Ex. 6-1: Bist du bei mir

This aria originated in Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel's opera Diomedes, first staged on 16 November 1718 in Bayreuth. Most of the opera is now lost; this is one of its few surviving arias, in which the hero Diomedes sings to his beloved: "If you are with me, I will go gladly to my death and to my rest." The aria became famous through its appearance as No. 25 in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (1725), where for many years it was thought to be a work by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 508).

Anna Magdalena Wilcke was an accomplished singer when she married Bach in 1721. Her second notebook was a collection of music for the family to play at home, and this aria was one of the pieces she added to it, sometime between 1734 and 1740, arranging it for voice and continuo. It is not known how the music reached the Bach household in Leipzig — it may have been a popular tune at the time.

It was only in the 21st century that Stölzel was finally recognized as the real composer. This became clear after a lost collection of music from the Berlin Sing-Akademie was found in Kyiv in 1999. Today, "Bist du bei mir" is frequently performed at wedding ceremonies.

From the album The Very Best of Emma Kirkby by Emma Kirkby, the Academy of Ancient Music and Christopher Hogwood (2004)
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