In 1684 Johann Schelle, the Kantor of St. Thomas’s, set to music Komm, Jesu, komm, a five-part choral aria written by Paul Thymich for the funeral of the Rector of St. Thomas’s (Carus 1.036). Almost 50 years later, Schelle’s successor-but-one Johann Sebastian Bach drew on this text and used the 1st and 11th verses for his double-choir funeral motet of the same name. But Bach only set the first verse of Thymich’s text for double choir; he set the last verse in the form of a choral aria. The motet was given the nickname "Der saure Weg" by the choirboys of St. Thomas’s because of its particularly distinctive and tricky passage in the first movement.

1 x Individual part, choir 1: instrument 1

1 x Individual part, choir 1: instrument 2

1 x Individual part, choir 1: instrument 3

1 x Individual part, choir 1: instrument 4

1 x Individual part, basso continuo

1 x Individual part, choir 2: instrument 1

1 x Individual part, choir 2: instrument 2

1 x Individual part, choir 2: viola

1 x Individual part, choir 2: instrument 4