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.

10/18

Originally written in 1714 while he was employed by the Ducal Court at Weimar, Bach reworked this cantata in Leipzig, expanding it to take advantage of the larger resources he had access to at this new position, and using it in his first cantata cycle from 1723-1724.

Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit (Ah! I see, now that I am going to the wedding) BWV 162

 

10/25

Bach composed this cantata in 1723 for the 21st Sunday after Trinity. The appointed Gospel for that Sunday comes from John 4, and recounts the healing of a nobleman's son. For this cantata, Bach chose to include a chorale that quotes another miracle, this one from Mark 9, in which Christ heals a possessed boy. The boy's father, terrified for the welfare of his son, cries out, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief," which Bach chose as the opening text of this work.

Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben (I believe, dear Lord, help my unbelief), BWV 109

 

11/1

First performed on October 24th, 1723, this cantata juxtaposes God's perfect justice with man's imperfect justice, taking the parable of the unjust steward from Matthew 18 as its inspiration.

Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim? (What shall I make of thee now, Ephraim?), BWV89