The following is a list of church cantatas, sorted by the liturgical occasion for which they were composed and performed. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, although there are later examples.
The liturgical calendar of the German Reformation era had, without counting Reformation Day and days between Palm Sunday and Easter, 72 occasions for which a cantata could be presented. Composers such as Telemann composed cycles of church cantatas comprising all 72 occasions (e.g. Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst ). Such a cycle is called an "ideal" cycle, while in any given liturgical year feast days could coincide with Sundays, and the maximum number of Sundays after Epiphany and the maximum number of Sundays after Trinity could not all occur.
In some places, of which Leipzig in Johann Sebastian Bach's time is best known, no concerted music was allowed for the three last Sundays of Advent, nor for the Sundays of Lent (apart when Annunciation fell on a Sunday in that period, or in Holy Week), so the "ideal" year cycle (German: Jahrgang) for such places comprised only 64 cantatas (or 63 without the cantata for Reformation Day). [1]
As the bulk of extant cantatas were composed for occasions occurring in the liturgical calendar of the German Reformation era, including Passion cantatas for Good Friday, that calendar is followed for the presentation of cantatas in this section. Most cantatas made reference to the content of the readings and to Lutheran hymns appropriate for the occasion. The melodies of such hymns often appeared in cantatas, for example as in the four-part settings concluding Bach's works, or as a cantus firmus in larger choral movements. Other occasions for church cantatas include weddings and funeral services. Thus below also readings and hymns associated with the occasion are listed, for the hymns for instance based on Vopelius' Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch . [2] Data such as readings and hymns generally apply to Bach's Leipzig: differences may occur in other places, or other times, as indicated.
Telemann's ideal cycle thus consists of four Sundays of Advent; Seven occasions from Christmas to Epiphany; Nine Sundays between Epiphany and Lent; Six Sundays of Lent; 14 occasions from Easter to Trinity; 27 Sundays after Trinity; Three Marian Feasts, St. John's Day (24 June) and Michaelmas – totalling 72 occasions for which he provided a cantata.
Graupner's church cantatas don't include the sixth Sunday after Epiphany, nor cantatas for St. John's Day or Michaelmas, however there are cantatas for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, which totals 71 occasions from GWV 1101 to 1171, with GWV 1173 indicating Reformation Day cantatas.
The election or inauguration of a new town council was celebrated with a service. Normally this was an annual event. The cantata written for such celebrations were indicated with the term "Ratswechsel" (changing of the council) or "Ratswahl" (election of the council).
25 June 1730 was 200 years after the Augsburg Confession. In Leipzig the occasion was remembered by a three-day festival. Picander wrote three cantata librettos (later published in Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte , Vol. III, 1732), one for each day of the celebration. [284] Johann Sebastian Bach set these librettos. The music of these settings is however largely lost: [285]
Music for weddings includes sacred cantatas for wedding ceremonies and secular cantatas for wedding celebrations. Telemann's music for weddings includes wedding anniversary cantatas. [286] BWV 202, 210 and 216 are examples of secular cantatas for weddings by J. S. Bach. [287]
Christoph Graupner:
Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel wrote birthday cantatas for his employer, Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg: [15] [289] [290]
Georg Philipp Telemann wrote cantatas for funerals. [297]
Christoph Graupner:
In addition to funeral motets (e.g. BWV 118) and secular cantatas for memorial services (e.g. BWV 198) Johann Sebastian Bach wrote church cantatas for funerals: [285]
Johann Sebastian Bach or Georg Melchior Hoffmann:
Georg Philipp Telemann wrote chorale cantatas intended for communion in a Abendmahlsgottesdienst . [298]
Georg Philipp Telemann (in addition to chorale cantatas for specified occasions): [299]
Johann Sebastian Bach (in addition to chorale cantatas for specified occasions): [285]
Felix Mendelssohn: [300]
"Et in ogni tempore" (literally "and at all times") was specified by Bach for his cantatas BWV 21 and 51. It may apply for other cantatas with an unknown designation.
Johann Ludwig Bach:
For several of Georg Philipp Telemann's church cantatas no occasion is indicated. [301]
Also several of Johann Sebastian Bach's church cantatas have an unknown or uncertain designation: [285] [75]
Felix Mendelssohn wrote several sacred cantatas, many of these at least in part a tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach. [300]
In 1953 Arthur Honegger composed Une cantate de Noël (A Christmas Cantata).
Quinquagesima, in the Western Christian Churches, is the last pre-Lenten Sunday, being the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, and the first day of Carnival. It is also called Quinquagesima Sunday, Quinquagesimae, Estomihi, Shrove Sunday, Pork Sunday, or the Sunday next before Lent.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1731.
The year 1716 in music involved some significant events.
The year 1712 in music involved some significant events.
Throughout his life as a musician, Johann Sebastian Bach composed cantatas for both secular and sacred use. His church cantatas are cantatas which he composed for use in the Lutheran church, mainly intended for the occasions of the liturgical year.
"Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten" is a 1641 hymn by Georg Neumark, who also composed the melody for it. It has seven verses and deals with the Christian putting their trust in God. Its author referred to it as a "Trostlied" or song of consolation and it first appeared in his Fortgepflantzer musikalisch-poetischer Lustwald. It also appeared in Johann Crüger's 1672 Praxis pietatis melica and in the first part of Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen's 1704 Geistreiches Gesangbuch. It has inspired musical settings, and is part of current German hymnals, both Protestant and Catholic.
"Christ lag in Todesbanden" is an Easter hymn by Martin Luther. Its melody is by Luther and Johann Walter. Both the text and the melody were based on earlier examples. It was published in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion and in Walter's choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn. Various composers, including Pachelbel, Bach and Telemann, have used the hymn in their compositions.
As Thomaskantor, Johann Sebastian Bach provided Passion music for Good Friday services in Leipzig. The extant St Matthew Passion and St John Passion are Passion oratorios composed by Bach.
A Christmas cantata or Nativity cantata is a cantata, music for voice or voices in several movements, for Christmas. The importance of the feast inspired many composers to write cantatas for the occasion, some designed to be performed in church services, others for concert or secular celebration. The Christmas story, telling of music of the angels and suggesting music of the shepherds and cradle song, invited musical treatment. The term is called Weihnachtskantate in German, and Cantate de Noël in French. Christmas cantatas have been written on texts in several other languages, such as Czech, Italian, Romanian, and Spanish.
Wer ist der, so von Edom kömmt is a pasticcio Passion oratorio based on compositions by Carl Heinrich Graun, Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Sebastian Bach and others. The pasticcio was assembled around 1750.
"Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld" is a Lutheran hymn relating to the Passion of Christ. The title may also refer to various compositions:
On Trinity Sunday 27 May 1725 Johann Sebastian Bach had presented the last cantata of his second cantata cycle, the cycle which coincided with his second year in Leipzig. As director musices of the principal churches in Leipzig he presented a variety of cantatas over the next three years. New cantatas for occasions of the liturgical year composed in this period, except for a few in the chorale cantata format, are known as Bach's third cantata cycle. His next cycle of church cantatas, the Picander cycle, did not start before St. John's Day 24 June 1728.
The late church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach are sacred cantatas he composed after his fourth cycle of 1728–29. Whether Bach still composed a full cantata cycle in the last 20 years of his life is not known, but the extant cantatas of this period written for occasions of the liturgical year are sometimes referred to as his fifth cycle, as, according to his obituary, he would have written five such cycles – inasmuch as such cantatas were not late additions to earlier cycles, or were adopted in his oratorios.
"Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld" is a Lutheran Passion hymn in German by Paul Gerhardt. The hymn text was first published in Johann Crüger's Praxis Pietatis Melica, starting from the lost 1647 edition. Wolfgang Dachstein's 16th-century "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" melody is commonly indicated as its hymn tune, although other settings exist.
"Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir. Herr, höre meine Stimme ..." is a German translation of the opening words of Psalm 130 ("Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice, ..."). Aus der Tiefe(n) may also refer to:
"Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir" is a German hymn with a text by Georg Christoph Schwämlein. The opening lines of the hymn stay close to those of Psalm 130, while most stanzas of the hymn are written from a Christian perspective. It was first published, with its own hymn tune, in the Nürnberg hymnal of 1676. Gottfried Vopelius published it with a new hymn tune in the 1682 Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch, p. 936. From 1699 to 1738 the hymn was published with four more new melodies.
Miriam Feuersinger is an Austrian soprano.
There are four church cantatas by Georg Philipp Telemann sharing the title Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied:
The Rheinische Kantorei is a German vocal ensemble of baroque music accompanied by an instrumental ensemble called Das Kleine Konzert.
Georg Philipp Telemann composed the church cantata Ich will den Kreuzweg gerne gehen, TWV 1:884, for bass, violin and continuo for the 21st Sunday after Trinity. He used a text by Erdmann Neumeister.