Bach's first cantata cycle refers to the

church cantata A church cantata or sacred cantata is a cantata intended to be performed during Christian liturgy. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, with many composers writing an extensive output: Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, ...

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

composed for the somewhat less than 60 occasions of the

liturgical year The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...

of his first year as in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

which required concerted music. That year ran from the first Sunday after

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

in 1723 to Trinity Sunday of the next year: # Trinity I, : ''Die Elenden sollen essen'', BWV 75 # Trinity II, : ''Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes'', BWV 76 # Trinity III, : Weimar cantata ''Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis'', BWV 21 restaged (third version in C minor) # Trinity IV, : ''Ein ungefärbt Gemüte'', BWV 24, and Weimar cantata ''Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe'', BWV 185 restaged # Nativity of St. John the Baptist, : ''Ihr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe'', BWV 167 # Trinity V, : no extant cantata # Visitation, : ''Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben'', BWV 147 (adaptation of BWV 147a, a Weimar cantata for Advent IV) and possibly Magnificat in E-flat major, BWV 243a (early version without Christmas interpolations) # Trinity VI, : no extant cantata # Trinity VII, : ''Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht'', BWV 186 (adapted from BWV 186a, a Weimar cantata for Advent III) # Trinity VIII, : ''Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz'', BWV 136 # Trinity IX, : ''Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht'', BWV 105 # Trinity X, : ''Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei'', BWV 46 # Trinity XI, : ''Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei'', BWV 179 and Weimar cantata ''Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut'', BWV 199 restaged (Leipzig version in D minor) # Trinity XII, : ''Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele'', BWV 69a # Trinity XIII, : ''Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben'', BWV 77 # Trinity XIV, : ''Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe'', BWV 25 # (, Ratswechsel: not part of the liturgical year, see below) # Trinity XV, : ''Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz'', BWV 138 # Trinity XVI, : ''Christus, der ist mein Leben'', BWV 95 # Trinity XVII, : ''Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens'', BWV 148 # Trinity XVIII, : no extant cantata # St. Michael's Day, : no extant cantata # Trinity XIX, : ''Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen'', BWV BWV 48 # Trinity XX, : Weimar cantata ''Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe'', BWV 162 restaged # Trinity XXI, : ''Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben'', BWV 109 # Trinity XXII, : ''Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim'', BWV 89 # Reformation Day, (coinciding with Trinity XXIII): possibly Weimar cantata ''Nur jedem das Seine'', BWV 163 restaged; Alternatively an early version of BWV 80/80b? # Trinity XXIV, : ''O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort'', BWV 60 # Trinity XXV, : ''Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende'', BWV 90 # Trinity XXVI, : ''Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!'' BWV 70 (adapted from a Weimar Advent II cantata) # Advent I, : Weimar cantata ''Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland'', BWV 61 restaged # Christmas, : Weimar cantata ''Christen, ätzet diesen Tag'', BWV 63 restaged; Also Magnificat, BWV 243a (including Christmas interpolations) and Sanctus in D major, BWV 238 # Second Day of Christmas, : ''Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes'', BWV 40 # Third Day of Christmas, : ''Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget'', BWV 64 # New Year, : ''Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied'', BWV 190 (instrumental parts lost) # Sunday after New Year, : ''Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind'', BWV 153 # Epiphany, : ''Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen'', BWV 65 # Epiphany I, : ''Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren'', BWV 154 # Epiphany II, : Weimar cantata ''Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange?'' BWV 155 restaged # Epiphany III, : ''Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir'', BWV 73 # Epiphany IV, : ''Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen?'' BWV 81 # Purification, : ''Erfreute Zeit im neuen Bunde'', BWV 83 # Septuagesima, : ''Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin'', BWV 144 # Sexagesima, : ''Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister'', BWV 181 and Weimar cantata ''Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt'', BWV 18 restaged in its Leipzig version (A minor, ) # Estomihi, (Leipzig audition for the post as ''Thomaskantor'') and (first cycle): ''Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe'', BWV 22 and ''Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn'', BWV 23 restaged in its first Leipzig version (B minor, four movements) # Annunciation and Palm Sunday : ''Siehe eine Jungfrau ist schwanger'', BWV 1135 (previously BWV Anh. 199; music lost) and Weimar cantata ''Himmelskönig, sei willkommen'', BWV 182 restaged. # (Good Friday, : ''

St John Passion The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...

'', BWV 245, 1st version — Passion, not considered as a cantata part of the cycle) # Easter, : early cantata ''Christ lag in Todes Banden'', BWV 4 restaged (Leipzig version); Weimar cantata ''Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret'', BWV 31 restaged (Leipzig version) # Easter Monday, : ''Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen'', BWV 66 # Easter Tuesday, : ''Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß'', BWV 134 # Quasimodogeniti, : ''Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ'', BWV 67 # Misericordias Domini, : ''Du Hirte Israel, höre'', BWV 104 # Jubilate, : Weimar cantate ''Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen'', BWV 12 restaged in a version with a slightly modified instrumentation # Cantate, : ''Wo gehest du hin?'' BWV 166 # Rogate, : ''Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch'', BWV BWV 86 # Ascension, : ''Wer da gläubet und getauft wird'', BWV 37 # Exaudi, : ''Sie werden euch in den Bann tun'', BWV 44 # Pentecost, : ''Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten'', BWV 59 and Weimar cantata ''Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!'' BWV 172 restaged in its first Leipzig version (D major) # Pentecost Monday, : no extant cantataTatiana Shabalin
"Recent Discoveries in St Petersburg and their Meaning for the Understanding of Bach’s Cantatas"
pp. 77-99 i
''Understanding Bach'' 4
2009 # Pentecost Tuesday, : ''Erwünschtes Freudenlicht'', BWV 184 # Trinity, : ''Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest'', BWV 194, originally a consecration cantata (), restaged in its first Leipzig version Not a part of the liturgical year: # New council (Ratswechsel), :

Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn, BWV 119 (Praise the Lord, Jerusalem), BWV 119, is a sacred cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for ''Ratswechsel'', the inauguration of a new town council, and first performed it on 30 August 1723. Bach composed the canta ...

References

Further reading