“Eine Wolke Nahm Ihn Weg” is based upon J. S. Bach’s recitative from his cantata Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, BWV 11/ 249b written for the Lutheran Festival of the Ascension (Himmelfahrt). The title is taken from the recitative itself, and the decision to name it with a phrase taken from the middle of the text, rather than the first few words, is to emphasize the cloud’s role in the Ascension of Christ.
The canonic tremolos in the manuals represent the porousness and ephemeral characteristics of clouds. But the porous element also applies to the risen body of Christ as depicted in the Gospels.
The manuals are composed in canon, but the canon is often broken, suggesting the way in which the contours of clouds go this way and then that, building and disintegrating. The pedal primarily carries the melody of the recitative. When the pedal line comes to what would be the word ‘Wolke’, the manuals take over and depict the cloud that “takes Him away.”