O how can I surrender Ephraim

Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim? (What am I to make of you, Ephraim?), BWV 89, was written for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity in 1723. The plea that opens the work is delivered by solo bass rather than by the choir in a form somewhere between arioso and aria. In addition to the strings, the orchestra consists of just two oboes and one of those strange horn parts (“corne du chasse”) typical of Bach’s first months in Leipzig in which the hornist merely “fills out” the other parts. The cantata’s internal movements are rather sparsely orchestrated. The first aria, like the two recitatives, is only scored for voice and continuo; this is supplemented in the second aria by an oboe. Only in the final chorale of this chamber cantata do the full ensemble return.