Bach Cantatas
Sundays at 12:03pm
During the 18th century, the musical centerpiece of Lutheran worship services was the cantata, a multi-movement piece featuring chorus, orchestra, and vocal soloists. Johann Sebastian Bach composed over 200 cantatas during his long career as a Lutheran church musician. Listen to a complete Bach cantata every Sunday afternoon on Discover Classical.
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3/8
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Another funeral motet by Bach, scholars debate whether this work was written in the mid-1720s during his time at Leipzig, or during his period composing for the court at Weimar. A meditation on bravery in the face of death, Bach quotes from the book of Isaiah, as well as a hymn by Paul Gerhardt, Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen (Why should I then grieve?).
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3/15
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Continuing our Lenten survey of Bach's funeral motets, this work was written in 1729 for one of Bach's colleagues at the Thomasschule, the boys school associated with St. Thomas in Leipzig. Johann Heinrich Ernesti was a professor of poetry at Leipzig University and Rector, or president of the faculty, at the Thomasschule. For this motet, Bach quotes Romans 8:26-27, in which the "Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words," as well as a hymn by Martin Luther that invokes the Holy Spirit.
Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (The Spirit gives aid to our weakness), BWV 226
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3/22
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The Feast of the Annunciation commemorates the announcement to Mary by the Angel Gabriel that she would give birth to the Christ child. Celebrated on March 25th (nine months before Christmas), Bach wrote this cantata in 1725, and quotes the "Queen of the Lutheran Chorales," "How Lovely Shines the Morningstar, by Philipp Niccolai.
Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (How Lovely Shines the Morningstar), BWV 1