The first recitative for alto, "" (O wondrous power of love), is secco, only accompanied by the continuo. It refers to Jesus as descendant of David and son of Mary, reflecting the Virgin birth. John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted in 2000 the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage and performed this cantata in Leipzig's Thomaskirche, notes that the cantata's two recitatives are "exemplary even by Bach's standards in their economy of means and richness of expression. Mincham notes that a "flowing bass line" is heard when one line is quoted from the hymn, referring to "the end of earthly time".
