The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2a, was published in 1998.
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.
Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, BWV 11, known as the Ascension Oratorio, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, marked by him as Oratorium In Festo Ascensionis Xsti, probably composed in 1735 for the service for Ascension and first performed on 19 May 1735.
Chorale fantasia is a type of large composition based on a chorale melody, both works for organ, and vocal settings, for example the opening movements of Bach's chorale cantatas, with the chorale melody as a cantus firmus.
"Was willst du dich betrüben" is a hymn in seven stanzas by the German Baroque poet, Lutheran minister and hymn-writer Johann Heermann. The chorale was first published in 1630 during the Thirty Years' War. It is focused on trust in God, even when facing adversaries.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, for use in a Lutheran service. He composed this chorale cantata in Leipzig in 1725 for the feast for the Purification of Mary, which is celebrated on 2 February and is also known as Candlemas. The cantata is based on Martin Luther's 1524 hymn "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin" and forms part of Bach's chorale cantata cycle, written to provide Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year with cantatas based on a related Lutheran hymn.
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.
"Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr" is a Lutheran hymn in German by the Protestant theologian and reformer Martin Schalling, written in Amberg in 1569 and first printed in 1571. It is sung to an anonymous melody, Zahn No. 8326, which appeared in a tablature book for organ in 1577. The hymn is often used for funerals, especially the third and last stanza, "Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein". It appears in the current German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG).
Georg Weissel was a German Lutheran minister and hymn writer.
Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale cantata cycle is the year-cycle of church cantatas he started composing in Leipzig from the first Sunday after Trinity in 1724. It followed the cantata cycle he had composed from his appointment as Thomaskantor after Trinity in 1723.
"Herzlich tut mich verlangen" is a German hymn, with lyrics written in 1599 by Christoph Knoll, with a melody adapted from a secular song by Hans Leo Hassler. It is a prayer for a blessed death, beginning "Herzlich tut mich verlangen nach einem sel'gen End". Its hymn tune, Zahn No. 5385a, was later also used for Paul Gerhardt's "Befiehl du deine Wege" and "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden".
"Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele" is a Lutheran hymn in German, with lyrics by Johann Franck and a hymn tune by Johann Crüger. It was first published in Crüger's 1649 Geistliche Kirchen-Melodien, and was later adopted in other hymnals, such as the 1653 edition of his Praxis pietatis melica.
"In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr" is a Lutheran hymn in seven stanzas, written by Adam Reusner and first published in 1533. He paraphrased the beginning of Psalm 31. It was first sung to the melody of a Passion hymn. The melody connected with the hymn in 1560 was derived from models dating back to the 14th century. A third melody from 1608 became a hymn tune for several other songs and translations to English. In the German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch, the hymn appears as EG 257 with the second melody. Johann Sebastian Bach used the second and third melodies in chorale preludes, and the third also in cantatas and the St Matthew Passion.
"Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit" is a Lutheran hymn in German. The text from c. 1550 is attributed to Albert, Duke of Prussia. The melody, Zahn No. 7568, goes back to a tune by Claudin de Sermisy, written in 1529 for a secular French song. The hymn has belonged to core Lutheran hymnody without interruption and is part of the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch as EG 364.
"Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier" is a German Christmas hymn, with lyrics by Paul Gerhardt which were first published in 1653. It was then sung with an older melody by Martin Luther, but a melody which was likely created by Johann Sebastian Bach for Schemellis Gesangbuch of 1736 is now part of current Protestant and Catholic hymnals.
Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre das Lallen, BWV 248III, is a 1734 church cantata for the third day of Christmas (27 December) which Johann Sebastian Bach composed as the third part of his Christmas Oratorio. The Christmas cantata was first performed in 1734, in Leipzig. Bach was then Thomaskantor, responsible for music at four churches in Leipzig, a position he had assumed in 1723.
"Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben" is a Lutheran hymn which Caspar Neumann, an evangelical theologian from Breslau, wrote around 1690. The topic of the hymn, which has five stanzas of eight lines, is a reflection on death. An elaborate analysis of the hymn's content was published in 1749. A few text variants of the hymn originated in the 18th century. Neumann's text is usually sung to the hymn tune of "Freu dich sehr o meine Seele".
