Weimar cantata (Bach)

Johann Sebastian Bach worked at the ducal court in Weimar from 1708 to 1717. The composition of cantatas for the Schlosskirche (court chapel) on a regular monthly basis started with his promotion to Konzertmeister in March 1714.

Church cantatas

From 1714 to 1717 Bach was commissioned to compose one church cantata a month. His goal was to compose a complete set of cantatas for the liturgical year within four years. In the course of almost four years there he thus covered most occasions of the liturgical year.

The first version of Liebster Gott, vergisst du mich, BWV 1136 (formerly BWV Anh. 209), a lost cantata the libretto of which was written by Georg Christian Lehms and published in 1711 for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, may have been composed in Weimar.

Before 1714

Apart from some Weimar cycle cantatas which may have been composed before they were adopted into that cycle (BWV 18, 21, 54 and 199):

Weimar cycle

The expression "Weimar cycle" has been used for the cantatas composed in Weimar from 1714 (which form the bulk of extant cantatas composed before Bach's Leipzig time).

Cantatas 54 and 199 were performed within the cycle but possibly composed earlier. BWV 18 and 21 may also have been composed before 1714.

Other sacred music and cantatas of Bach's Weimar period

In the Bach-Jahrbuch of 2015, Peter Wollny wrote that Bach likely encountered several of the old-school contrapuntal sacred compositions, which were going to play a seminal role in the composer's output of the 1740s, for the first time in Weimar. Among these compositions are,

Passions

Passions performed in the Weimar period, however not considered to be passion cantatas, thus not generally listed in the Weimar (cantata) cycle:

Strophic aria, BWV 1127

In 1713 Bach composed a sacred aria, "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn", for a secular occasion, the birthday of William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar.

Secular cantatas

Bach composed the first version of his secular cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 (Hunting Cantata) for performance on 23 February 1713.

References

  1. ↑ Koster, Jan. "Weimar 1708–1717". let.rug.nl. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  2. ↑ Dürr, Alfred (2006). The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text. Translated by Richard D. P. Jones. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929776-4. pp. 13–20
  3. ↑ "Liebster Gott, vergisst du mich BWV 1136; BWV Anh. I 209". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2020-07-21.
  4. ↑ "Zweite Mühlhäuser Ratswahlkantate BWV 1138.1; BWV Anh. 192". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2018-08-07.
  5. ↑ "Dritte Mühlhäuser Ratswahlkantate BWV 1138.2". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2018-07-31.
  6. ↑ "Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele BWV 143". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2019-05-14.
  7. ↑ Joshua Rifkin (2001). Liner notes to Three Weimar Cantatas, Dorian 93231
  8. ↑ Richard D. P. Jones (2006). The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Volume I: 1695-1717: Music to Delight the Spirit. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191513244, p. 212
  9. ↑ Work 00024 at Bach Digital
  10. ↑ Works 00024 and 00025 at Bach Digital
  11. ↑ Work 00079 at Bach Digital
  12. ↑ Work 00021 at Bach Digital
  13. ↑ Work 00100 at Bach Digital
  14. ↑ BWV2a, p. 454 Archived 2016-03-19 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Work 01502) at Bach Digital
  16. ↑ Wollny, Peter (2015). "Vom "apparat der auserleßensten kirchen Stücke" zum "Vorrath an Musicalien, von J. S. Bach und andern berühmten Musicis": Quellenkundliche Ermittlungen zur frühen Thüringer Bach-Überlieferung und zu einigen Weimarer Schülern und Kollegen Bachs". Bach-Jahrbuch 2015. Bach-Jahrbuch (in German). Vol. 101. Neue Bachgesellschaft. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. pp. 99–154. doi:10.13141/bjb.v2015. ISBN 978-3-374-04320-0. ISSN 0084-7682 – via Qucosa [de].
  17. ↑ Wollny 2015, pp. 127–130.
  18. ↑ "Missa sine nomine BWV deest (NBA Serie II:1)". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-05.
  19. ↑ "Missa "Ecce sacerdos magnus"". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-05.
  20. ↑ Wollny 2015, pp. 131–132.
  21. ↑ "Magnificat in C BWV Anh. 30". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-04.
  22. ↑ Wollny 2015, pp. 132–133.
  23. ↑ "Missa (Kyrie and Gloria), G BWV Anh. 167". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-04.
  24. ↑ "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn (aria) BWV 1127". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 30 March 2020.
  25. ↑ Maul, Michael (2005). "'Alles mit Gott und nicht ohn' ihn' – Eine neu aufgefundene Aria von Johann Sebastian Bach". In Wollny, Peter (ed.). Bach-Jahrbuch 2005 [Bach Yearbook 2005]. Bach-Jahrbuch (in German). Vol. 91. Neue Bachgesellschaft. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt (published 2006). pp. 7–34. doi:10.13141/bjb.v2005. ISBN 3-374-02301-0. ISSN 0084-7682.
  26. ↑ BDW 00261 at Bach Digital