There are 52 chorale cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach surviving in at least one complete version. Around 40 of these were composed during his second year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, which started after Trinity Sunday 4 June 1724, and form the backbone of his chorale cantata cycle. The eldest known cantata by Bach, an early version of Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, presumably written in 1707, was a chorale cantata. The last chorale cantata he wrote in his second year in Leipzig was Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, first performed on Palm Sunday, 25 March 1725. In the ten years after that he wrote at least a dozen further chorale cantatas and other cantatas that were added to his chorale cantata cycle.

Lutheran hymns, also known as chorales, have a prominent place in the liturgy of the church. A chorale cantata is a church cantata based on a single hymn, both its text and tune. Bach was not the first to compose them, but for his 1724-25 second Leipzig cantata cycle he developed a specific format: in this format the opening movement is a chorale fantasia on the first stanza of the hymn, with the hymn tune appearing as a cantus firmus. The last movement is a four-part harmonisation of the chorale tune for the choir, with the last stanza of the hymn as text. While the text of the stanzas used for the outer movements was retained unchanged, the text of the inner movements of the cantata, a succession of recitatives alternating with arias, was paraphrased from the inner stanzas of the hymn.

Context

Martin Luther advocated the use of vernacular hymns during services. He wrote several himself, also worked on their tunes, and helped publish the first Lutheran hymnal, the , containing four of his hymns, in 1524.

Leipzig had a strong tradition of sacred hymns. In 1690, the minister of the , Johann Benedikt Carpzov, had announced that he would preach not only on the Gospel but also on a related "good, beautiful, old, evangelical and Lutheran hymn", and that Johann Schelle, then the director of music, would perform the hymn before the sermon.

Bach's duties as an organist included accompanying congregational singing, and he was familiar with the Lutheran hymns. Some of Bach's earliest church cantatas include chorale settings, although he usually incorporates them into just one or two movements. Hymn stanzas are most typically included in his cantatas as the closing four-part chorale. In his passions, Bach used chorale settings to complete a scene.

Before Bach chorale cantatas, that is, cantatas entirely based on both the text and the melody of a single Lutheran hymn, had been composed by among others Samuel Scheidt, Johann Erasmus Kindermann, Johann Pachelbel and Dieterich Buxtehude. Sebastian Knüpfer, Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau, Bach's predecessors as Thomaskantor, had composed them. Contemporary to Bach, Christoph Graupner and Georg Philipp Telemann were composers of chorale cantatas.

From his appointment as Thomaskantor in Leipzig end of May 1723 to Trinity Sunday a year later Bach had been presenting the church cantatas for each Sunday and holiday of the liturgical year, his first annual cycle of cantatas. His ensuing second cycle started with a stretch of at least 40 new chorale cantatas, up to Palm Sunday of 1725. A week later, for Easter, he presented a revised version of the early Christ lag in Todes Banden chorale cantata.

Bach's chorale cantatas

The oldest known chorale cantate by Bach, which may well have been the first cantata he composed, was likely composed in 1707 for a presentation in Mühlhausen. All further extant chorale cantatas were composed in Leipzig. There Bach started composing chorale cantatas as part of his second cantata cycle in 1724, a year after having been appointed as Thomaskantor. Up to at least 1735 he amended that cycle transforming it into what is known as his chorale cantata cycle. With its 52 extant cantatas for known occasions, out of 64 for a full cantata cycle in a city like Leipzig where during the largest part of advent and lent a silent time was observed, the cycle however remains incomplete.

Possibly the inspiration for starting a chorale cantata cycle in 1724 is linked to it being exactly two centuries after the publication of the first Lutheran hymnals. The first of these early hymnals is the Achtliederbuch, containing eight hymns and five melodies. Four chorale cantatas use text and/or melody of a hymn in that early publication (BWV 2, 9, 38 and 117). Another 1524 hymnal is the Erfurt Enchiridion: BWV 62, 91, 96, 114, 121 and 178 are based on hymns from that publication. BWV 14, and 125 were based on hymns from Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn, also published in 1524.

The usual format of Bach's chorale cantatas is: First movement (or, when the cantata starts with an instrumental sinfonia, the first movement with vocalists): choral movement, usually a chorale fantasia, that takes its text unmodified from the first stanza of the Lutheran hymn on which the cantata is based. In this movement the chorale melody most often appears as a cantus firmus in the soprano part. Inner movements: usually three to five movements which are recitatives alternating with arias, based on the inner stanzas of the hymn. For the chorale cantatas Bach premiered from 11 June 1724 to 25 March 1725 the text of these inner movements is almost always a rephrasing, by an unknown author, of the hymn's inner stanzas. For chorale cantatas composed before and after that period Bach often uses unmodified hymn text for the inner movements of his chorale cantatas. When the text of all stanzas of the hymn is used unmodified that is called per omnes versus. Last movement: four-part homophonic setting for SATB voices of the hymn tune, taking the unmodified last stanza of the hymn as text.

In Bach's time the congregation would have sung during some of the services in which the cantatas were performed, but it is not known whether the congregation would have joined the choir in singing the chorales in the cantatas themselves. On the other hand, although Bach's chorale arrangements can be tricky for amateur singers, sometimes in 21st-century performances of the cantatas and passions audience participation is encouraged. For example, the Monteverdi Choir encouraged audience participation in a 2013 performance of the cantata.

+ Legend to the sortable table column content 1 BG The numbers refer to the 44 cantatas that survived the 18th century as performance parts kept in Leipzig: the list follows Dörffel in the 27th volume of the Bach Gesellschaft (BG) publication.Alfred Dörffel. Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe Volume 27: Thematisches Verzeichniss der Kirchencantaten No. 1–120. Breitkopf & Härtel, 1878. Introduction, pp. V–IX 2 K(basic order) K numbers of the chronological Zwang catalogue for Bach's cantatas: this catalogue keeps the bulk of the chorale cantatas together in the range K 74–114. This catalogue places the Reformation Day cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, for 31 October, between the chorale cantatas for Trinity XXI and for Trinity XXII in 1724, instead of a few years later as most other scholars do.Philippe (and Gérard) Zwang. Guide pratique des cantates de Bach. Paris, 1982. . See Johann Sebastian Bach: Correspondance Catalogues Zwang — Schmeider at 3 BWV Number of the cantata in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Bach works catalogue) 4 cantata Name of the cantata, by incipit . Links go to the separate article on the cantata. 5 occasion Indicates for which occasion in the liturgical year Bach's church cantata was written. 6 BD Bach Digital (BD): this column contains external links to the "Bach Digital Work" pages on the cantatas at the bach-digital.de website. Such webpages contain links to various primary sources, including early manuscripts (e.g. Bach's autographs when extant), and the cantata text.Not listed as chorale cantatas at that website:"Choralkantate" at BWV 58, 68 and 128: not chorale cantatas in a strict sense, nonetheless belonging to the chorale cantata cycle. BWV 192: incomplete cantata, the three extant parts of which are however based on the same hymn 7 date Date(s) of the first and/or other early stagings of the cantata. Links go to chronological entries in the list below 8 hymn Indicates the Lutheran hymn on which the cantata is based, represented by the hymn's Zahn number when available (some hymns have more than one melody associated with it, the Zahn number is a unique identification of the Hymn tune used in the cantata). A few minor spelling variations aside, the name of the hymn is identical to the name of the cantata given in column 4. Links go to the article on the hymn. 9 year Year associated with the hymn, typically the year of first publication. A horizontal line separates the year associated with the hymn's text from the year associated with the hymn's melody (if different). Links go to entries in the list below that add details about the hymn. 10 text by

tune by Author of the hymn text and composer of the hymn melody, separated by a horizontal line (if different). Links go to articles on the author and/or composer of the hymn. + Background colors Color Signifies yellow The libretto of the cantata consists exclusively of unmodified hymn text orange-brown Not a chorale cantata in the strict sense, but seen as part of the cycle + Bach's chorale cantatasBG K BWV cantata occasion date BD hymn year text by

tune by 17 4 4 Christ lag in Todes Banden 8 Apr 17089 Apr 17241 Apr 1725 7012a 1524 Luther 21 74 20 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort 11 Jun 1724 5820 1642

1642/1653 Rist

Schop/Crüger 22 75 2 Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein 18 Jun 1724 4431 1524 Luther 23 76 7 Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam 24 Jun 1724 7246 1541 Luther

Walter? 77 135 Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder 25 Jun 1724 5385a 1597 Schneegass

Hassler 27 78 10 Meine Seel erhebt den Herren 2 Jul 1724 GermanMagnificat 1522

  Luther

Luther? 25 79 93 Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten 9 Jul 1724 2778 1657 Neumark 28 80 107 Was willst du dich betrüben 23 Jul 1724 5264b 1630 Heermann 29 81 178 Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält 30 Jul 1724 4441a 1524 Jonas 30 82 94 Was frag ich nach der Welt 6 Aug 1724 5206b 1664 Kindermann

Fritsch 31 83 101 Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott 13 Aug 1724 2561 1584 Moller

Luther? 84 113 Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut 20 Aug 1724 4486 1588 Ringwaldt 33 85 33 Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ 3 Sep 1724 7292b 1540

1512 Hubert

Hofhaimer 34 86 78 Jesu, der du meine Seele 10 Sep 1724 6804 1642 Rist 35 87 99 Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan 17 Sep 1724 5629 1674 Rodigast

Gastorius 36 88 8 Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? 24 Sep 1724 6634

bef. 1697 Neumann

Vetter 89 130 Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir 29 Sep 1724and later 368 1554 Eber

Bourgeois 37 90 114 Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost 1 Oct 1724 4441a 1561

1524 Gigas

  38 91 96 Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn 8 Oct 1724 4297a 1524

1455 Cruciger

  39 92 5 Wo soll ich fliehen hin 15 Oct 1724 2177 1630 Heermann 93 180 Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele 22 Oct 1724 6923 1649 Franck, J. 40 94 38 Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir 29 Oct 1724 4437 1524 Luther 95 80b80 Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott 1723 or later1727 or later 7377 c.1529 Luther 96 115 Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit 5 Nov 1724 6274a 1695 Freystein 41 97 139 Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott 12 Nov 1724 2383 1692 Rube 42 98 26 Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig 19 Nov 1724 1887b 1652 Franck, M.

Crüger 43 99 116 Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ 26 Nov 1724 4373 1601 Ebert 1 100 62 Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland 3 Dec 1724 1174 1524 Luther 2 101 91 Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ 25 Dec 1724and later 1947 1524 Luther