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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4/12
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Written for the first Sunday after Easter on April 16, 1724, Bach chose the subject of faith and doubt for this cantata. The proscribed Gospel for the first Sunday after Easter is the account of "doubting" Thomas, who was absent from the locked room when Jesus first appeared to the other disciples. Thomas doubts their story, and only believes after Christ appears to him a week later. At each appearance, Jesus greets his disciples with the phrase, "Peace be with you," and Bach repeatedly quotes that greeting as found in an Easter chorale by Nikolaus Herman.
Halt im Gedaechtnis Jesum Christ (Keep Jesus Christ in Mind), BWV 67
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4/19
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In John 10:11, Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd. Bach chose this text as the focus of this cantata, written for the Second Sunday after Easter and first performed on April 15, 1725.
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4/26
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An early cantata by Bach, this was first performed on April 22, 1714. While it is intended for Eastertide, the text is taken from Christ’s discourse on the second coming, when the unrepentent will "weep and lament," hence the title. The famous “Crucifixus” movement of Bach's Mass in B minor is actually a rearrangement of a chorus from this cantata.
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen (Weeping, Lamenting, Worrying, Fearing), BWV12