The motet "Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir" has always caused headaches for Bach scholars. Nothing is known about the occasion and date of its composition and the musical text itself has only survived in contradictory and sometimes erroneous sources. It is possible that this motet dates back to Bach's Weimar period. The double-choir first part of the motet - at the beginning of which the first line of text is motto-like declaimed in unison by the basses of both choirs - is followed by a second part in which the biblical text is combined simultaneously with a chorale (here in the soprano), a popular stylistic device in Thuringian and Saxon motets throughout the 18th century.
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