Bach's original score is lost. The music survives in a copy made by C F Penzel, one of Bach's last pupils, after the composer's death. The date of composition is not known, and sources differ as to when and where Bach composed the work. However, the balance of opinion has moved towards a date at the beginning of Bach's career. It is not currently in dispute that it is one of Bach's earliest surviving cantatas. Suggestions for the place of composition have been: The Bach scholar Andreas Glöckner argued in 1988 that the cantata may have been composed in Arnstadt.
History and text
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | History and text
The original piece is lost and this survives in a copy made by C F Penzel. Arnstadt Possibly from Arnstadt in Germany Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
what is nach dir, herr, verlanget mich, bwv 150?
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An extant cantata or a piece of music .
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where is this music from?
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Many scholars think that it may be the earliest extant cantata by Bach, possibly composed in Arnstadt in 1707.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | Introduction
Bach's original score is lost. The music survives in a copy made by C F Penzel, one of Bach's last pupils, after the composer's death. The date of composition is not known, and sources differ as to when and where Bach composed the work. However, the balance of opinion has moved towards a date at the beginning of Bach's career. It is not currently in dispute that it is one of Bach's earliest surviving cantatas. Suggestions for the place of composition have been: The Bach scholar Andreas Glöckner argued in 1988 that the cantata may have been composed in Arnstadt.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | History and text
The scholar Hans-Joachim Schulze identified in 2010 a remarkable acrostic in the concluding four movements (which he described in the 2010 "Bach-Jahrbuch", the journal of the Neue Bachgesellschaft). Adjusting for transposition errors by the copyist, the initial letters should spell DOKTOR CONRAD MECKBACH and plausibly therefore the work was composed to mark this Mühlhausen councillor's 70th birthday in April 1707. On this basis the cantata may date from Bach's time in Arnstadt. Possibly the cantata was heard a few weeks later after the end of Lent, and thus it may have formed a test-piece for the Mühlhausen appointment, composed in Arnstadt with Bach's supporter Meckbach in mind.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | History and text
"Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich", BWV 150 was possibly first performed on the third Sunday after Trinity, . The authenticity of the cantata has been doubted. One of Pachelbel's works appears to be referenced in the cantata.
Bach's early cantatas | "Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich", BWV 150
The work begins with a sinfonia and then alternates choral movements and arias. There are no recitatives, no da capo repeats, and there is no chorale tune, unusually for Bach's cantatas. Bach makes extensive use of choral fugues and imitative polyphony, often shifting the tempo and character of the music within movements very quickly to accommodate a new musical idea with each successive phrase of text. The sinfonia and the opening choral movement are both based on the motive of an octave leap followed by five descending half steps. This chromatic figure, sometimes dubbed the "lamento bass" or passus duriusculus, has been utilized by composers as early as Monteverdi as a musical representation of anguish, pain, and longing.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | Music
As the cantata shares music with other compositions, particularly BWV 120.1, but also BWV 1006 and BWV 137 (two earlier works), it can be reconstructed. On this basis, the instruments can be assumed to be those specified in the other works including oboes d'amore, trumpets and timpani. The names of bride and groom are not known. He has been assumed to be a minister of religion, deducted from the text "" (Lord, begin and pronounce your blessing / on this, your servant's house).
Herr Gott, Beherrscher aller Dinge, BWV 120a | History and text
The Bach scholar Alfred Dürr concludes from the autograph that only the middle section of the third movements and the chorale were composed in 1723 with certainty. The other parts may rely on a former unknown secular or church cantata, according to the conductor John Eliot Gardiner and the musicologist Tadeshi Isoyama.
Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136 | History and words
The unknown poet of the cantata text retained the first and the last stanza, and paraphrased the inner stanzas closely to a sequence of recitative and aria. The text has no reference to the readings nor to the feast of John the Evangelist. It expresses the intimate joy of the individual believer about the presence of God in the Jesus child. Bach first performed the cantata on 27 December 1724. Bach's successor Johann Friedrich Doles performed the cantata after Bach's death.
Ich freue mich in dir, BWV 133 | History and words
The cantata is, as John Eliot Gardiner notes, "generally accepted to be Bach's very first church cantata." Gardiner conducted in 2000 the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage and performed the cantata in the church for which it was then probably composed, at Bach's time called "Neue Kirche" (new church), now the Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Kirche. The libretto alternates between biblical verses and free contemporary poetry, which is common in Bach's later cantatas, but rare among his early cantatas. The text of movements 2, 4, and 6 are selected psalm verses, . The author of the poetry is unknown. On the basis of the text, it has been suggested that the work was written for a penitential service.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | History and text
The following aria is a paraphrase of . The cantata is closed by the second stanza of Johann Heermann's hymn "O Gott, du frommer Gott" (1630). The cantata is a symmetrical structure around the central Gospel quotation, beginning with the Old Testament and leading to the chorale. Bach first performed the cantata on 11 August 1726.
Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist, BWV 45 | History and words
Bach first performed the cantata, on 25 July 1723, at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.
Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht, BWV 105 | History and text
Bach structured the cantata in seven movements, an opening instrumental sinfonia and four choral movements interspersed by only two arias. He scored it for four soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, and a small Baroque instrumental ensemble of two violins (Vl), bassoon (obbligato) (Fg) and basso continuo. The duration of the cantata is about 17 minutes. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4). The continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | Structure and scoring
The selection is taken from the listing on the Bach-Cantatas website. Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are highlighted green under the header "".
Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort, BWV 126 | Recordings
In the cantata, Bach uses the melody completely in a chorale fantasia in movement 1 and in the closing chorale, while he alludes to it in movement 5, a duet.
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 33 | History and words
She concluded the text with the second stanza from Paul Gerhardt's hymn "". Much of her text was based on the "metaphysical" readings of the Gospel of John. Bach first performed the cantata on 20 May 1725.
Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten, BWV 74 | History and text
This cantata commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession. It was first performed 26 June 1730 in the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig. The music for the piece is now lost, but can be partially reconstructed from , which is known to share some of the musical material. This related work was composed for the "Ratswechsel", the inauguration of a new town council, and has a festive scoring with trumpets and timpani. The words are found in Picander's , Leipzig, 1732. The chorale is by Martin Luther.
Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille, BWV 120b | History and text
The listing is taken from the selection on the Bach Cantatas Website.
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 177 | Recordings
The three arias for the following verses show increasing instrumental complexity. Verse 2 is accompanied by continuo only, verse 3 by oboe da caccia, verse 4 by the rare combination of violin and bassoon. The musicologist Julian Mincham observes a "journey from uncertainty and doubt to warmth and acceptance and finally to rejoicing and jubilation". In the finale chorale Bach used ornamentation for expressiveness.
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 177 | Music
1530), a main hymn for the Sunday, used also in Bach's cantata , written in Weimar. In , also composed to complete the second annual cycle of chorale cantatas, Bach also used the unchanged words of the chorale, different from the cantatas originally composed for the cycle. Bach first performed the cantata on 6 July 1732.
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 177 | History and words
The listing is taken from the selection on the Bach-Cantatas website.
Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder, BWV 135 | Recordings
The sinfonia also introduces thematic material developed later in the work, uses asymmetric phrasing, and "a seamless flow of unstoppable melody". The first chorus on the beginning of Psalm 25, "" (Lord, I long for you. My God, I hope in you.), is "waywardly constructed despite its relative brevity". It is episodic, emphasizing a descending chromatic scale motif. The musicologist Tadashi Isoyama notes "the graphically chromatic phrases of the opening sinfonia and the following chorus; these are evocative of the suffering of the world". The following soprano aria, "" (Yet I am and remain content), is also brief but includes significant word painting.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | Music
An unknown librettist kept the first and the last stanza and paraphrased the inner stanzas in a sequence of recitatives and arias. Stanzas 2 and 3 were transformed to a recitative, stanza 4 to an aria, stanza 5 to a recitative, stanzas 6 and 7 to another aria.
Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott, BWV 127 | History and words
He began with a paraphrase of the famous answer "Render unto Caesar" from the gospel, and included several allusions to money and gold (he was also the numismatist of the Weimar court). Franck included a stanza from a hymn by Johann Heermann as the sixth and last movement of this cantata, according to the printed libretto the final stanza of "Wo soll ich fliehen hin" (1630). The music of that chorale is lost; only the continuo part has survived. Recent scholarship found that Bach possibly chose to set a stanza from Heermann's "Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht" instead, in a tune he used instrumentally in movement 5, which would match the continuo part.
Nur jedem das Seine, BWV 163 | History and text
The entries to the following listing are taken from the selection on the Bach Cantatas Website. Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked green.
Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136 | Recordings
The melody is the same for both hymns and first appeared in Wolflein Lochamer's "Lochamer-Liederbuch" (around 1455). The poet's own verse for the two movements is also similar, as if the author expected the composer to repeat the music, but Bach set them differently, even contrasting. Bach performed the cantata presumably first on 5 January 1727. He performed it again on 4 January 1733 or 3 January 1734. Only this later version survived, for which Bach had added oboes to the orchestra and wrote a new third movement. The surviving continuo part of the original aria suggests a significantly different character.
Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, BWV 58 | History and text
Alternative melodies for both songs are the one of "Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir" and others during the 17th and 18th century.
Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut | Musical settings
Mincham concludes from the unison of voice and oboe from measure 13 that mankind is depicted in tune with it.
Ihr Tore zu Zion, BWV 193 | Music
However, the music of this piece is also lost. According to Alfred Dürr, both works may include earlier music, perhaps composed in Köthen. One movement of the text of , a recitative, is lost. The first chorus is repeated at the end as is stated at the end of most extant parts ("Chorus ab initio repetatur").
Ihr Tore zu Zion, BWV 193 | History and words
The entries are taken from the listing on the Bach-Cantatas website. Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked green under the header .
Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm, BWV 171 | Recordings
Bach scholars agree that the brass instruments, normally reserved for Feast days, could come from an earlier chorale fantasia of the same melody with the text of the German Gloria.
Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt, BWV 112 | Introduction
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata (Ah! I see, now, when I go to the wedding), 162, in Weimar for the 20th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it in 1715 or 1716.
Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe, BWV 162 | Introduction
She used the eighth stanza of Paul Gerhardt's hymn "" (1653) as a closing chorale, sung to the same melody as "". Bach first performed the cantata on 27 May 1725. It was the conclusion of Bach's second year of cantata compositions in Leipzig.
Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding, BWV 176 | History and words
The oldest source of the melody is included in "Andernacher Hymns" (1608). The song is found there in bilingual text under the title "" as well as the Latin "".
Es kommt ein Schiff, geladen | History
On the other hand, the musicologist Julian Mincham regards the piece as being different from later cantatas rather than inferior to them.
Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131 | Musical forms
Each stanza has four lines. The melody was first printed in the Geneva Psalter in 1551. It is attributed to Loys Bourgeois and is known as the famous tune of the Doxology "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow". The hymn is only distantly related to the readings, concentrating on the thought that the Christians sin and deserve bad treatment, but may be raised to joy in a "" (blessed death). An unknown poet kept the first and the last two stanzas as movements 1, 5 and 6 of the cantata. He derived movement 2, a recitative, from stanzas 2 and 3, movement 3, an aria, from stanzas 4 to 6, movement 4, a recitative, from stanzas 7 to 9, and movement 5, an aria, from stanza 10.
Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir, BWV 130 | History
The final movement, "", is a chaconne, a form which is typically constructed over a repeated ground bass. Bach uses a ground bass which is possibly a borrowing from Pachelbel. It is the inversion of the chromatic fourth ostinato from the opening movement. Bach's orchestration includes strumming effects which could be seen as recalling the origin of the chaconne in Spanish guitar music. From a theological point of view, both the inversion of the lamento bass and the series of modulations in this movement express in baroque musical affect how Christ leads from sorrow to joy.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | Music
Bach composed this cantata in Leipzig around 1727 for a wedding. The earliest version of the work is lost; an incomplete second version from 1742 and a complete revision from the late 1740s survive. These dates correspond with repeat performances of the work. The closing chorale is the first stanza of Paul Gerhardt's hymn "Nun danket all und bringet Ehr", with the melody of "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich". The opening movement is based on ; the rest of the text is anonymous. Alfred Dürr derives from allusions in the text that the work was intended for the wedding of a lawyer.
Dem Gerechten muß das Licht, BWV 195 | History and text
The obbligato writing in the aria, which appears better suited to flute than the ""violino"" specified in Penzel's copy, is cited in support of the hypothesis that it was originally written for a different occasion. Joshua Rifkin has proposed the dates 15 April 1727 or 30 March 1728 for the premiere of the surviving Easter version. The prescribed readings for this day were from the Acts of the Apostles, the sermon of Paul in Antiochia (), and from the Gospel of Luke, the appearance of Jesus to the Apostles in Jerusalem (). The librettist is unknown but may have been Salomon Franck, quoting hymn stanzas by Johann Georg Albinus and Martin Luther.
Der Friede sei mit dir, BWV 158 | History and text
The opening chorus is dominated by the concertante flauto traverso in figurations reminiscent of a flute concerto. Bach wrote virtuoso music for flute here for the first time in a cantata for Leipzig. Probably an excellent flute player was available. Bach seems to have written again for him in "Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn", BWV 96. Two themes of the opening ritornello of twelve measures, one for flute, the other for the strings and oboes, are derived from the melody of the hymn "O Gott, du frommer Gott" (1648). The chorale is sung by the soprano. The lively music in D major seems to represent the "world" rather than its negation.
Was frag ich nach der Welt, BWV 94 | Music
Bach probably first performed the cantata on 19 September 1723.
Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens, BWV 148 | History and words
The biblical text, chorale and free verse come from the 1711 collection of librettos of the writer, theologian, pastor and theorist, Erdmann Neumeister. A libretto, based on Neumeister's text, survives in the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, Leipzig for a cantata with this title. The cantata was listed to be performed in both of the main churches in Leipzig—the Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche—on Christmas Day 1720, during the period when Johann Kuhnau was Thomaskantor. The earliest surviving manuscript copy of BWV 142 made by Christian Friedrich Penzel in Leipzig on 8 May 1756 is also based on Neumeister's text. Penzel credited J.S. Bach as the author in the heading of the sinfonia on the first page of the manuscript; and he signed the last page, giving the date and place.
Uns ist ein Kind geboren, BWV 142 | History, authenticity and attribution
Bach used and expanded parts of the cantata in , for Pentecost of 1725.
Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten, BWV 59 | History and words
The last verse also appears in Handel's "Messiah", turned in the third person: "Come unto Him, all ye that labour", in the soprano section of "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd".
Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut, BWV 113 | History and words
"Ihr wallenden Wolken", BWV 1150, an entirely lost New Year's Day cantata in honor of Prince Leopold, is often grouped with Bach's sacred music, but it may as well have been a secular work.
Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen, BWV Anh. 5 | History
The words of the free poetry have been attributed to different authors: C. S. Terry suggests Christian Weiss Sr, Werner Neumann suggests Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, and Walther Blankenburg suggests Christoph Helm. Bach first performed the cantata on 25 August 1726 and again around 1737.
Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben, BWV 102 | History and text
The fourth movement, "" (Lead me in your Truth and teach me), is another short and episodic chorus, divided into four sections. Movement five, "" (Cedars must, before the winds, often feel much hardship), is one of only a handful of vocal trios to be found in Bach's oeuvre, as well as the only movement in the cantata in all major. Isoyama writes: "the continuo part drives the music forward with its phrase describing the trials of the stormwinds". The penultimate movement, "", features a "celestial haze" of instruments as part of a complex texture. It is in binary form and modulates from D major through B minor to B major.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 | Music
"Scores" "Books" "Online sources"
Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort, BWV 126 | Bibliography
The selection is taken from the listing on the Bach-Cantatas website.
Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott, BWV 127 | Recordings
Bach composed this cantata in Leipzig between 1726 and 1727 for an unknown occasion. The text is drawn from the work of Christian Friedrich Hunold. Hunold and Bach are assumed to have met, but the librettist died in 1721, which is well before the cantata appears to have been composed. The music of the closing aria was reused in the wedding cantata "Vergnügte PleißenStadt", BWV 216 of 1728.
Ich bin in mir vergnügt, BWV 204 | History and text
The Bach scholar Alfred Dürr has nevertheless reason to date the cantata in 1723 already, suggesting that the cantata text may have preceded the poem, but there is no certain evidence that the cantata was not composed some years later. The first recitative describes the desire for God as expressed in Psalm 42 (), "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." Only the melody of the closing chorale "Auf meinen lieben Gott" (Lübeck, 1603) is known. Some musicologists including Werner Neumann suggested the words of the fourth verse of that chorale, others such as Philipp Spitta and the edition of the Bach Gesellschaft preferred the final verse of Johann Heermann's hymn "" (1630) which was sung on the same melody in Leipzig.
Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens, BWV 148 | History and words
The melody is also attributed to Ringwaldt. An unknown poet kept the words unchanged in movements 1, 2, 4 and 8, but inserted recitative in the fourth movement. He transcribed the ideas of the remaining stanzas to arias and a recitative, retaining the beginning of stanzas 3 and 7. He treated stanzas 5 and 6 most freely, including ideas from the epistle such as the promise of mercy, which is only asked, not promised, in the chorale. He refers to several verses from different gospels to underscore that thought, in both 5 and 6, (parallel ) in 5, and in 6, paraphrased as "" (He calls: come here to Me, you who are weary and burdened).
Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut, BWV 113 | History and words
Bach composed the cantata in 1723 in his first year in Leipzig for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity. It is likely that the anonymous librettist was a theologian from the city; the text begins with the second verse of Psalm 143, "And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified" (). The psalm is one of Martin Luther's "Bußpsalmen", his German translations of the seven penitential psalms, first published in Wittenberg in early 1517, half a year before the Ninety-five theses. After being reprinted and even pirated all over Germany, there was a revised edition in 1525.
Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht, BWV 105 | History and text
The musicologist Klaus Hofmann notes: "It was an opportunity for Bach to show how sacred music was flourishing under his direction and to present himself as a composer." The cantata text of "Wir danken dir, Gott" by an unknown author includes in movement 2 the first verse of Psalm 75 () and as the closing chorale the fifth stanza of Johann Gramann's hymn of praise "" (1540). Bach first performed the cantata on 27 August 1731. In 1733, he adapted the music of the first choral movement with only minor changes for the of his Kyrie-Gloria Mass for the Dresden court, on a text expressing the same idea in Latin.
Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29 | History and words
Musicologist Julian Mincham points out that it is "an unusual and imaginative combination of aria and chorus" and likens it to the interaction between a pastor and his flock. A second secco recitative leads to a tender aria which was accompanied by an obbligato oboe da caccia in 1726. In a later performance, likely in 1734, this was replaced by a "violetta", which can be a viola or a descant viola da gamba, according to Johann Gottfried Walther. The cantata closes with a four-part chorale.
Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16 | Music
The words are used unchanged in the outer movement. An unknown poet transcribed the ideas of stanzas 2, 4 and 6 to arias. He retained the text of stanzas 3 and 5, but interpolated it by recitative. The cantate text is only generally related to the readings, unlike , a year before, dealing with the lament of Jerusalem in text from Lamentations. But the poet hinted at the destruction of Jerusalem by "" (so that, through sinful acts, we might not be destroyed like Jerusalem!) in movement 2. Bach first performed the cantata on 13 August 1724.
Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott, BWV 101 | History and words
The cantata is closed by a four-part setting of the last chorale stanza.
Ich freue mich in dir, BWV 133 | Music
The cantata closes with a four-part chorale, the soprano reinforced by the cornett.
Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder, BWV 135 | Music
The text of the cantata, which is in the chorale cantata format which Bach developed for his second cantata cycle, is based on Paul Eber's 1554 Lutheran hymn in twelve stanzas "Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir". This hymn is a German version of Philipp Melanchthon's 1539 "Dicimus grates tibi". The hymn tune of the Lutheran chorale, known in English as Old 100th (Zahn Nr. 368), comes from the 1551 second edition of the "Genevan Psalter". An updated version of the cantata, BWV 130.2, was performed in Leipzig between 1732 and 1735. A manuscript which was likely written in the second half of the 18th century, contains two variant versions of the cantata.
Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir, BWV 130 | Introduction
(This movement can be reconstructed from the opening sinfonia of the cantata for the "Ratswechsel" of 1731, "Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir", BWV 29. The following tenor recitative ends with a choral statement from a litany "" (Hear us, dear Lord God). The sixth movement is a duet aria in da capo form. The bass recitative, "" (The Lord, the Lord our God, be so with you), prepares the closing chorale, a setting which appeared as the closing chorale of the chorale cantata "Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren", BWV 137, composed in 1725.
Herr Gott, Beherrscher aller Dinge, BWV 120a | Music
' (Praise ye the Lord, all ye of his great armies), BWV1147, ', is a church cantata text by Christian Friedrich Hunold which was performed, most likely in a setting by Johann Sebastian Bach, for the twenty-fourth birthday of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen on 10 December 1718. The composition is lost, but its libretto survives in a 1719 print.
Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen, BWV Anh. 5 | Introduction
Movements 1 and 2 lament this loss. Movement 3 is a chorale, stanza 2 of "" by Martin Janus (or Jahn), asking Jesus to return. Movement 4 asks the same question in a personal aria. The answer is given by the bass, the (voice of Christ), in the words of the Gospel "" (Do you not know that I must be in that which is My Father's? ). The joy of the finding is expressed paraphrasing from the Song of Songs "The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills"(). The cantata ends with stanza 6 of Christian Keymann's chorale "".
Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren, BWV 154 | History and words
In places it uses the dialect of Upper Saxony ("Guschel" for mouth, "Dahlen" for love-games, "Ranzen" for belly and "Neu-Schock" for a 60 Groschen piece).
Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet, BWV 212 | History and text
The entries are taken from the listing on Bach Cantatas Website. Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked green under the header "Instr.".
Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn, BWV 96 | Recordings
The sortable table follows the selection on the Bach Cantatas Website. Ensembles singing one voice per part (OVPP) and playing period instruments are marked by green background.
Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich, BWV 17 | Recordings
' (Until now you have asked for nothing in My name), ', is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for , the fifth Sunday after Easter, and first performed it on 6 May 1725.
Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen, BWV 87 | Introduction
Bruckner composed the song on a text of Heinrich von der Mattig on 19 October 1877 in memory of his friend Joseph Seiberl, who died on 10 June 1877. The piece was performed nine days later by the Liedertafel Sängerbund in the St. Florian Abbey. The work, of which the original manuscript is stored in the Library of Congress in Washington, was first issued in Band XXIII/2, No. 28a of the "".
Nachruf, WAB 81a | History
The closing chorale is the fifth (and last) verse of Elisabeth Cruciger's hymn "" (1524). Bach first performed the cantata on 26 August 1725.
Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet, BWV 164 | History and words
An unknown poet kept the first and the last stanza, and paraphrased the inner stanzas to a sequence of as many recitatives and arias. Bach first performed the cantata on 7 January 1725, one day after , for Epiphany.
Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht, BWV 124 | History and words
The chorale is followed by an aria with an obbligato violin. Scholars have discussed if this unusual ending of the cantata was Bach's intention or if he had planned to conclude the work with Neumeister's fifth movement, another chorale. John Eliot Gardiner chose to repeat the chorale, performing its third stanza.
Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten, BWV 59 | Music
' (Out of the depths I call, Lord, to You), ', is a church cantata by the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. It was composed in either 1707 or 1708, which makes it one of Bach's earliest cantatas. Some sources suggest that it could be his earliest surviving work in this form, but current thinking is that there are one or two earlier examples. The cantata was commissioned by the minister of one of the churches in Mühlhausen, the city where Bach worked at the time. It was possibly written for a special occasion. The text is based on Luther's German version of Psalm 130 and also incorporates the words of a chorale.
Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131 | Introduction
The cantata in six movements is scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass), a four-part choir, cornett to double the chorale melody, two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
Ich freue mich in dir, BWV 133 | Scoring and structure
Bach had been presenting church cantatas for the Christmas season in the Thomaskirche ("St. Thomas") and Nikolaikirche ("St. Nicholas") since his appointment as director musices in Leipzig in 1723, including these cantatas for the second Sunday after Christmas:
Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen, BWV 248 V | History
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata (You, who call yourselves of Christ), 164 in Leipzig for the 13th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 26 August 1725.
Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet, BWV 164 | Introduction
Bach first performed the cantata at the Thomaskirche on 10 April 1724. He performed the cantata again in Leipzig, on 26 March 1731 and probably on 11 April 1735.
Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, BWV 66 | History and words
The cantata music survives only in a copy from the 1730s, which features a surprising style used by Bach only until around 1714. The librettist is not known with certainty, but Harald Streck suspects Salomon Franck, the Weimar court poet. Joshua Rifkin also argues for a Weimar date, rather than the more commonly assigned Köthen period, based on stylistic elements such as the short recitatives ending arioso, the slow–fast-slow tempo of the first aria, which Bach used only rarely after 1714, and the specific relation of voice and obbligato oboe in the seventh movement, which rarely occurs after 1715. More traditionally, the composition was linked to Bach's time in Köthen from 1718, and the occasion a wedding, possibly his own to Anna Magdalena in December 1721.
Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202 | History and text
The musicologist Klaus Hofmann notes: "It was an opportunity for Bach to show how sacred music was flourishing under his direction and to present himself as a composer." The cantata was Bach's first for the occasion in Leipzig. Early in his career he had written at least one cantata for the equivalent service at Mühlhausen. There are five surviving cantatas for the "Ratswechsel" at Leipzig, and librettos of three more, BWV Anh. I 3, 4 and 193. The other four extant cantatas are "Ihr Tore zu Zion", BWV 193, composed for the occasion in 1727 but partly lost, "Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir", BWV 29, composed for the occasion in 1731, "Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille", BWV 120, adapted from earlier cantatas for wedding and homage probably in 1742, and "Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele", BWV 69, adapted from "Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele", BWV 69a, for the occasion in 1748.
Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn, BWV 119 | History and words
A list of recordings is provided by Aryeh Oron on the Bach Cantatas Website. Ensembles playing period instruments in historically informed performance are shown with green background.
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 | Recordings
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata (Bring to the Lord the honor due His name), 148, probably in 1723 in Leipzig for the 17th Sunday after Trinity.
Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens, BWV 148 | Introduction
The final movement is a setting of the final stanza of "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich", a Christmas carol with words and melody by Nikolaus Herman published in 1560. Bach first performed the cantata on 27 December 1725. It was performed again between 1728 and 1731. The autograph score and parts are now held by the Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg in Germany.
Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt, BWV 151 | History and text
The alto aria, "" (A day will come), is accompanied by an oboe, an oboe d'amore according to Alfred Dürr and John Eliot Gardiner. The middle section, "" (For the wrath of His vengeance will annihilate), is certainly composed in 1723. The middle section is marked "Adagio" and in common time, contrasting to the first section, marked with "Presto" and with a 12/8 time signature.
Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136 | 3
Bach is believed to have reused the music of the lost cantata, firstly for another lost work "Frohes Volk, vergnügte Sachsen" and secondly for the chorus which opens "Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen", BWV 11 (probably composed in 1735). The chorus employs Lombard rhythm and is given a festive scoring with an instrumental ensemble featuring three trumpets.
Froher Tag, verlangte Stunden, BWV Anh. 18 | See also
The following entries are taken from the listing on the Bach Cantatas Website. Choirs with one voice per part (OVPP) and ensembles playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked by green background.
Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131 | Recordings
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata (I call to You, Lord Jesus Christ), 177. He wrote the chorale cantata in Leipzig for the fourth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 6 July 1732. The cantata text is formed by the unchanged five stanzas of Johann Agricola's hymn.
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 177 | Introduction
The cantata in five movement is scored for three soloists (soprano, alto and tenor), a four-part choir, two oboes, two oboes da caccia, two violins, viola, basso continuo, an obbligato violin and an obbligato bassoon.
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 177 | Scoring and structure
Bach adapted this cantata from , for the 200th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession. It uses a text by Picander, published in 1732 in part 3, in Leipzig. The first movement adapts words from Psalms 149 and 150. The second movement is based on the beginning of Martin Luther's German Te Deum, "". The closing chorale was the third stanza of Luther's "" (1523). The cantata's music is lost. Diethard Hellmann wrote a reconstruction in 1972.
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190a | History and text
The final chorale,"" (Let us complete the year), is taken from "Jesu, nun sei gepreiset", BWV 41, written for the same occasion in 1725. While the earlier cantata used the third stanza, this one has a setting of the second and is transposed up a step. It matches the opening chorus with a support of the voices by oboes and strings, while trumpets and timpani play interludes which add weight to the movement.
Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm, BWV 171 | 6
Bach first performed the cantata on 3 November 1726.
Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49 | History and words
The entries of the following table are taken from the Bach Cantatas Website.
Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29 | Recordings
"Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir", BWV 131 is probably Bach's oldest preserved cantata. It was commissioned by Georg Christian Eilmar, pastor at St Marien (St Mary) in Mühlhausen.
Bach's early cantatas | "Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir", BWV 131
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata (Only upon You, Lord Jesus Christ,), , in Leipzig in 1724 for the thirteenth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 3 September 1724. The chorale cantata is based on the hymn "Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" by Konrad Hubert (1540).
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 33 | Introduction
The selection is taken from the listing on the Bach Cantatas Website. Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are highlighted green under the header "".
Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, BWV 66 | Recordings
He refers to the gospel and reflects how essential it is to follow the loving invitation of the Lord. Franck's language is rich in contrasts, such as "" (poison for the soul and bread of heaven), and of images derived from the Bible, such as "" (Heaven is his throne) after Isaiah 66:1. The closing chorale is the seventh stanza of Johann Rosenmüller's hymn "" (1652). Bach first performed the cantata on 3 November 1715 (according to the musicologist Alfred Dürr) or on 25 October 1716. Bach performed the cantata again on 10 October 1723 in his first year in Leipzig in a revised version, including a corno da tirarsi, a baroque wind instrument mentioned only in Bach's music and thought to have been similar to the slide trumpet ("tromba da tirarsi").
Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe, BWV 162 | History and words
The closing chorale is the first stanza of Albert, Duke of Prussia's "" (1547). Bach first performed the cantata on 6 February 1724.
Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin, BWV 144 | History and words
A repeat performance of the earlier cantata took place sometime after 1735, by a continuo part from that time.
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60 | History and words
Bach's score is lost, and some parts seem to be missing as well.
Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe, BWV 162 | History and words
John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, remarks on the stylistic similarity of the text structure to Bach's early cantatas written in Mühlhausen. He also sees similar musical expression to the cantata for the inauguration of a new town council there, "Gott ist mein König", BWV 71, written in 1708. While some musicologists assume that it may have been composed for the same occasion one year later (documentary evidence suggests that there was such a "lost" work), Gardiner proposes that it could either be a still earlier work, or that it "was, at least in part, an apprentice piece written in Weimar under Bach's direct tutelage.
Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 143 | History and text
The cantata in six movements is scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, corno, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht, BWV 105 | Scoring and structure
The unknown composer wrote this piece for the First Sunday after Epiphany. The librettist is also unknown.
Gedenke, Herr, wie es uns gehet, BWV 217 | History and text
John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists on their Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in performance and recording at the Liebfrauenkirche, Bremen (), objects and summarises the cantata:
Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz, BWV 138 | Music
John Eliot Gardiner observes: The figuration is similar in the following alto aria, but mellow in the solo flute with continuo, matching the consoling words. The closing chorale on a melody by Ahasverus Fritsch is set in four parts.
Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist, BWV 45 | Music