Appendix II | The Church Cantatas Arranged Chronologically
We have the statement of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach,346 confirmed by Forkel,347 Bach's earliest biographer, that his father composed five Cantatas for every Sunday and Festival of the ecclesiastical year. Concerted music was sung at Leipzig annually on forty-three Sundays and sixteen week-days.348 Bach therefore must have written at least 295 Cantatas. Of this number he composed at least thirty before 1723. Hence approximately 265 were written at Leipzig. But Bach's fertility does not appear to have outlived the year 1744. We have reason, therefore, to conclude that the 265 Leipzig Cantatas were written in the course of twenty-one years, that is, between 1723 and 1744. To complete that number Bach must have composed a new Cantata every month, a surprising but demonstrable conclusion.
Of the 295 Cantatas only 202 have come down to us, three of them in an incomplete state.349 Of those written before 1723 the survivors are too scanty to indicate a rate of productivity. But thereafter we have fuller materials for a calculation. Bach, as Cantor, conducted his first Leipzig Cantata on May 30, 1723, and in the following sixteen months produced twenty-four Cantatas, at the rate of more than one a month.350 Beginning at the New Year of 1725 he wrote eighteen Cantatas in nine months, some of which, however, may belong to the years 1726-7-8-9. But even so, his monthly average seems to have been maintained. For 1730 we have, perhaps, ten Cantatas. For 1731 about twenty survive, of which half a dozen may belong to 1732, a deduction which still preserves Bach's steady average. In 1735 he produced actually nineteen Cantatas between the New Year and the following November, though not all of them are positively dated. Thereafter his activity is less certainly measured. But from 1736 till the end of 1744 he composed fifty-three Cantatas, at the rate, that is, of at least six every year, without making allowance for Cantatas written and lost.
There are few phenomena in the record of art more extraordinary than this unflagging cataract of inspiration, in which masterpiece followed masterpiece with the monotonous periodicity of a Sunday sermon. Its musical significance has been presented with illuminating exegesis by more than one commentator. But its literary apparatus has captured little attention. Yet Bach's task must have been materially eased or aggravated according as the supply of libretti was regular or infrequent, while the flow of his inspiration must have been governed by their quality. Moreover, the libretto was the medium through which he offered the homage of his art to the service of God. The subject therefore deserves attention. However trivial, measured against the immensities of Bach's genius, the study will at least provide a platform from which to contemplate it.
At the outset the opinion may be hazarded that the provision of his weekly libretti caused Bach greater anxiety than the setting of them to music, a task which he accomplished with almost magical facility. It is true that from the early part of the 18th century cycles of Cantata texts for the Church's year were not infrequently published. Bach was in more or less intimate touch with the authors of four, perhaps five, printed collections of the kind. But he used them with surprising infrequency. Neumeister's published cycles provided him with seven libretti,351 Franck's with sixteen,352 Picander's with ten,353 Marianne von Ziegler's with nine,354 and Helbig's with two.355 He took three libretti from the Bible,356 and the hymn-book furnished him with eleven more.357 But all these published sources together only account for fifty-eight texts. Bach possessed only one book that could assist his own efforts at authorship—Paul Wagner's eight-volumed Hymn-book—whence he took the stanzas which decorate his Cantatas like jewels in the rare settings he gave them. It was, therefore, mainly upon writers with whom he was brought into occasional or official contact that Bach depended for his texts.
At the beginning of his career Bach was thrown upon his inexperience. His earliest libretti, consequently, are tentative and transitory in their construction. His first Cantata was written at Arnstadt for the Easter Festival of 1704.358 The core of the libretto is a seven-stanzaed Easter song by an unknown poet, eked out by two passages of Scripture, a Excitativo, Aria, and a verse of a congregational hymn. The Aria and Recitativo are the only original numbers of the libretto, and there is little doubt that Bach wrote them himself.359 But the whole libretto is stamped by his personality, and reveals the inveterate subjectivity of his religion. For, disregarding the general message of the Festival, the libretto opens on the soul's personal longing for immortality and closes on its song of victory over death. In construction it is archaic, a survival of traditions acquired from central and northern Germany through Bach's earlier residence at Lüneburg and intercourse with Hamburg.360
Three years passed before Bach produced his next extant Cantata. In the interval, on 29th June 1707, he resigned his Arnstadt appointment to become organist of the Church of St. Blasius at Mühlhausen.361 Here, within the space of ten months, he produced three Cantatas, the uniform character of whose libretti points to local and transitory influence upon the composer. The first of them,362 written in August 1707, is a setting of Psalm 130, with the addition of two hymn-stanzas. The second363 was performed on 4th February 1708, at the inauguration of the Mühlhausen Town Council, and consists of Old Testament passages, a verse of a hymn, and three original stanzas. The third,364 a wedding Cantata, was performed at Dornheim, near Arnstadt, on 5th June 1708, at the marriage of Pastor Johann Lorenz Stauber to Frau Bach's aunt, and is set to four verses of Psalm 115.
We can have little doubt regarding the authorship of these singularly austere libretti, so far removed in atmosphere from those of Bach's subsequent periods. In fact, the clue is furnished by Bach himself. A note in his handwriting on the score of the first of the three Cantatas (No. 131) states that he composed it at the request of Georg Christian Eilmar. The man was a close friend, godfather of Bach's eldest daughter, Katharina Dorothea (b. 1708), chief pastor of the Church of the Blessed Virgin, and Consistorial Assessor, at Mühlhausen. He was, moreover, an aggressive foe of Pietism, of which Mühlhausen was the citadel, and Bach's minister, Frohne, the protagonist. Indeed, the two men waged so public and wordy a warfare365 that Bach's social relations with the one and official connection with the other must have been rendered difficult. To his settled convictions regarding the fellowship of music and worship Pietism offered Puritan opposition. In fact, its lack of sympathy eventually drove him from Mühlhausen, in hope, in his own words, “to realise my views upon the right ordering of Church music without vexation from others.”366 Eilmar, on the other hand, though he admitted the aesthetic value of music, conspicuously lacked the warmth and emotionalism of Bach's religious temperament. To him undoubtedly we must attribute the cold austerity of the three Mühlhausen libretti and the suppression of the personal note already sounded in Bach's Arnstadt Cantata. Nor did Eilmar's influence pass with Bach's departure from Mühlhausen.367 It is to be traced in the early libretti of the Weimar period.
The Weimar Cantatas are twenty-two in number, of which all but three were written subsequently to Bach's appointment as Concertmeister early in 1714. He had been organist to the Ducal Court of Weimar since June 1708, a position which did not require him to compose for the Ducal Chapel. On the other hand, three Cantatas are attributed to the early Weimar years. But they cannot be positively dated, and their libretti bear such clear traces of Eilmar's influence that their composition may belong rather to the Mühlhausen period. Their texts display Eilmar's preference for strictly Biblical material and a disinclination to employ secular forms. The first of them368 is a paraphrase of the Magnificat. The second369 consists of four verses of Psalm 25, along with three simple rhymed stanzas which we have no difficulty in attributing to Bach himself. The third, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (No. 106), was composed, Spitta conjectures,370 for the funeral of Philipp Grossgebauer, Rector of Weimar School, in 1711. But more recently, and more probably, Pirro371 has expressed the opinion that Bach wrote it for the funeral of his uncle, Tobias Lammerhirt, who was buried at Erfurt in September 1707. The theory accords with the suggestion that all three Cantatas belong to the Mühlhausen period. If so, it is probable that the libretto, a very ingenious mosaic of Scripture texts, was written by Eilmar for the occasion. It is the last in which we detect his influence.
Bach's appointment as Ducal Concertmeister at Weimar can be placed between 14th January and 19th March 1714372 and, it is probable, was nearer the former date. He seems to have produced the first Cantata his new post required him to write on Sexagesima Sunday, which fell on 4th February in that year. From thence to the end of 1716 he produced nineteen Cantatas and collaborated with a writer whose libretti at length gave him a satisfactory literary medium.
The new poet, Erdmann Neumeister, four of whose libretti Bach set to music immediately after his appointment, and a fifth a year later,373 was considerably Bach's senior.374 As far back as 1700 he had begun to write a cycle of Cantata texts for the Ducal Chapel at Weissenfels, and pubushed it in 1704, with an explanatory Preface referred to later.375 In 1708 he issued a second cycle for the Court of Rudolstadt, while in 1711 and 1714 third and fourth cycles were written for the Ducal Chapel at Eisenach. All four cycles were reissued in 1716,376 with the addition of a fifth and a Preface, which lauded Neumeister as “the first German to give sacred music its fitting position by introducing and perfecting the Church Cantata.”377
Spitta has dealt exhaustively378 with the evolution and construction of the Neumeister libretto. It need only be remarked that it adapted a secular or operatic apparatus to the service of religion, and that the innovation, hateful to many, triumphed because of Neumeister's delicate handling of it. He perfected the new form, however, in stages. “A Cantata,” he insisted in his 1704 Preface, “is simply a fragment of Opera made up of Aria and Recitativo.” But the restriction excluded from the Cantata its most appropriate material. In his 1708 cycle he found a place for the chorus. Finally, he admitted the Bible stanza and congregational hymn. With their inclusion the Cantata libretto assumed the form familiar to us in Bach's use. It represents a combination of secular Opera and ecclesiastical Motet. The free Arias and Recitativi are derived from the one, the Bible stanzas and congregational hymns perpetuate the traditions of the other. Unity of design is stamped on the whole by its general subordination to the Gospel for the Day. Thus, at the moment when Bach was about to devote his genius to the Cantata, Neumeister opportunely provided him with a libretto singularly adapted to the end Bach had in view, and appropriate to the musical expression by which he proposed to secure it. He adhered to it almost to the end of his life, and found unfailing inspiration in Neumeister's sincerity, delicacy, and uniformly religious outlook. Neumeister's Arias, with a single exception,379 are hymn-like in mood and metre. His Recitativi are reflective and prayerful, rarely oratorical or pictorial, simple communings upon the Gospel themes which the libretto handles.380
Bach's early introduction to Neumeister's texts is explained by the close relations between the Courts of Weimar and Eisenach, by his associations with his own birthplace, and his intimacy with Georg Philipp Telemann, Kapellmeister there, for whose use Neumeister's third and fourth cycles were written.381 Bach set, in all, seven of the libretti—four from the fourth cycle,382 one from the third,383 and two from the first,384 one of which (No. 142) differs so much from the published version as to raise the question whether Bach did not receive it direct from Neumeister in the form in which he set it.385
That Bach should have set no more than seven of Neumeister's texts386 is strange. He shrank, perhaps, from appropriating libretti on which his friend Telemann had a prior claim.387 But the reason is found rather in the fact that at Weimar Bach discovered in 1715 a local poet of first-rate ability who, with perhaps but one exception, wrote the libretti of all the Cantatas he composed during the last two years of his Weimar appointment.
Salomo Franck, Bach's new collaborator, was Curator of the Ducal Museum of Coins and Medals at Weimar. He was twenty-six years older than Bach. But Spitta's conjecture,388 that the two men were not acquainted, is hardly tenable. Both resided in the same small provincial town, both were in the Duke's service, and throughout 1715 and 1716 collaborated in at least ten Cantatas performed in the Ducal Chapel. Moreover, though the Preface of Franck's first cycle is dated 4th June 1715,389 Bach had already set one of its libretti for Easter of that year. A second cycle of texts, of which Bach made little use,390 was published by Franck in 1717.391
Schweitzer, no doubt, is correct in his conclusion392 that Bach was drawn to Franck by his poetic insight, his mysticism, and innate feeling for nature. It must be remembered, too, that his libretti were, in some degree, official. On the other hand, Franck was Neumeister's inferior in ability to conceive a picture fit to express Bach's larger moods, and on occasion could descend to sheer bathos.393 But his texts have a rhythmic swing and melody which Bach found agreeable. He set at least sixteen of them, and returned to them even after he settled at Leipzig.
The circumstances which terminated Bach's service at Weimar are familiar, and need not be restated. He received a new appointment at Cöthen on 1st August 1717, and took up his duties there, probably at Christmas, that year.394 His position was that of Capellmeister to the princely Court. He never styles himself Court Organist,395 and his duties severed him for five years from the service of the Church, to which he had declared his particular dedication in 1708. The Cöthen Court was unpretentious. The Prince was a Calvinist. Figurate music was not permitted in the Court Chapel, and its Organ was small and inadequate. Hence Bach devoted himself chiefly to chamber music, and only two genuine Church Cantatas belong to this period of his career. Both must have been written for performance elsewhere, possibly in connection with Bach's frequent Autumn tours as a performer.396
For both Cantatas Bach employed a librettist, otherwise little known, named Johann Friedrich Helbig, State Secretory to the Eisenach Court. In March 1720,397 more than two years after Bach's arrival at Cöthen, Helbig published a cycle of “Musical Texts on the Sunday and Saints' Day Gospels throughout the year,” for performance “in God's honour by the Prince's Kapelle at Eisenach.”398 How they came into Bach's hands we do not know, but can readily conjecture. They are indifferent poetry, judging them by the two specimens Bach made use of, and are uniform in construction. The first movement invariably is a Chorus upon a text from the Gospel for the Day, or a Scripture passage closely related to it. Two Arias separated by a Recitative follow. A Choral brings the libretto to an end.399
The first of the two Cantatas written to Helbig's words was designed for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, which fell in 1720 on September 22.400 Spitta conjectures401 that Bach intended it for performance at Hamburg. In fact, his wife's death postponed Bach's visit to that town until November, by which date the Sunday appropriate to the Cantata had passed. Spitta holds that the Cantata may have been performed, after all, during the visit. Schweitzer is sceptical.402 But Bach certainly expended great pains upon the score.
The second Helbig Cantata403 is for the Third Sunday in Advent, and the date of it would appear to have been 1721. It is one of the least agreeable of Bach's works. Spitta 404 declares it a juvenile composition hastily adapted to a new libretto. Schweitzer405 expresses the same opinion, and Sir Hubert Parry406 finds the work “rather commonplace.” Its genuineness is discussed by Max Schreyer in the “Bach-Jahrbuch” for 1912, and more recently Rudolf Wustmann has insisted that it does not bear the stamp of Bach's genius.407 If it actually was composed in 1721, its production must have coincided with Bach's second marriage on December 3 of that year.408 In that case, his resort to old material is explicable.
Only these two Cantatas were composed at Cöthen. But later, at Leipzig, two others were manufactured out of secular material written there.409 It is unnecessary to refer to them, except to remark that in each case Bach appears to have been the author of the new libretto. In the first of them410 it is clear that he was handicapped by the frankly secular metre of the original stanzas. The second of them,411 originally a Birthday Ode to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, is a masterly conversion into a Whit-Monday text which, assuming that Bach wrote it, puts his literary facility beyond question.
Bach made the last move in his professional career on May 31, 1723, when he was inducted Cantor of St. Thomas' School at Leipzig, with particular charge of the Churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicolas. Here by far the greater number of his Cantatas appeared, and 172 of them survive. They are too numerous to be considered individually, and their classification is rendered difficult by the fact that the authorship of most of their libretti is conjectural and not ascertained. They fall, however, into two large categories, each of which exhibits characteristics of its own.
The dividing year, clearly but not arbitrarily, is 1734. Before it and after it Bach was aided by new writers. But the earlier period pre-eminently was one of experiment, out of which emerged the glorified hymn-libretto, or Choral Cantata, of Bach's last years. That it sprang, in some degree, from the difficulty of finding good original texts in sufficient number may be granted. That it was adopted as an avenue of escape from Picander's coarser work is a conjecture based, apparently, upon a prevalent exaggeration of Bach's dependence on that writer. The fundamental reason which led Bach to the hymn-libretto undoubtedly was the fact that it most closely fulfilled the ideals which informed his work.
The first Cantata performed during Bach's Cantorship412 reveals a new author, whose assistance, if the conclusion is well grounded, was at Bach's disposal throughout the whole of the earlier Leipzig period. Spitta's keen insight failed him in this instance. He betrays no recognition of the new writer, and occasionally413 attributes his libretti to Picander. The credit of the discovery belongs to Rudolf Wustmann, though he fails to work it out to its fullest conclusions.414
No one can read the early Leipzig libretti without being struck by the number of them that are not only uniform in structure, but similar in tone and point. They all begin with a Bible text, chosen frequently, but not invariably, from the Gospel for the Day. Every one of them ends with a hymn-stanza. Their Arias, with hardly an exception,415 are written in what, compared with Picander's rollicking dactyls, may be held hymn-metres. Their Recitativi, almost invariably, are didactic or exegetical.416 They do not display the vapid rhetoric of Picander. Nor do they express the reflective or prayerful mood that reveals Bach. They are essentially expositive and, it is noticeable, are studded with direct or veiled references to Bible passages which expand or enforce the lesson of the initial text. In a word, they suggest the work of a preacher casting his sermon notes into lyrical form, an impression which is strengthened by the fact that the libretto invariably opens with a Scripture passage and frequently blends the Gospel and Epistle for the Day in one harmonious teaching. Spitta detected this characteristic. But he failed to follow up the clue. He speaks417 of one of these texts418 as a “moralising homily,” a phrase concisely appropriate to them all. Moreover, a remark of his,419 pointing the significance of the god-parents chosen by Bach for his children—Eilmar, for instance—as revealing Bach's intimate associates at the moment, affords another clue to the personality of the new writer.
Among the clergy of St. Thomas' during Bach's Cantorate were two men, father and son, each of whom bore the name Christian Weiss. The elder was Pastor of the Church from 1714 till his death in 1737. He was a cultured man, in touch with the University, and possibly formed a link between it and Bach, to whom he showed greater cordiality than the Cantor received from other clerical colleagues. In 1732 his daughter, Dorothea Sophia stood godmother to Bach's son, Johann Christoph Friedrich, afterwards famous as the “Bückeburg Bach.”420 In 1737 his son stood sponsor to Bach's daughter, Johanna Caroline.421 Nor can it be altogether without significance that the names Dorothea, Sophia, Christian, are borne by others of Bach's children by his second marriage. There is sufficient evidence, therefore, that Bach's relations with the elder Weiss were intimate enough to support a literary partnership. Moreover, circumstances lend weight to the inference. For some years before Bach's arrival in Leipzig, Weiss suffered from an affection of the throat which kept him from the pulpit. But, during the first year of Bach's Cantorate, he was able to resume his preaching. If he was, in fact, the author of the libretti, we can have little difficulty in concluding that they and his sermons were built on the same text.
So far as they can be identified—the attempt is somewhat speculative—Weiss provided Bach with at least thirty-three libretti. He set five of them in 1723, three in 1724, nine in or about 1725, one in 1727, two in 1730, six in 1731, three in 1732, and four in the later Leipzig period.422 Fourteen others bear a constructional resemblance to Weiss's texts,423 but their character refers them rather to Bach or Picander. Even so, if we do not exaggerate his activity, Weiss seems to have written at least one-sixth of the Leipzig libretti and more than a quarter of those of the earlier period. Without a doubt he eased a difficult situation in Bach's experience before his regular association with Picander began.
Apart from their revelation of Christian Weiss, the libretti of Bach's first year at Leipzig do not call for comment. Franck and Neumeister appear among them, and we trace Bach's hand in nine.424 But at Easter, 1724, he broke new ground with a libretto whence developed the Cantata form of his latest period.
The Cantata for Easter Day 1724,425 is Bach's earliest setting of an entire congregational hymn. Spitta suggests426 that he felt the fitness of giving the libretto an antique character to match the hymn's melody. However that may be, Bach would appear already to have been groping towards the Choral Cantata of the late '30's. And though he did not repeat the experiment until the Easter of 1731,427 he treated three hymn-libretti in the interval in a manner which shows him already to have worked out the essentials of the Choral Cantata form.428
Another landmark meets us a year and a half after the Easter experiment. On September 23, 1725(?)—the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity—Bach produced a Cantata429 whose Arias are set to words which had appeared in print in the preceding year. Their author was a hack writer named Christian Friedrich Henrici, or, as he preferred to style himself, Picander. His hand probably is also traced in the libretto used by Bach on the preceding Sunday430 and again in that for Sexagesima in the same year.431 But the evidence is only inferential. That he collaborated with Bach on September 23, 1725 (?), is incontestable, and the work defines the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership.
Spitta,432 who tells us all that is known of Picander, has sufficiently exposed his superficial literary facility. He commenced to write sacred poetry in 1724, and on Advent Sunday of that year began a cycle of “Profitable Thoughts,” so he termed them, upon the Sunday and Saints' Day Gospels. He published them in 1725, when the cycle was complete.433 Three years later he issued a cycle of Cantata texts for 1728-29 in the Neumeister form.434 That he intended them for Bach's use is apparent in the fact that he expressly dedicated them to the service of “our incomparable Capellmeister.” But Bach made the sparest use of them and of the earlier “Profitable Thoughts” alike. From the latter he took not one libretto.435 Of the 1728-29 cycle he used only eight texts.436 One more libretto can be referred to Picander's later publications,437 and of six others we can be sure that they are based upon his texts.438 In other words, of the original libretti of the Leipzig period we can trace Picander's hand positively in no more than fifteen.
It is necessary to emphasise this point. For Spitta439 has stated positively that Picander wrote “most” of the Leipzig libretti, and his opinion has been generally accepted. But its correctness may be contested. It is suspicious, to begin with, that Picander never published the texts which Spitta asserts him to have poured out in such profusion. “He placed no value,” Spitta answers readily, “on these manufactured compositions, put together hastily to please his friend.” But the argument cannot stand. Why should Picander have thought less of libretti actually used by his “incomparable Capellmeister” than of those published for and rejected by him?—for Spitta does not venture to declare that as literature the rejected were superior to the accepted texts. If out of a published cycle of libretti expressly written for him Bach chose only eight texts, are Picander's “manufactured compositions,” as Spitta calls them, likely to have attracted him to a greater degree? We can detect his hand perhaps in six Cantatas440 besides those already mentioned, and Bach relied on him exclusively for his secular texts. One concludes, none the less, that Bach rarely accepted an original Cantata libretto from Picander, and employed him chiefly on the Choral Cantatas of his latest period. Excluding them, and adding the probable to the actual original Picander texts, they total only twenty-one, a fraction inadequate to support Spitta's sweeping statement.
From the advent of Picander in 1725, to the end of the first Leipzig period nine years later, Bach does not seem to have gone outside the circle of familial authors for his regular Cantata texts. On October 17, 1727, however, he produced a funeral Cantata, or “Trauer-Musik,” in memory of the late Queen of Poland, the libretto of which was written by Professor J. C. Gottsched. The partnership, in fact, was accidental: the libretto was supplied to Bach with the commission to set it to music, and, so far as is known, Gottsched and he did not collaborate again.
So, reviewing Bach's activities during his first eleven years at Leipzig, we find that of the hundred libretti set by him to music Christian Weiss heads the list as the presumed author of twenty-nine. Bach follows him with eighteen.441 Picander's hand appears in fifteen, Franck's in eight,442 Neumeister's and Gottsched's in one each. Fifteen libretti are congregational hymns in their original or paraphrased form. One is the Gloria in Excelsis of the B minor Mass adapted as a Christmas Cantata (No. 190). Twelve are by authors not identified.
Passing to the later Leipzig period, seventy-two surviving Cantatas are attributed to the years 1735-50. They reveal one, perhaps two, new writers. The first of them, Marianne von Ziegler, was identified by Spitta in 1892. She was the widow of an officer, resident in Leipzig, a cultured woman, in touch with University life, her house a salon for music and musicians.443 There is no reason to suppose Bach to have been of her circle, or that he was acquainted with her literary gifts. Indeed the contrary is to be inferred from the fact that, though she published her poems in 1728,444 he does not seem to have known them until seven years later, when he used them for nine consecutive Sundays and Festivals in 1735, beginning on the Third Sunday after Easter, and ending on Trinity Sunday.
In addition to these nine libretti, both Spitta445and Schweitzer446 attribute to her the text of Bach's Cantata for the Second Sunday after Easter in the same year.447 It is uniform in construction with the authentic nine, but is not among the authoress's published works. Wustmann448 finds the tone of the libretto less ardent and its rhythm rougher than those published under her name. Admitting the soundness of Wustmann's criticism, one hazards the opinion that the challenged text was written at the period when Bach set it, namely, in 1735, eight years after the poetess published her earlier texts. The difference of time may account for the difference of texture to which Wustmann draws attention, but leaves undecided the question whether Bach was drawn to the earlier through the later and unpublished texts or vice versa. It is quite probable that he set other libretti by the same writer, though Schweitzer's449 attribution to her of a second text for Ascension Day, 1735, must be rejected.450
It is worth noticing, since it certainly reveals Bach's preference, that Marianne von Ziegler's libretti are constructed almost invariably in the Weiss form. Every one of them but three451 opens with a Bible passage, invariably taken from St. John's Gospel, which provides the Gospel for the Day from the First Sunday after Easter down to Trinity Sunday, excepting Ascension Day. All but one (No. 68) of the libretti conclude with a Choral, and their Arias are hymn-like in metre. The tone of them, however, is warmer, more personal, less didactic than the Weiss texts. That Bach regarded them with particular favour is apparent in the circumstance that he took the trouble to revise all but one of them.452 That they stirred his genius deeply is visible in the settings he gave them.
After 1735 the chronology of the Cantatas is not certainly ascertained. Of those that fall after the Ziegler year, as we may term it, the majority can only be dated approximately as circa 1740, that is, anywhere between 1735 and 1744. Nor, except rarely, can we detect in their libretti the work of those on whom Bach elsewhere relied. Weiss, who died late in 1737, is only an occasional contributor. The texts of this period, in fact, are the outcome of Bach's own experiments in libretto form. Thirty-three of them are Choral Cantatas, whose evolution it remains to trace concisely.
That Bach should have turned to Lutheran hymnody, chiefly of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and that the Cantatas built upon it should be his most perfect religious work is not surprising. The hymns and their melodies were the foundations upon which the temple of German Protestantism had been reared. They appealed vividly and powerfully to Bach's spiritual nature, and profoundly influenced his musical utterance. His whole career, as Sir Hubert Parry points out,453 was an effort to widen his means for self-expression. And the Choral Cantata, in effect, was the reconciliation or blending of this self-discipline. It was the supreme achievement of Bach's genius to assert the faith and idealism of Lutheran hymnody with the fullest resources of his technique.
It is not our task to consider the hymn libretto in its relation to the structure of Bach's latest Cantatas. Necessarily it tied him to a stereotyped design, which he clung to with greater persistency because it exactly fulfilled his devotional purpose. But experience compelled him, after a brief trial, to discard the simple hymn libretto. In the earlier Leipzig years as many as eight Choral Cantatas454 are set to the unaltered text of a congregational hymn. In the later Leipzig period only two455 libretti are of that character. Bach, in fact, soon realised that, while the unaltered hymn-stanza, with its uniform metre and balanced rhyme, was appropriate to the simple Choral or elaborate Fantasia, it was unmalleable for use as an Aria or Recitative. Hence, retaining the unaltered Hymn-stanza for the musical movements congruous to it, he was led to paraphrase, in free madrigal form, those stanzas which he selected for the Arias and Recitativi.
As early as September 16, 1725,456 Bach was moving towards this solution. And it is significant that Picander's hand is visible in the libretto. The next example457 occurs three years later, and again reveals Picander's authorship. Two other instances also occur in the early Leipzig period.458 To that point, however, it is clear that Bach was not satisfied as to the most effective treatment of the hymn-libretto. But in the second Leipzig period, after his collaboration with Marianne von Ziegler, he arrived at and remained constant to a uniform design. Of the thirty-nine Choral Cantatas of the whole period only two exhibit the earlier form. Of all the others the libretto consists partly of unaltered hymn-stanzas—invariably used for the first and last movements, and occasionally elsewhere—but chiefly of paraphrased stanzas of the hymn, whose accustomed melody, wherever else it may be introduced, is associated invariably with the hymn when the text is used in its unaltered form. We, to whom both words and melody are too frequently unfamiliar, may view the perfections of the Choral Cantata with some detachment. But Bach's audience listened to hymns and tunes which were in the heart of every hearer and a common possession of them all. The appeal of his message was the more arresting because it spoke as directly to himself as to those he addressed.
It would be satisfactory and interesting to point positively to Bach's own handiwork in these libretti, of which he set fifty-four in the period 1724-44. Unfortunately it is impossible to do so, except, perhaps, in a single case,459 where we can reasonably infer that the libretto is his. Of the rest, one is by Franck.460 In eighteen of them the hand of Picander is more or less patent.461 Nineteen462 we can only venture to mark “anonymous,” though Picander is probably present in most of them. Ten are unaltered congregational hymns.463 There remain, however, five464 in which, perhaps, we detect another, and the last, of Bach's literary helpers.
Wustmann draws attention465 to the libretto of Cantata No. 38, a paraphrase of Luther's Psalm 130. He finds in it, and reasonably, an expression of “Jesus religion” very alien to Picander's muse, and suggests the younger Christian Weiss as the author of it. Like his father, he was Bach's colleague, the godfather of his daughter, and undoubtedly on terms of close friendship with him. But if he wrote the libretto of Cantata No. 38, probably it is not the only one. The same note rings in four more of the Choral Cantatas,466 which may be attributed tentatively to Weiss, though their ascription to Bach would be equally congruous.
Returning, however, to the seventy-two libretti of the later Leipzig period we reach this result: More than half of them (thirty-nine) are congregational hymns, all but two of which are of the paraphrased type in which we detect the work of Picander, Bach himself, and perhaps the younger Weiss. Of the remaining thirty-three original libretti Marianne von Ziegler heads the list with nine, and perhaps ten.467 Bach follows with a problematical six,468 Picander with five,469 the elder Weiss with four,470 Neumeister with one.471 One text is taken from the Bible.472 Another consists of a single stanza of a hymn by Martin Behm.473 Five are by authors unknown or undetected.474
But, as was said at the outset, the attribution of particular libretti to individual writers is conjectural, except in comparatively few cases. Yet, unsatisfying as it is, this guess-work reveals with approximate correctness the extent to which Bach drew upon his own and other people's abilities for the texts he needed. Summarising our conclusions, we discover that about one-quarter (fifty-four) of the 202 libretti set by Bach between the years 1704 and 1744 were provided by the hymn-book. It is shown elsewhere475 that all but eleven of them are taken from Paul Wagner's volumes. The elder Weiss comes next with thirty-three libretti. Bach follows with thirty, Salomo Franck with twenty-one, Picander with twenty (exclusive of his arrangements of Choral Cantata texts). Marianne von Ziegler contributes ten, Neumeister seven, Eilmar and Helbig two each, Gottsched and Martin Behm one each. Three libretti are taken from the Bible or Church liturgy. Eighteen remain anonymous.
The literary qualities of the libretti are not under discussion here. They have a characteristic, however, on which one cannot forbear from remarking. Indifferent literature as, for the most part, they are—children of their period and blemished with its imperfections—they enshrine an extraordinarily interesting anthology of the religious poetry of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. They expose the evangelical thought of Germany from the age of Luther to that of Bach, and are particularly rich in the lyrical fervour of the Reformation itself. Of the seventy-seven hymn-writers whom Bach includes in his collection, so many as forty-four belong to the sixteenth century. Only thirteen of them touch Bach's own period. And a similar bias to the Reformation epoch is observable in his choice of the tunes of the Chorals, which are absent from only twenty-one of the Cantatas. By far the greater number of them are coeval with the hymns themselves; that is, they date from the Reformation and behind it.
Here clearly is the source of Bach's inspiration, the master-key of his art. He touches Luther, is in a sense his complement, his art builded on the foundations Luther laid, consecrated to the ends Luther vindicated, inspired by a dedication of himself to God's service not less exalted—a great artist, a great Protestant, a great man.476
NOTE.—Cantatas distinguished by an asterisk (*) are for Soli voices only (S.A.T.B. unless the particular voices are stated); those marked (†) include, in addtion, simple four-part Chorals: the rest contain concerted Choruses.
(1) Composed at Arnstadt (see also Nos. 150, 189.)
| No. | Date. | Title. | Author of Libretto. | Composition of the Text. |
| 15 | 1704. Easter Day (revised for subsequent performance). | Den du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hülle lassen (Psalm xvi. 10). | ?Bach | Part I. Psalm xvi. 10; St. Mark xvi. 6; Part II. seven (six) stanzas of the anonymous hymn, “Auf freue dich, Seele, du bist nun getröst”; Stanza iv. of Nikolaus Hermann's hymn “Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist.” The rest of the libretto perhaps is by Bach. |
(2) Composed at Mülhausen (see also Nos. 150, 189.)
| No. | Date. | Title. | Author of Libretto. | Composition of the Text. |
| 131 | 1707.? for llth, 19th, 21st, or 22nd S. after Trinity. | Aus der Tiefe rufe ich, Herr, zu dir (Psalm cxxx.) | Georg Christian Eilmar. | Psalm cxxx.; Stanzas ii. and v. of Bartholomäus Ringwaldt's hymn, “Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut.” T. B. Soli. |
| 71 | 1708. Feb. 4. Town Council Inauguration. | Gott ist mein Konig (Psalm lxxiv. 12). | Bach (or Eilmar). | Psalm lxxiv. 12, 16, 17, 19; 2 Sam. xix. 35, 37; Deuteronomy xxxiii. 25; Gen. xxi. 22; Stanza vi. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “O Gott, du frommer Gott”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 196 | 1708. June 5. Wedding of Johann Lorenz Stauber (at Dornheim). | Der Herr denket an uns (Psalm cxv. 12). | Psalm cxv. 12-15. | The libretto consists exclusively of the Psalm verses. S. T. B. Soli. |
(3) Composed at Weimar. (See also Nos. 12, 72, 80, 164, 168, 186.)
| No. | Date. | Title. | Author of Libretto. | Composition of the Text. |
| *189 | c. 1707-10. Visitation of the B.V.M. | Meine Seele rühmt und preist. | Author unknown.?Composed at Muhlhausen. | A paraphrase of the “Magnificat.” Tenor Solo. |
| 150 | c. 1710.?Occasion. | Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (Psalm xxv. 1). | ?Bach.?Composed at Mühlhausen. | Psalm xxv. 1, 2, 5, 15; rest of libretto perhaps by Bach. See Bach-Jahrbuch for 1913, p. 39, on authenticity of Cantata. |
| 106 | ?1711. Funeral of Rector Philipp Grossgebauer (Weimar); or?1707 (Sept.) funeral of Thomas Lammerhirt (Erfurt). | Gottes Zeit ist die aller-beste Zeit (Actus tragicus). | ?G. C. Eilmar (or Bach).?Composed at Mühlhausen. | Acts xvii;. 28; Psalm xc. 12; Isaiah xxxviii. 1; Ecclesiasticus xiv. 17; Rev. xxii; 20; Psalm xxxi. 5; St. Luke xxiii. 43; Stanza i. of Luther's hymn, “Mit Fried' und Freud' ich fahr' dahin”; Stanza vii;. of Adam Reissner's hymn, “In dich hab' ich gehoffet, Herr.” A. B. Soli. |
| 18 | 1714 (or 1713). Sexagesima. | Gleich wie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt (Isaiah lv. 10-11). | Erdmann Neumeister “Fünffache Kirchen-Andachten” (Leipzig, 1716) (Ser. iii.). | Isaiah lv. 10, 11; four clauses of the Litany; Stanza viii. of Lazarus Spengler's hymn, “Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt”; rest of libretto original. S. T. B. Soli. |
| *160 | 1714 (or 1713). Easter Day. | Ich weiss, dass mein Erlöser lebt. | Erdmann Neumeister (Ibid., Ser. I.). Slight verbal alterations by Bach. | Original throughout. Tenor Solo. |
| 21 | 1714. Third S. after Trinity and General Use. | Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (Psalm xciv. 19) | Spitta (i. 531) attributes text to Salomo Franck. | Part I,: Psalm xciv. 19; Psalm xlii. 5. Part ii.: Psalm cxvi. 7; Rev. v. 12, 13; Stanzas ii. and v. of Georg Neumark's hymn, “Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten”; rest of libretto original. |
| *199 N.B.G. | c. 1714. Eleventh S. after Trinity. | Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut. | The title is from a Neumeister text for this Sunday.?By Bach. | Stanza iii. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “Wo soll ich fliehen hin”; rest of libretto original. Soprano solo. |
| 61 | 1714. First S. in Advent. | Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland. | Erdmann Neumeister, “Fünffache Kirchen-Andachten” (Leipzig, 1716), (Ser. IV). | Stanza i. of Luther's hymn, “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland”; Rev. iii. 20; part of stanza vii. of Philipp Nicolai's hymn, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern”; rest original. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 142 | 1714 (or 1712). Christmas Day. | Uns ist ein Kind geboren (Isaiah ix. 6). | Erdmann Neumeister (Ibid., Ser. I.). Textually, the last three movements are altered, perhaps by Bach, whose authorship of the Cantata, however, is questioned (Bach-Jahrbuch, 1912, p. 132). | Isaiah ix. 9; Psalm lxix. 30; Stanza v. of Caspar Fuger's hymn, “Wir Christenleut”; rest of libretto original (see Spitta i. 630 on Bach's emendations). A. T. B. Soli. |
| 182 | 1715 (or l714).Palm Sunday (used also for the Annunciation). | Himmelskönig, sei wilkommen. | Spitta (i. 539) suggests Salomo Franck, whose characteristics it displays. | Psalm xl. 7, 8; Stanza xxxiii. of Paul Stockmann's hymn, “Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 31 | 1715. Easter Day. Revised in?1723. (Schweitzer, ii. 141n). | Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubiliret. | Salomo Franck (“Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer” Weimar, 1715, p. 75). | Stanza v. (posthumous) of Nikolaus Herman's hymn, “Wenn mein Stündlem vorhanden ist”; rest of libretto original. S. T. B. Soli. |
| †l85 | 1716. Fourth S. after Trinity. | Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe. | Salomo Franck (Ibid.,p. 128). | Stanza i. of Johannes Agricola's hymn, “Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ”; rest of libretto original. |
| 161 | 1715. Sixteenth S. after Trinity (also for Purification). | Komm, du süsse Todesstunde. | Salomo Franck (Ibid., p. 162); verbal alterations by Bach. | Stanza iv. of Christoph Knoll's hymn, “Herzlich thut mich verlangen”; rest original. A. T. Soli. |
| †162 | 1715. Twentieth S. after Trinity. | Ach, ich sehe, jetzt da ich zur Hochzeit gehe. | Salomo Franck (Ibid., p. 172). | Stanza vii. of Johann Georg Albinus' hymn, “Alle Menschen müssen sterben”; rest of libretto original. |
| †163 | 1715. Twenty-third S. after Trinity. | Nur Jedem das Seine. | Salomo Franck (Ibid., p. 182). | Stanza xi. (suggested by Spitta i. 557) of Johann Heermann's hymn, “Wo soll ich fliehen hin”; rest of libretto original. |
| *132 | 1715. Fourth S. in Advent. | Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn. | Salomo Franck (Ibid., p. 8) | Stanza v. of Elisabethe Cruciger's hymn, “Herr Christ, der einig' Gott's Sohn”; rest of libretto original. |
| *152 | 1715 (or 1714). S. after Christmas | Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn. | Salomo Franck (Ibid., p. 19). | Original throughout. S. and B. Soli. |
| †155 | 1716. Second S. after the Epiphany. | Mein Gott, wie lang', ach lange. | Salomo Franck (Ibid., p. 32). | Stanza xii. of Paul Speratus' hymn, “Es ist das Heil uns kommen her”; rest of libretto original. |
| †59 | 1716. WhitSunday Expanded in?1736 (No.74 infra). | Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten (St. John xiv. 23). | Erdmann Neumeister (“Funffache Kirchen-Andachten,” Ser. IV.). | St. John xiv. 23; Stanza i. of Luther's hymn, “Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott”; rest of libretto original. S. and B. Soli. |
| 70 | 1716. Second S. in Advent; later (c. 1723). Twenty-sixth S. after Trinity. | Wachet, betet, betet, wachet. | Salomo Franck (“Evangelische Sonn- und Fest-Tages Andachten,” Weimar, 1717, p. 4) (opening chorus and Arias only). Recitativi added by a later (c. 1723) hand (? Bach). | Part I.: Stanza x. of the anonymous hymn, “Freu' dich sehr, O meine Seele.” Part. ii.: Stanza v. of Christian Keimann's hymn, “Meinen Jesum lass' ich nicht.” Rest of libretto, both parts, original. |
| 147 | 1716. Fourth S. in Advent; later (c.?1727). Feast of the Visitation. | Herz und Mund und That und Leben. | Salomo Franck (Ibid.). (Opening chorus and first three Arias only). Recitativi and fourth Aria added by a later hand (?Bach). | Part I.: Stanza vi. of Martin Janus' hymn, “Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne.” Part II.: Stanza xvii. of the same hymn. Rest of libretto, both parts, original. |
| †158 | c. 1708-16. Purification of the B.V.M.; later (at Leipzig) adapted to Easter Tuesday | Der Friede sei mit dir. | Spitta (ii. 688) suggests Franck as author of the Aria and following Recitativo, both of which bear on the Gospel for the Purification. The opening Recitative and choice of the concluding Choral, both of which are relevant to the Gospel for Easter Tuesday, must be attributed to a later hand (?Bach). | Stanza i. of Johann Georg Albinus' hymn, “Welt, ade! ich bin dein müde”; Stanza v. of Luther's hymn, “Christ lag in Todesbanden”; rest of libretto original. S. and B. Soli. |
(4) Composed at Cöthen. (See also Nos. 22 and 23.)
| No. | Date. | Title. | Author of Libretto. | Composition of the Text. |
| 173 | c. 1718. Birthday Serenade; new text (c. 1730) for Whit Monday. | Erhötes Fleisch und Blut. | The music of the Cantata is that of the Birthday Serenade, “Durehlaucht'-ster Leopold” (omitting numbers 5 and 6). Cantata text probably by Bach. | Original throughout. |
| 47 | ?1720. Seventeenth S. after Trinity. | Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden (St. Luke xiv. 11). | Johann Friedrich Helbig (“Aufmunterung zur Andacht,” Eisenach, 1720, p. 114. | St. Luke xiv. 11; Stanza xi. of anonymous (?Hans Sachs) hymn, “Warum betrubst du dich, mein Herz”; rest original. S. B. Soli. |
| 141 | 1721 or 1722. Third S. in Advent. | Das ist je gewisslich wahr (I. Timothy i. 15). | Johann Fr. Helbig Ibid., p. 5). Bach's authorship of the music is questioned (Bach-Jahrbuch, 1912). | 1 Timothy i. 15; rest of libretto is original. The concluding Choral is omitted by Bach. It should be “Christe, du Lamm Gottes” (Spitta. ii. 15n.). A. T. B. Soli. |
| 134 | c. 1717-22. Secular Cantata; later adapted for Easter Tuesday (c. 1731). | Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss. | ?Bach | Text original throughout. A. T. Soli. |
(5) Composed at Leipzig. 1723-34. (See also Nos. 31, 70, 134, 147, 158, 173.)
| No. | Date. | Title. | Author of Libretto. | Composition of the Text. |
| 22 | 1723. Quinquagesima. (“Estomihi”). | Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe (St. Luke xviii. 31). [See No. 31 (1715).] | ?Bach (composed at Cöthen). Trial Cantata (February 7, 1723). | St. Luke xviii. 31, 34; Stanza v. of Elisabothe Gruciger's hymn, “Herr Christ, der einig' Gott's Sohn”; rest original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 75 | 1723 (May 30). First S. after Trinity. | Die Elenden sollen essen (Psalm xxii. 26). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Part I.: Psalm xxii. 26; Stanza v. of Samuel Rodigast's hymn, “Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan”; Part II.: Stanza v. of the same hymn (repeated); rest of libretto, both parts, original. |
| 76 | 1723. Second S. after Trinity. Also for Reformation Festival. | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Die Himmel erzahlon die Ehre Gottes (Psalm xix. 1, 3). | Part I.: Psalm xix. 1,3; Stanza i. of Luther's hymn, “Es woll' uns Gott genädig sein”; Part II.: Stanza iii. of the same hymn; rest of libretto original. See Spitta ii. 357n. |
| 24 | 1723. Fourth S. after Trinity. | Ein ungefarbt Gemüthe. | Erdmann Neumeister (“Fünffache Kirchen-Andachten”) (Ser. IV.). | St. Matthew vii. 12; Stanza i. of Johann Heer-mann's hymn, “O Gott, du frommer Gott”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 186 | 1723. Seventh S. after Trinity. | Aergre dich, O Seele, nicht. | The opening chorus and first two Arias are by Salomo Franck (“Evangelische Sonn- und Fest-Tages,” p. 6), written for the Third S. in Advent, perhaps composed by Bach at Weimar. The remainder of the libretto was added in 1723 for the Seventh S. after Trinity. Both Gospels relate Christ's miracles. | Part I.: Stanza xii. of Paul Speratus' hymn, “Es ist das Heil uns kommen her.” |
| †164 | 1723 (or 1724). Thirteenth S. after Trinity. | Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet. | Salomo Franck (“Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer,” 1715, p. 152). | Stanza v. of Elisabethe Cruciger's hymn, “Herr Christ, der einig' Gott's Sohn”; rest of libretto original. Perhaps written at Weimar. |
| 119 | 1723. Inauguration of Town Council (Aug. 30). | Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn (Psalm cxlvii. 12.) | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Psalm cxlvii. 12-14; clauses xxii. and xxiii. of the “Te Deum”; rest of libretto original. |
| 194 | 1723. Opening of the Organ at Störmthal (November 2); later (1731) for Trinity Sunday. [See No. 70 (1716).] | Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest. | ?Bach. | Part I.: Stanzas vi. and vii. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “Treuer Gott, ich muss dir klagen”; Part II.: Stanzas ix. and x. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe.” Rest of libretto original. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 63 | ?1723. Christmas Day. | Christen ätzet diesen Tag. | ?Bach. The opening two lines suggested by a poem in Joh. Jakob Bambach's “Geistliche Poesien” (Halle, 1720). | Original throughout. |
| 40 | ?1723. Feast of St. Stephen. | Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes (1 John iii. 8). | Christian Weiss, senr. Wustmann (note 8) suggests Bach. Certainly same author as Nos. 64, 65 infra. | 1 John iii. 8; Stanza iii. of Caspar Fuger's hymn, “Wir Christenleut'”; Stanza ii. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Schwing' dich auf zu deinem Gott”; Stanza iv. of Christian Keimann's hymn, “Freuet euch, ihr Christen alle”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 64 | ?1723. Feast of St. John the Evangelist. | Sehet, welch' eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget (1 John iii. 1). | Christian Weiss, senr. Certainly same author as Nos. 40 supra and 65 infra. | 1 John üi. 1; Stanza vü. of Luther's hymn, “Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ”; Stanza i. of Georg Michael Pfefferkorn's hymn, “Was frag ich nach der Welt”; Stanza v. of Johann Franck's hymn, “Jesu, meine Freude”; rest of libretto original. S. A. B. Soli. |
| 16 | ?1724. New Year's Day. Spitta (ii. 386, 413) regards No. 190 (infra) as Bach's first Leipzig New Year Cantata, and dates No. 16, 1723-27. | Herr Gott dich loben wir. | ?Bach. | Clauses i. and ii. of Luther's “Te Deum”; Stanza vi. of Paul Eber's hymn, “Helft mir Gott's Güte preisen”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †153 | 1724. Sunday after the Circumcision. | Schau', lieber Gott, wie meine Feind'. | ?Bach. | Stanza i. of David Denicke's (?) hymn, “Schau', lieber Gott, wie meine Feind'”; Isaiah xli. 10; Stanza v. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Befiehl du deine Wege”; Stanzas xi. and xii. (as three verses) of Martin Moller's (?) hymn, “Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 65 | 1724. Feast of the Epiphany. | Sie werden aus Saba Alle kommen (Isaiah lx. 6). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Wustmann (note 23) attributes text to author of Nos. 40 and 64 supra, i.e. Bach. | Isaiah lx. 6; Stanza iv. of the anonymous hymn, “Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem”; Stanza x. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Ich hab' in Gottes Herz und Sinn”; rest original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †154 | 1724. First S. after the Epiphany. | Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren. | ?Bach. Wustmann (note 25) attributes it to an anonymous author. | Stanza ii. of Martin Janus' hymn, “Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne”; St. Luke ü. 49; Stanza vi. of Christian Keimann's hymn, “Meinen Jesum lass' ich nicht”; rest original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †81 | 1724. Fourth S. after the Epiphany. | Jesus schlaft, was soll ich hoffen? | ?Bach. Wustmann regards texts of Nos. 81 and 154 as being by the same hand (note 35). | St. Matthew viii. 26; Stanza ii. of Johann Franck's hymn, “Jesu, meine Freude”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †83 | ?1724. Feast of the Purification. | Erfreute Zeit im neuen Bunde. | ?Bach. | St. Luke ii. 29, 30; Stanza iv. of Luther's hymn, “Mit Fried' und Freud' ich fahr' dahin”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 23 | 1724. Quinquagesima (“Estomihi”).?Composed at Cöthen. Spitta (ii. 679) holds this, and not No. 22, to have been Bach's first Quinquagesima Cantata at Leipzig. | Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn. | ?Bach | Three stanzas of “Christe, du Lamm Gottes”; rest of libretto original. S. A. T. Soli. |
| 4 | 1724. Easter Day (“Am Osterfeste”) | Christ lag in Todesbanden | Luther. | Choral Cantata. The seven stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. |
| 12 | 1724 (or 1725). Third S. after Easter | Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. | ?Salomo Franck. | Acts xiv. 22; Stanza vi. of Samuel Rodigast's hymn, “Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 172 | 1724 (or 1725). Whit Sunday. Perhaps revised c. 1727-30 (see Schweitzer, ii. 162). | Erschallet ihr Lieder. | ?Salomo Franck (Spitta ii. 398). Wustmann (note 73) does not support the conjecture. | St. John xiv. 23 Stanza iv. of Philipp Nicolai's hymn, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern”; rest of libretto original. Organ obbligato. |
| 184 | 1724. Whit Tuesday. | Erwunschtes Freudenlicht. | ?Bach. An adaptation of an earlier secular Cantata (Spitta, ii. 399). | Stanza vüi. of Anark of Wildenfeis' (?) hymn, “O Herre Gott, dein göttlich Wort”; rest of libretto original. S. A. T. Soli. |
| †165 | ?1724. Trinity Sunday. | O heil'ges Geist und Wasserbad | Salomo Franck (“Evangelisches Andachte-Opffer”, 1715, p. 111) | Stanza v. of Ludwig Helmbold's hymn “Nun lasst uns Gott dem Herren”, rest of libretto original. |
| 179 | ?1724. Eleventh S. after Trinity. | Siehe zu, dass deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei (Ecclesiastes i. 28) | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Ecclesiastes i. 28, Stanza i. of Christph Tietze's hymn, “Ich armer Mensch, ich armer Sünder”, rest original S. T. B. Soli. |
| 69 | ?1724. Twelfth S. after Trinity, c. 1730 adapted as a Ratswahl cantata. | Loben dem herren, meine Seele (Psalm cxlix. 1). | As extended in 1730 the text is in Picander's “Cantaten”, 1728-29. His authorship of the 1725 text is not therefore established. | Psalm cxlix. 1, Psalm cl. 4,6; Clauses i. and ii. of the “Te Deum”, Stanza ii. of Johann Hermann's hymn, “Jesu, nun sei gepreiset”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 190 | c. 1725 (or 1724). New Year's Day; revised to celebrate the Augsburg Confession Jubilee on June 25, 1730. | Singet dein Herrn ein neues Lied (Psalm cxlix. 1). | As extended in 1730 the text is in Picander's “Cantaten”, 1728-29. His authorship of the 1725 text is not therefore established. | Psalm cxlix 1; Psalm cl. 4,6; Clauses i. and ii. of the “Te Deum”; Stanza ii. of of Johann Hermann's hymn, “Jesu, nun se gepreiset”, rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †73. | c. 1725. Third S. after the Epiphany | Herr, wie du willt, so shick's mit mir. | Author unknown. Spitta's (ii. 414) attribution of the text to Picander is inadequately founded. | Stanza i. of Caspar Bienemann's hymn, “Herr, wie du willt, so shick's mit mir”; Stanza ix. of Ludwig Helmhold's hymn, “Von Gott will ich nich lassen”; rest original. S. T. B. Soli |
| 144 | c. 1725. Septuagesima | Nimm was dein ist, und gehe hin (St. Matthew xx. 14). | Wustmann (note 37) suggests Picander, with Bach's additions. Schweitzer (ii. 200) supposes that the music is adapted. | St. Matthew xx. 14; Stanza i. of Samuel Rodigast's hymn, “Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan”; Stanza i. of Albrecht of Brandenburg-Culmbach's hymn, “Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh' allzeit”; rest of libretto original. S. A. T. Soli. |
| 181 | 1725. Sexagesima. | Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister. | ?Picander. | Original throughout. |
| 67 | c. 1725. First S. after Easter (“Quasi-modogeniti”). | Halt' im Gedachtniss Jesum Christ (2 Timothy ii. 8). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Certainly not Picander, as Spitta (ii. 417) suggests. | 2 Timothy ü. 8; Stanza i. of Nikolaus Herman's hymn, “Erschienen ist der herrlich' Tag”; Stanza i. of Jakob Ebert's hymn, “Du Friedenfürst, Herr Jesu Christ”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 104 | c. 1725. Second S. after Easter (“Misericordias Domini”). | Du Hirte Israel, höre (Psalm lxxi. 1). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Psalm lxxx. 1; Stanza i. of Cornelius Becker's hymn, “Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt”; rest of libretto original. T. B. Soli. |
| † 166 | c. 1725. Fourth S. after Easter (“Cantate”). | Wo gehest du hin? (St. John xvi. 6). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | St. John xvi. 5; Stanza iii. of Bartholomäus Ringwaldt's hymn, “Herr Jesu Christ, ich weiss gar wohl”; Stanza i. of Emilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt's hymn, “Wer weiss, wie nahe mir mein Ende”; rest of libretto original. |
| †86 | c. 1725. Fifth S. after Easter (“Rogate”). | Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch (St. John xvi. 23). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | St. John xvi. 23; Stanza xvi. of Georg Grüenwald's hymn, “Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn”; Stanza xi. of Paul Speratus' hymn, “Es ist das Heil uns kommen her”; rest of libretto original. |
| 44 | c. 1725. Sixth S. after Easter (S. after the Ascension) (“Exaudi”). | Sie werden euch in den Bann thun (St. John xvi. 2) | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | St. John xvi. 2; Stanza i. of Martin Moller's(?) hymn, “Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid”; Stanza xv. of Paul Flemming's hymn, “In allen meinen Thaten”; rest of the libretto original. |
| 20 | c. 1725. First S. after Trinity. In its existing form the work is c. 1735. | O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort. | Johann Rist (arranged). (?Picander). | Choral Cantata (2 Parts). Stanzas i., xi., xvi. are retained in thoir original form. Stanzas ii.-x. are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †167 | c. 1725. Feast of St. John Baptist (MidsummerDay) | Ihr Menschen, rühmet Gottes liebe. | Author unknown. Spitta (ii. 423) remarks on the “vapid emptiness” of the text. | Stanza v. of Johann Graumann's hymn, “Nun lob', mein' Seel', den Herren”; rest of libretto original. The Choral is extended. |
| 136 | c. 1725 (or later). Eighth S. after Trinity. | Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz (Psalm cxxxix. 23). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Schweitzer (ii. 200) supposes that the music is adapted. | Psalm cxxxix. 23; Stanza ix. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “Wo soll ich fliehen hin”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †168 | c. 1725. Ninth S. after Trinity. Perhaps composed at Weimar. | Thue Rechnung! Donnerwort! | Salomo Franck (“Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer,” 1715, p. 141). | Stanza viii. of Bartholomaus Ringwaldt's hymn, “Herr Jesu Christ, du hochstes Gut”; rest of libretto original. |
| 105 | c. 1725. Ninth S. after Trinity. | Herr, gehe nicht in's Gericht (Psalm cxliii. 2). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Psalm cxliii. 2; Stanza xi. of Johann Rist's hymn, “Jesu, der du moine Seele”; rest of libretto original. |
| 46 | c. 1725. Tenth S. after Trinity. | Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei (Lam. i. 12). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Lamentations i. 12; Stanza ix. (apocryphal) of Balthasar Schnurr's hymn, “O grosser Gott von Macht”; rest original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 77 | 1725. Thirteenth S. after Trinity. | Du sollst Gott, deinen Herren, lieben (St. Luke x. 27). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | St. Luke x. 27; Stanza viii. of David Denicke's (?) hymn, “Wenn einer alle Ding verstünd” (posthumously added to Bach's text); rest of libretto original. |
| 8 | c. 1725. Sixteenth S. after Trinity. | Liebster Gott, wann werd' ich sterben? | Caspar Neumann (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and v. are retained in their original form. Stanzas ii.-iv. are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. |
| 148 | c. 1725. Seventeenth S. after Trinity. | Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens (Psalm xcvi. 8). | The groundwork is by Picander (“Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedancken,” Leipzig, 1725, p. 428), arranged by Bach. This is the earliest ascertained association of Bach and Picander (date?Sept. 23, 1725). | Psalm xcvi. 8, 9; Stanza xi. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “Wo soll ich fliehen hin” (suggested by Spitta, ii. 694; wanting in the score); rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 72 | c. 1726 (or earlier). Third S. after the Epiphany. | Alles nur nach Gottes Willen. | Salomo Franck (“Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer,” 1715, p. 35). | Stanza i. of Albrecht of Brandenburg-Culmbach's hymn, “Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh' allzeit”; rest original. A. S. B. Soli. |
| 19 | 1726. Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. | Es erhub sich ein Streit. | The groundwork of the text is a libretto for the season published by Picander in 1725. The Cantata version probably is by Bach himself. Spitta's (ii. 344) attribution of it to Picander is ill-founded. | Stanza ix. of the anonymous hymn, “Freu' dich sehr, O meine Seele”; rest of libretto original. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 195 | ?c. 1726. For a Wedding. | Dem Gerechten muss das Licht (Psalm xcvii. 11). | ?Bach. Spitta (ii. 469) supposes that the music is adapted. | Psalm xcvii. 11, 12; Stanza i. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Nun danket all' und bringet Ehr'”; rest of libretto original. |
| †157 | 1727. Feast of the Purification. Also for a Funeral. | Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn (Gen. xxxii. 26). | Picander (“Satyrische Gedichte,” vol. i. p. 210). | Genesis xxxii. 26; Stanza vi. of Christian Keimann's hymn, “Meinen Jesum lass' ich nicht”; rest by Picander. T. B. Soli |
| 37 | c. 1727. (Schweitzer ii. 260, dates it 1728-34). Ascension Day. [See Nos. 147 (1716) and 172 (1724).] | Wer da glaubet und getauft wird (St. Mark xvi. 16). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | St. Mark xvi. 16; Stanza v. of Philipp Nicolai's hymn, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern”; Stanza iv. of Johann Kolross' hymn, “Ich dank' dir, lieber Herre”; rest of libretto original. |
| 198 | 1727. October 17. | Trauer-Musik: for Queen Christiane Eberhardine of Poland 477 | Prof. J. C. Gottsched. (d. Sept. 7, 1727). | Original throughout. |
| 93 | ?1728. Fifth S. after Trinity. | Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten. | Georg Neumark (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata; Stanzas i., iv., v., vii. of Neumark's hymn are retained in their original form; Stanzas ii., iii., vi. are inserted or paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. |
| †Incomplete | ?1728. Christmas Day. | Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe (St. Luke ii. 14). | Picander (“Cantaten,” 1728-29, p. 71). | St. Luke ii. 14; Stanza iv. of Caspar Ziegler's hymn, “Ich freue mich in dir”; rest original. A. B. Soli. |
| †159 | ?1729. Quinquagesima (“Estomihi”). | Sehet, wir geh'n hinauf nach Jerusalem (St. Luke xviii. 31). | Picander (Ibid., p. 106). | St. Luke xviii. 31; Stanza vi. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden”; Stanza xxxiii. of Paul Stockmann's hymn, “Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod”; rest original. |
| 145 | 1729 (or 1730). Easter Tuesday (“Am Osterfeste”) | So du mit deinem Munde bekennest Jesum (Romans x. 9), or Auf, mein Herz! des Herren Tag, or Ich lebe, mein Herze. | Picander (“Cantaten,” 1728-29, p. 125), with the addition (by Bach) of the opening Choral and Bible verse. See Spitta, ii. 442 n. | Stanza i. of Caspar Neumann's hymn, “Auf, mein Herz! des Herren Tag”; Romans x. 9; Stanza xiv. of Nikolaus Herman's hymn, “Erschienen ist der herrlich' Tag”; rest of libretto by Picander. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 171 | 1730 (or 1731) Feast of the Circumcision (New Year's Day). | Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm (Psalm xlviii. 10). | Picander (Ibid. p. 81). | Psalm xlviii. 10; Stanza iii. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “Jesu, nun sei gepreiset”; rest of libretto original. |
| †156 | 1730 (or 1729). Third S. after the Epiphany. [See No. 173 (1718).] | Ich steh' mit einem Fuss im Grabe. | Picander (Ibid.Ibid., p. 91). | Stanza i. of Joh. Hermann Schein's hymn, “Mach's mit mir, Gott, nach deiner Güt'”; Stanza i. of Caspar Bienemann's hymn, “Herr, wie du will't, so schick's mit mir”; rest of libretto original. |
| 120 | 1730. Inauguration of the Town Council (Aug. 24). Used also for Augsburg Confession celebration on June 26, 1730. [See Nos. 69 (1724), 190 (1725).] | Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille (Psalm lxv. 1). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Psalm lxv. i.; clauses xx.-xxiii. of the “Te Deum”; rest of libretto original. |
| †l88 | 1730 (or 1731). Twenty-first S. after Trinity. Incorporates older instrumental material. | Ich habe meine Zuver-sicht. | Picander (“Cantaten,” 1728-29, p. 47). Music probably by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach to a large extent. | Stanza i. of Sigismund Weingärtner's (?) hymn, “Auf meinen lieben Gott”; rest of libretto original. Organ obbligato. |
| 80 | 1730. Reformation Festival (c. Oct. 31). Composed mainly at Weimar (1716). | Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott. | Luther and Salomo Franck (“Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer,” p. 60). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., ii., iii., iv. of Luther's hymn, “Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott,” are set in their original form; rest of libretto by Franck. |
| †89 | c. 1730. Twenty-second S. after Trinity. | Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim? (Hosea xi. 8). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Hosea xi. 8; Stanza vii. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “Wo soll ich fliehen hin”; rest of libretto original. S. A. B. Soli. |
| †52 | c. 1730. Twenty-third S. after Trinity. Incorporates older instrumental material. | Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht. | Author unknown. | Stanza i. of Adam Reissner's hymn, “In dich hab' ich gehoffet, Herr”; rest of libretto original. Soprano Solo. |
| 36 | c. 1730. First S. in Advent. | Schwingt freudig euch empor. | The opening Chorus and three Arias are adaptations by Bach of a secular Ode, having the same title, written by Picander and performed Nov. 30, 1720. The four Chorals replace Picander's original Recitativi. The music (excepting the Recitativi and final Chorus of the Ode) of the two works is identical. | Part I.: Stanza i. of Luther's hymn, “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland”; Stanza vi. of Philipp Nicolai's hymn, “Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern”; Part II.: Stanzas vi. and viii. of Luther's hymn; remaining movements adapted by Bach from Picander. |
| Incomplete | c. 1730? For a Wedding. | O ewiges Feuer, O Ursprung der Liebe. | Author unknown. See No. 34 infra (c. 1740). | Psalm cxxviii. 4, 5, 6; Benediction; rest of libretto original. |
| *82 | c. 1731. Feast of the Purification. | Ich habe genug. | ?Bach. | Original throughout. Spitta (ii. 346) points out that the Aria “Schlummert ein” seems to have been suggested by a text by Johann Jakob Rambach for the same season. Bass Solo. |
| †84 | 1731 (or 1732). Septuagesima. | Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke. | A revision (?by Bach) of a text by Picander (“Cantaten,” 1728-29, p. 101). | Stanza xii. of Emilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt's hymn, “Wer weiss, wie nahe mir mein Ende”; rest original. Soprano Solo. |
| 66 | 1731 (not 1735). Easter Monday. [See No. 134 (1717-22).] | Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen. | ?Bach. | Stanza iii. of the hymn, “Christ ist erstanden”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †42 | 1731 (not c. 1740). First S. after Easter. (“Quasi-modogeniti”). | Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbaths (St. John xx. 19). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Wustmann (note 37) suggests Bach. | St. John xx. 19; Stanza i. of Joh. Michael Altenburg's hymn, “Verzage nicht, du Hauflein klein”; Stanza i. of Luther's Antiphon, “Verleih' uns Frieden” and addendum; rest original. |
| 112 | 1731. Second S. after Easter (“Misericordias Domini”). | Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt (Psalm xxiii.). | Wolfgang Meusel. | Choral Cantata. The five stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. |
| †174 | 1731 (or 1732). Whit Monday. Incorporates older instrumental material. [See No. 194 (1723).] | Ich liebe den Hochsten von ganzem Gemüthe. | Picander (“Cantaten,” 1728-29, p. 147). | Stanza i. of Martin Schalling's hymn, “Herzlich lieb hab' ich dich, O Herr”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 9 | ?1731 Sixth S. after Trinity | Es ist das Heil uns kommen her. | Paul Speratus (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and xii. are set in their original form. The intermediate stanzas are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. |
| 102 | ?1731. Tenth S. after Trinity. | Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben (Jeremiah v. 3). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Spitta (ii. 464) suggests Picander. | Part I.: Jeremiah v. 3; Romans ii. 4, 5; Part II.: Stanzas vi. and vii. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “So wahrichlebe, spricht dein Gott”; rest original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| *35 | ?1731. Twelfth S. after Trinity. | Geist und Seele wird verwirret. | The probability that the Cantata is a converted chamber music composition supports the inference that Bach wrote the text. See Spitta, ii. 447. | Original throughout (2 parts). Alto Solo and Organ obbligato. |
| 25 | c. 1731. Fourteenth S. after Trinity. | Es ist nichts gesundes an meinem Leibe (Psalm xxxviii. 3). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Psalm xxxviii. 3; Stanza xii. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “Treuer Gott, ich muss dir klagen”; rest of libretto original. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 29 | 1731. Inauguration of the Town Council (Aug. 27). Incorporates older instrumental material. | Wir danken dir, Gott (Psalm lxxv. i). | ?Christian Weiss, Sr. | Pslam lxxv. 1; Stanza v. (posthumous) of Johann Graumann's hymn “Nun lob' mein Seel' den Herren”, rest of libretto original. Organ obbligato. |
| *51 | 1731 (or 1732). Fifteenth S. after Trinity. | Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen. | ?Bach. A version for Michaelmas (?1737) also exists. See Spitta, ii. 473n. | Stanza v. of Johann Graumann's hymn, “Nun lob', mein' Seel', den Herren”; rest of libretto original. Soprano Solo. |
| †27 | 1731. Sixteenths, after Trinity. | Wer weiss, wie nahe mir mein Ende. | ?Bach. The first Aria is suggested by a Neumeister stanza (“Kirchen-Andachten,” p. 294). See Spitta, ii. 451. | Stanza i. of Emilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt's hymn, “Wer weiss, wie nahe mir mein Ende”; Stanza i. of Joh. Georg Albinus' hymn, “Welt ade! ich bin dein müde”; rest of libretto original. Organ obbligato. Choral extended. |
| †169 | 1731 (or 1732). Eighteenth S. after Trinity. | Gott soll allein mein Herzehaben. | Author unknown. | Stanza iii. of Luther's hymn, “Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist”; rest of libretto original. Alto Solo and Organ obbligato. |
| 149 | 1731. Feast of St. Michael the Arch-angel. | Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg (Psalm cxviii. 15). | Christian Weiss, senr. First Chorus borrowed from “Was mir behagt.” | Psalm cxviii. 15, 16; Stanza iii. of Martin Schalling's hymn, “Herzlich lieb hab' ich dich, O Herr”; rest of libretto original. |
| †56 | 1731 (or 1732). Nineteenth S. after Trinity. | Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen. | ?Bach, working on a Neumeister text (“Kirchen-Andachten,” p. 514). | Stanza vi. of Johann Franck's hymn, “Du, O schones Weltgebäude”; rest of libretto original. Bass Solo. |
| *49 | c. 1731. Twentieth S. after Trinity. Incorporates older instrumental material. | Ich geh' und suche mit Verlangen. | Author unknown. | Stanza vii. of Philipp Nicolai's hymn, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern”; rest of libretto original. S. B. Soli and Organ obbligato. |
| 109 | c. 1731. Twenty-first S. after Trinity. | Ich glaube, lieber Herre, hilf meinem Unglauben (St. Mark ix. 24). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | St. Mark ix. 24; Stanza vii. of Lazarus Spengler's hymn, “Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt”; rest original. A. T. Soli. |
| †55 | 1731 (or 1732). Twenty-second S. after Trinity. | Ich armor Mensch, ich Sündenknecht. | Author unknown. | Stanza vi. of Johann Rist's hymn, “Werde munter, mein Gemuthe”; rest of libretto original. Tenor Solo. |
| 140 | 1731 (or later). Twenty-seventh S. after Trinity. | Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. | Philipp Nicolai (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. All three stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. The rest of the libretto is original. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 129 | 1732. Trinity Sunday. | Gelobet sei der Herr. | Johannes Olearius. | Choral Cantata. The five stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. S. A. B. Soli. |
| 39 | 1732 (not c. 1740). First S. after Trinity. | Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brod (Isaiah lviii. 7). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Schweitzer (ii. 343) attributes the text to Picander. | Part I.: Isaiah lviii. 7, 8; Part II.: Hebrews xiii. 16; Stanza vi. of David Denicke's hymn, “Kommt, lasst euch den Herren lehren”; rest of libretto original. S. A. B. Soli. |
| 177 | 1732. Fourth S. after Trinity. | Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ. | Johannes Agricola. | Choral Cantata. The five stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. S. A. T. Soli. |
| †88 | 1732. Fifth S. after Trinity. | Siehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden (Jer. xvi. 16). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Part I.: Jeremiah xvi. 16; Part II.: St. Luke v. 10; Stanza vii. of Georg Neumark's hymn, “Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten”; rest of libretto original. |
| *170 | ?1732. Sixth S. after Trinity. | Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust. | Author unknown. | Original throughout. See Spitta, ii. 453n. Alto Solo and Organ obbligato. |
| 187 | 1732. Seventh S. after Trinity. | Es wartet Alles auf dich (Psalm civ. 27). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Schweitzer (ii. 343) attributes the text to Picander. | Part I.: Psalm civ. 27, 28; Part II.: St. Matthew vi. 31, 32; Stanzas iv. and vi. of the anonymous hymn, “Singen wir aus Herzensgrund”; rest original. S. A. B. Soli. |
| 137 | ?1732. Twelfth S. after Trinity. | Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren. | Joachim Neander. | Choral Cantata. The five stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. S. A. T. Soli. |
| 95 | ?1732. Sixteenth S. after Trinity. | Christus, der ist mein Leben. | Author unknown. | Stanza i. of the anonymous hymn, “Christus, der ist mein Leben”; Stanza i. of Luther's hymn, “Mit Fried' und Freud' ich fahr' dahin”; Stanza i. of Valerius Herberger's hymn, “Valet will ich dir geben”; Stanza iv. of Nikolaus Herman's hymn, “Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist”; rest original. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 98 | c. 1732. Twenty-first S. after Trinity. | Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan. | Author unknown. | Stanza i. of Samuel Rodigast's hymn, “Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan”; rest of libretto original. |
| †60 | 1732. Twenty-fourth S. after Trinity. | O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort. | Author unknown. | Stanza i. of Johann Rist's hymn, “O Ewigkeit du Donnerwort”; Psalm cxix. 166; Revelation xiv. 13; Stanza v. of Franz Joachim Burmeister's hymn, “Es ist genug”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 102 | c. 1733. Occasion not specified. | Nun danket alle Gott. | Martin Rinkart. | Choral Cantata. The three stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. S. A. B. Soli. |
| *58 | 1733. Sunday after the Circumcision. | Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid. | ?Bach. | Stanza i. of Martin Moller's(?) hymn, “Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid”; Stanza ii. of Martin Behm's hymn, “O Jesu Christ, mein's Lebens Licht”; rest original. S. B. Soli. |
| 99 | c. 1733. Fifteenth S. after Trinity. | Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan. | Samuel Rodigast (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and vi. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. |
| 191 | c. 1733. Christmas Day (“Am Weinachtsfeste”). | Gloria in excelsis Deo. | St. Luke ii. 14. | The “Gloria” of the B minor Mass. |
| 117 | c. 1733. Occasion not specified. | Sei Lob und Ehr' dem hochsten Gut. | Johann Jakob Schütz. | Choral Cantata. The nine stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 97 | 1734.?For a Wedding, or general use. | In allen meinen Thaten. | Paul Flemming. See Schweitzer, ii. 242n. | Choral Cantata. The nine stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. |
| *54 | 1723-34. Occasion not specified. | Wideratehe doch der Sunde. | Author unknown. | Original throughout. Alto Solo. |
| *53 | 1723-34.?For a Funeral. | Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde. | ?Salomo Franck. | A single eight-lined original stanza. Alto Solo. |
(6) Composed at Leipzig: 1735-50
| No. | Date. | Title. | Author of Libretto. | Composition of the Text. |
| 43 | 1735. New Year's Day. | Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele (Psalm cxlvi. 1). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Wustmann (note 19) suggests Bach. | Psalm cxlvi. 1, 5, 10; Stanzas i. and iii. of Jakob Ebert's hymn, “Du Friedefurst, Herr Jesu Christ”; the rest of the libretto (two Arias) original. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 14 | 1735. Fourth S. after the Epiphany. | War' Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit (Psalm cxxiv.). | Luther (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and iii. are set in their original form. Stanza ii. is paraphrased in the intervening Arias and Recitativo. S. T. B. Soli. |
| †85 | 1735. Second S. after Easter. (“Misericordias Domini”). | Ich bin ein guter Hirt (St. John x. 11). | Spitta (iii. 71) and Schweitzer (ii. 331n) attribute the text to Marianne von Ziegler. Wustmann (note 60) disagrees. | St. John x. 11; Stanza i. of Cornelius Becker's hymn, “Derr Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt”; Stanza iv. of Ernst Christoph Homburg's hymn, “Ist Gott mein Schild und Helfersmann”; rest of libretto original. |
| 103 | ?1735. Third S. after Easter (“Jubilate”). | Ihr werdet weinen und heulen (St. John xvi. 20). | Marianne von Ziegler (“Versuch in gebundener Schreibart,” Leipzig,1728). Emended by Bach. | St. John xvi. 20; Stanza ix. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Barmherzger Vater, hochster Gott”; rest of libretto original. A. T. Soli. |
| 108 | ?1735. Fourth S. after Easter. (“Cantate”). | Es ist euch gut, dass ich hingehe (St. John xvi. 7). | Marianne von Ziegler (Ibid.). Emended by Bach. | St. John xvi. 7, 13; Stanza x. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Gott Vater, sende deinen Geist”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †87 | ?1735. Fifth S. after Easter (“Rogate”) | Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen (St. John xvi. 24). | Marianne von Ziegler (Ibid.). Emended by Bach. | St. John xvi. 24,33; Stanza ix. of Heinrich Müller's hymn “Selig ist die Seele”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 43 | 1735. Ascension Day. | Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen (Psalm xlvii. 5). | ?Bach. Schweitzer (ii. 331n) wrongly attributes text to Marianne von Ziegler. | Part I.: Pslm xlvii. 5,6; St. Mark xvi. 19; Part II.: Stanzas i. and xiii. of Johann Rist's hymn, “Du Lebenfüst, Herr Jesu Christ”, rest of libretto original, excepting the second, third, and fourth Arias. Original portion perhaps by Bach. |
| 11 | c. 1735. Ascension Day. | Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen. | Author unknown. | St. Luke xxiv. 50-52; Acts i. 9-11; Stanza iv. of Johann Rist's hymn, “Du Lebenfüst, Herr Jesu Christ”; Stanza vii. of Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer's hymn “Gott fähret auf gen Himmel”; rest of libretto original. |
| 128 | ?1735. Ascension Day. | Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein. | Marianne von Ziegler (Ibid.). Emended by Bach. | Stanza i. of Josua Wegelin's hymn, “Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein”; Stanza iv. of Matthäus Avenarius's hymn, “O Jesu, meine Lust”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †183 | ?1735. Sunday after the Ascension (“Exaudi”) | Sie werden euch in den Bann thun (St. John xvi. 2) | Marianne von Ziegler (Ibid.). Emended by Bach. | S. John xvi. 2; Stanza v. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn “Zeuch ein zu deinen Thoren”; rest of libretto original. |
| 74 | ?1735. Whit Sunday. An expansion of No. 59 (1716). | Wer mich liebst, der wird mein Wort halten (St. John xiv. 23). | Marianne von Ziegler (Ibid.). Emended by Bach. | St. John 23, 28; Romans viii. 1; Stanza ii. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Gott Vater, sende deinen Geist” rest of libretto original. |
| 68 | ?1735. Whit Monday. Contains old (1716) secular material. | Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt. | Marianne von Ziegler (Ibid.). Emended by Bach. See “Was mir behagt.” | Stanza i. of Salomo Liscow's hymn, “Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt”; St. John iii. 18; rest of libretto original. S. B. Soli. |
| †175 | ?1735. Whit Tuesday. | Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen (St. John x. 3). | Marianne von Ziegler (Ibid.). Emended slightly by Bach. | St. John x. 3, 6; Stanza ix. of Johann Rist's hymn, “O Gottes Geist, mein Trost und Rath ”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 176 | ?1735. Trinity Sunday. [See No. 20 (1725).] | Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding. (Cf. Jer. xvii. 9). | Marianne von Ziegler (Ibid.). Emended by Bach. | Stanza viii. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Was alle Weisheit in der Welt”; rest original. S. A. B. Soli. |
| 107 | c. 1735. Seventh S. after Trinity. | Was willst du dich betrüben. | Johann Heermann. | Choral Cantata. Six stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. The final Choral is stanza xiv. of David Denicke's hymn, “Ich will zu aller Stunde.” S. T. B. Soli. |
| 94 | ?1735. Ninth S. after Trinity. | Was frag ich nach der Welt. | Georg Michael Pfefferkorn (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., iii., v., vii., viii. are set in their original form. Stanzas ii., iv., vi. are paraphrased in the Arias. |
| 133 | 1735 (or 1737). Feast of St. John the Evangelist. | Ich freue mich in dir. | Caspar Ziegler (arranged by?Christian Weiss, junr.). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and iv. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. |
| 100 | c. 1735.?Fifteenth S. after Trinity, for a Wedding. | Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan. | Samuel Rodigast. | Choral Cantata. The six stanzas of the hymn are set in their original form. |
| 5 | 1735. Nineteenth S. after Trinity. | Wo soll ich fliehen hin. | Johann Heermann (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and xi. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening Arias and Recitativi are based particularly on stanzas iii., iv., vii., viii., ix. |
| 79 | 1735. Reformation Festival (Oct. 30). | Gott, der Herr, ist Sonn und Schild (Psalm Ixxxiv. 11). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. | Psalm lxxxiv. 11; Stanza i. of Martin Rinkart's hymn, “Nun danket alle Gott”; Stanza viii. of Ludwig Helmbold's hymn, “Nun lasst uns Gott dem Herren”; rest of libretto original. S. A. B. Soli. |
| 41 | ?1736. New Year's Day. | Jesu, nun sei gepreiset. | Johann Heermann (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and iii. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanza ii. is paraphrased in the intervening Arias and Recitativi. |
| †13 | c. 1736. Second S. after the Epiphany. | Meine Seufzer, meine Thränen. | Author unknown. | Stanza ii. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “Zion klagt mit Angst und Schmerzen”; Stanza xv. of Paul Flemming's hymn, “In allen meinen Thaten”; rest original. |
| [1736. Easter Day] | Kommt, eilet und laufet. | ?Picander.] | ||
| 6 | 1736. Easter Monday. | Bleib' bei uns, denn es will Abend werdeu (St. Luke xxiv. 29). | Author unknown. Wustmann (note 53) suggests Picander. | St. Luke xxiv. 29; Stanzas i. and ii. of Nikolaus Selnecker's hymn, “Ach bleib' bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ”; Stanza ii. of Luther's hymn, “Erhalt' uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort”; rest original. |
| 28 | c. 1736. Sunday after Christmas. Spitta, ii. 433, dates it 1725-27. | Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende. | Erdmann Neumeister (“Fünffache Kirchen-Andachten,” 1716. Ser. IV. | Stanza i. of Johann Graumann's hymn, “Nun lob', mein Seel', den Herren”; Jeremiah xxxii. 41; Stanza vi. of Paul Eber's hymn, “Helft mir Gott's Gütte preisen”; rest of libretto original. |
| 17 | c. 1737. Fourteenth S. after Trinity. | Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich (Psalm 1., 23). | ?Bach. Schweitzer (ii. 343) attributes the text to Picander. | Part I.: Psalm 1. 23; Part II.: St. Luke xvii. 15, 16; Stanza iii. of Johann Graumann's hymn, “Nun lob', mein' Seel', den Herren”; rest original. |
| 118 | c. 1737.?For a Funeral. | O Jesu Christ, mein's Lebens Licht. | Martin Behm. | Stanza i. of Martin Behm's hymn, “O Jesu Christ, mein's Lebens Licht.” A Motet; cf. No. 50 (c. 1740. |
| 197 | ?1737. For a Wedding. Contains older material (?1728). | Gott ist uns're Zuversicht. | ?Bach. Pt. II.'s Arias are based on the Christmas Cantata “Ehre sei Gott” (?1728). | Stanza iii. of Luther's hymn, “Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist”; Stanza vii. (partly rewritten) of Georg Neumark's hymn, “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten”; rest original. S. A. B. Soli. |
| 30 | 1738. Feast of St. John Baptist (Midsummer Day). | Freue dich, erloste Schaar. | Reconstruction, by?Picander, of his “Angenehmes Wiederau,” 1737, from which the music also is in part borrowed. | Part I.: Stanza iii. of Johannes Olearius' hymn, “Tröstet, tröstet, meine Lieben”; rest of libretto original. |
| 123 | 1740. Feast of the Epiphany. | Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen. | Ahasuerus Fritsch (arranged by?Christian Weiss, junr.). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and v. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanzas ii., iii., iv. are paraphrased in the intervening Arias and Recitativi. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †32 | c. 1740. First S. after the Epiphany. | Leibster Jesu, mein Verlangen. | ?Picander. | St. Luke ii. 49; Stanza xii. of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, “Weg, mein Herz, mit den Gedanken”; rest of libretto original. S. B. Soli. |
| 124 | c. 1740. First S. after the Epiph-any. | Meinen Jesum lass' ich nicht. | Christian Keimann (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and vi. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanzas ii.-v. are paraphrased in the intervening Arias and Recitativi. |
| 3 | c. 1740. Second S. after the Epiphany. | Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid. | Martin Moller (arranged by?Christian Weiss, junr.). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., ii., xii. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanzas iv.-vi., ix., x. are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativo. |
| 111 | c. 1740. Third S. after the Epiphany. | Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh' allzeit. | Albrecht, Margrave of Brandenburg-Culmbach (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and iv. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanzas ii. and iii. are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. |
| 92 | c. 1740. Septuagesima. | Ich hab' in Gottes Herz und Sinn. | Paul Gerhardt (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., ii., v., x., xii. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanzas iii., iv., vi.-viii., ix. are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativo. |
| 125 | c. 1740. Feast of the Purification. | Mit Fried' und Freud' ich fahr' dahin. | Luther (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., ii., iv. are set in their original form. Stanza iii. is paraphrased in the second Aria and Recitative. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 126 | c. 1740. Sexagesima. | Erhalt' uns, Heir, bei deinem Wort. | Luther (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., iii., and Luther's “Verleih' uns Frieden gnädiglich” are set in their original form. The other stanzas are paraphrased in the Arias and second Recit. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 127 | c. 1740. Quinquagesima (“Esto-mihi”). | Herr Jesu Christ, wahr'r Mensch und Gott. | Paul Eber (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and viii. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased in the Recitativi and Arias. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 1 | c. 1740. Feast of the Annunciation. | Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern. | Philipp Nicolai (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and vii. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanzas ii.-vi. are paraphrased in the intervening Recitativi and Arias. S. T. B. Soli. |
| 146 | c. 1740. Third S. after Easter (“Jubilate”). Incorporates older instrumental material. | Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen (Acts xiv. 22). | Author unknown. Schweitzer (ii. 343) names Picander. | Acts xiv. 22; excepting the concluding Choral (words wanting in the score) the rest of the libretto is original. |
| 34 | c. 1740 (or 1741). Whit Sunday (“Am Pfingst-feste”. Incorporates (modified) parts of the Wedding Cantata (c. 1730) bearing the same title | O ewiges Feuer, O Ursprung der Liebe. | ?by Bach. | Original throughout. Movements 1, 3, 5, follow the Wedding Cantata, words and music. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 2 | c. 1740. Second S. after Trinity. | Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein. | Luther (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and vi. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 135 | c. 1740. Third S. after Trinity. | Ach Herr, mich armen Sunder. | Cyriacus Schneegass. Also attributed to Christoph Demantius (arranged by?Christian Weiss, junr.). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and vi. of the hymn (see Psalm vi.) are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 7 | c.1740. Feast of St. John Baptist (Midsummer Day). | Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam. | Luther (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and vii. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 10 | c. 1740. Feast of the Visitation. | Meine Seel' erhebt den Herren. (St. Luke, i. 46). | St. Luke, i. 46-55 (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Verses 46-48, 54, and the Doxology, are set in their original form. The other verses are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativi. |
| 45 | c. 1740. Eighth S. after Trinity. | Est ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist (Micah vi., 8). | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Schweitzer (ii. 343) attributes the text to Picander. | Part I.: Micah vi. 8; Part II.: St. Matthew vii. 22, 23; Stanza ii. of Johann Heermann's hymn, “O Gott, du frommer Gott”; rest original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 178 | c. 1740. Eighth S. after Trinity. | Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns halt (Psalm cxxiv.). | Justus Jonas (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., ii., iv., v., vii., viii., of the hymn are set in their original form. The other stanzas are paraphrased. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 101 | c. 1740. Tenth S. after Trinity. | Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott. | Martin Moller (arranged). Schweitzer (ii. 375) names Picander. | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., iii., v., vii. are set in their original form. Stanzas ii., iv., vi. are paraphrased in the Arias. |
| 113 | c. 1740. Eleventh S. after Trinity. | Heir Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut. | Bartholomaüws Ringwaldt(arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., ii., iv., viii. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanzas iii., v.-vii. are paraphrased in the Arias and Recitativo. |
| 193 | c. 1740. Inauguration of the Town Council (c. August 24). Incomplete. | Ihr Pforten [Tore] zu Zion | Author unknown. | Original throughout. S. A. T. (or B.) Soli. |
| 33 | c. 1740. Thirteenth S. after Trinity. | Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ. | Johannes Schneesing. Attributed also to Conrad Hubert. Arranged. | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and iv. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 78 | c. 1740 (or after 1734) Fourteenth S. after Trinity. | Jesu, der du meine Seele. | Johann Rist (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and xii. of the hymn are set in their original form. Four lines of Stanza x. are inserted into the last Recitativo. |
| 138 | c. 1740 (or earlier). Fifteenth S. after Trinity. | Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz. | ?Hans Sachs and?Picander. | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., ii., iii. of the hymn are set in their original form. Rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 114 | c. 1740. Seventeenth S. after Trinity. | Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost. | Johannes Gigas (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., iii., vi. of the hymn are set in their original form. The other stanzas are paraphrased in the remaining movements. |
| 96 | c. 1740. Eighteenth S. after Trinity. | Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes-Sohn. | Elisabethe Cruciger (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and v. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased in the Recitativi and Arias. |
| 130 | c. 1740. Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. | Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir. | Paul Eber (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., xi., xii. (in score only) of the hymn are set in their original form. The remaining stanzas are paraphrased. |
| 50 | c. 1740. Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. | Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft. | Revelation xii 10. | Rev. xii. 10; a single Bible passage. A Motet. Cf. No. 118 (c. 1737). |
| 48 | c.1740. Nineteenth S. after Trinity. | Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlosen (Rom. vii. 24). | ?Picander. | Romans vii. 24; Stanza iv. of the anonymous hymn, “Ach Gott und Herr”; Stanza xii. of the anonymous hymn, “Herr Jesu Christ, ich schrei zu dir”; rest original. A. T. Soli. |
| 180 | c. 1740. Twentieth S. after Trinity. | Schmucke dich, O liebe Seele. | Johann Franck (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., iv., ix. of the hymn are set in their original form. The remaining stanzas are paraphrased. |
| 38 | c. 1740. Twenty-first S. after Trinity. | Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir (Psalm cxxx.). | Luther (arranged by?Christian Weiss, junr.). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and v. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased. |
| 115 | c. 1740. Twenty-second S. after Trinity. | Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit. | Johann Burchard Freystein (arranged by?Picander. | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and x. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening ones are paraphrased. |
| 139 | c. 1740. Twenty-third S. after Trinity. | Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott. | Johann Christoph Rube (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and v. are set in their original form. The intervening ones are paraphrased. |
| 26 | c. 1740. Twenty-fourth S. after Trinity. | Ach wie fluchtig. | Michael Franck (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and xiii. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanzas ii.-xii. are paraphrased. |
| †90 | c. 1740. Twenty-fifth S. after Trinity. | Es reifet euch ein sohrecklich Ende. | ?Picander. | Stanza vii. of Martin Holler's hymn, “Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott”; rest of libretto original. A. T. B. Soli. |
| 62 | c. 1740 (after 1734). First S. in Advent. | Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland. | Luther (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and viii. are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased. |
| 91 | c. 1740. Christmas Day. | Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ. | Luther (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., ii., vii. of the hymn are set in their original form. The remaining stanzas are paraphrased. |
| 110 | Unser Mund sei voll Lachens (Psalm cxxvi. 2). | After 1734. Christmas Day. Has older instrumental material. | ?Christian Weiss, senr. Schweitzer (ii. 343) suggests Picander. | Psalm cxxvi. 2, 3; Jeremiah x. 6; St. Luke ii. 14; Stanza v. of Caspar Fuger's hymn, “Wir Christenleut'”; rest of libretto original. |
| †57 | c. 1740. Feast of St. Stephen. | Selig ist der Mann (St. James i. 12). | ?Picander. | St. James i. 12; Stanza vi. of Ahasuerus Fritsch's hymn, “Hast du, denn, Jesu, dein Angesicht gantzlich verborgen”; rest of libretto original. S. B. Soli. |
| 121 | c. 1740. Feast of St. Stephen. | Christum wir sollen loben schon. | Luther (arranged by?Picander). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and viii. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanzas ii.-vi. are paraphrased. A. T. B. Soli. |
| †l51 | c. 1740. Feast of St. John the Evangelist. | Süsser Trost, main Jesus kommt. | ?Bach. | Stanza viii. of Nikolaus Herman's hymn, “Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich”; rest of libretto original. |
| Incomplete | c. 1740 (after 1734). For a Wedding. | Herr Gott, Beherrseher aller Dinge. | ?Bach. | Stanzas iv. and v. of Joachim Neander's hymn, “Lobe den Herren”; rest original. S. B. Soli. |
| 122 | c. 1742. Sunday after Christmas Day. | Das neugebor'ne Kindelein. | Cyriacus Schneegass and?Bach. | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i., iii., iv. of the hymn are set in their original form. Stanza ii. is paraphrased in the first Aria. The two Recitativi are original. |
| 116 | 1744 (Nov. 15). Twenty-fifth S. after Trinity. | Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ. | Jakob Ebert. Also attributed to Ludwig Helmbold (arranged). | Choral Cantata. Stanzas i. and vii. of the hymn are set in their original form. The intervening stanzas are paraphrased. |
[pg 143]