meticulous Bach scholar who later served as Thomaskantor at Leipzig's St. Thomas Church — the very post Bach himself once held. Rust's careful engagement with the surviving sources helped establish the editorial standards that later Bach scholarship, including the modern Neue Bach-Ausgabe, would build upon, making this volume a genuine landmark in Bach reception history.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score, ideal for study, conducting, and rehearsal reference
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain historical source
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
Because the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe has long since entered the public domain, we're delighted to bring this historic Rust edition back into print in a clean, readable format. It's a small way of keeping a landmark of Bach scholarship within easy reach of conductors, performers, students, and anyone drawn to the quiet power of the Actus Tragicus.
