Church cantatas of Bach's third to fifth year in Leipzig


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.
Sacred music of this period by Bach which doesn't belong to a cantata cycle includes council election cantatas, Passion music for Good Friday, and music for weddings and funerals.

Annually returning services

After Trinity of 1725 Johann Sebastian Bach began a third annual cycle, but with less consistency than the previous two. The oldest extant cantata of the third cycle was composed for the ninth Sunday after Trinity 1725. The third cycle cantata for the first Sunday after Trinity was only composed in 1726. The cycle extends over several years. The cantatas from 1727 have however also been termed as "between the third and the fourth cycles".
There are 35 extant cantatas of the third cantata cycle, for a period with around 170 occasions. For about half of the other occasions a few new chorale cantatas by Bach, restagings of older compositions or presentations of works by other composers are known. Bach had acquired a cycle of cantatas by his second cousin Johann Ludwig Bach of Meiningen. Together with his assistants he provided performance material for at least 18 of these cantatas, for which the Leipzig premieres are known, from Purification to Trinity XIII 1726.
Johann Sebastian Bach's compositions have a number according to the BWV catalogue, while Johann Ludwig Bach's have a JLB number. Through an erroneous attribution to the former the cantata Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen, JLB 21, is also known by a BWV number. The version of the St Mark Passion attributed to Keiser which Bach presented on Good Friday 1726, including the chorale harmonisations BWV 500a and 1084, is indicated by a Bach Compendium number. Known works staged under Bach's directorate can in most cases also be indicated by a Bach Digital Work number provided by the Bach-digital website.
Historians of music studying the cycle have noted a greater use of solo organ parts, speculated to have been played by Bach or his son, a wide range of texts and movements apparently borrowed from previous instrumental works.
Very little is known about the cantatas for recurring occasions in the year preceding the fourth cantata cycle, at least there is no new composition extant that with certainty can be attributed to the period from Trinity I 1727 to the start of that next cycle.
Occasion1725–261726–271727–28J. S. Bach's third cycle
Trinity I3 June23 June: BWV 3915 JuneBrich dem Hungrigen dein Brot
Trinity II10 June: BWV 76I?30 June22 June
Trinity III17 June: BDW 7 July29 June
St. John's Day24 June: BDW 24 June: JLB 1724 June
Trinity IV14 July6 July
Trinity V1 July: BDW 21 July: BWV 8813 JulySiehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden
Visitation2 July: BDW 2 July: JLB 132 July
Trinity VI8 July: BDW 28 July: BWV 170, JLB 720 JulyVergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust
Trinity VII15 Jul.: BWV Anh. 1/209?4 August: BWV 18727 JulyEs wartet alles auf dich
Trinity VIII22 July11 August: BWV 453 AugustEs ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist
Trinity IX29 July: BWV 16818 August10 AugustTue Rechnung! Donnerwort
Trinity X5 August25 August: BWV 10217 AugustHerr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben
Trinity XI12 August1 September: JLB 1524 August
Trinity XII19 August: BWV 1378 September: BWV 3531 August: BWV 69aGeist und Seele wird verwirret
Trinity XIII26 August: BWV 16415 September: JLB 167 SeptemberIhr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet
New Council27 August: BWV Anh. 426 August25 August: BWV 193?
Trinity XIV2 September22 September: BWV 1714 SeptemberWer Dank opfert, der preiset mich
Trinity XV9 Sept.: BWV Anh. 209?21 September
Trinity XVI16 Sept.: BWV 1616 October: BWV 2728 SeptemberWer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende?
Trinity XVII23 September13 October: BWV 475 OctoberWer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden
Michaelmas29 September29 September: BWV 1929 SeptemberEs erhub sich ein Streit
Trinity XVIII30 September20 October: BWV 16912 OctoberGott soll allein mein Herze haben
Trinity XIX7 October27 October: BWV 5619 OctoberIch will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen
Trinity XX14 October3 November: BWV 4926 OctoberIch geh und suche mit Verlangen
Trinity XXI21 October10 November: BWV 982 NovemberWas Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan
Trinity XXII28 October17 November: BWV 559 NovemberIch armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht
Reformation D.31 October: BWV 7931 October31 OctoberGott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild
Trinity XXIII4 November24 November: BWV 5216 NovemberFalsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht
Trinity XXIV11 November—23 November
Trinity XXV18 November——
Trinity XXVI25 November——
Trinity XXVII———
Advent I2 December1 December BWV 36?30 Nov. BWV 36?
Christmas25 December: BWV 11025 December25 DecemberUnser Mund sei voll Lachens
Christmas 226 December: BWV 5726 December26 DecemberSelig ist der Mann
Christmas 327 December: BWV 15127 December27 DecemberSüßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt
Christmas I30 December: BWV 2829 December: BWV 15228 DecemberGottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende
New Year1 January: BWV 161 January1 JanuaryHerr Gott, dich loben wir
New Year I—5 January: BWV 584 JanuaryAch Gott, wie manches Herzeleid
Epiphany6 January6 January6 January
Epiphany I13 January: BWV 3212 January11 JanuaryLiebster Jesu, mein Verlangen
Epiphany II20 January: BWV 1319 January18 JanuaryMeine Seufzer, meine Tränen
Epiphany III27 January: BWV 7226 January—Alles nur nach Gottes Willen
Purification2 February: JLB 92 Febr.: BWV 82, BWV 832 February: BWV 157?Ich habe genug
Epiphany IV3 February: JLB 1—
Epiphany V10 February: JLB 2——
Epiphany VI———
Septuagesima17 February: JLB 39 February: BWV 8425 JanuaryIch bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke
Sexagesima24 February: JLB 416 February1 February
Estomihi3 March: JLB 523 February8 February: BWV 23
Annunciation25 March25 March
Palm Sunday14 April: —6 April: —21 March: BWV 182
Good Friday19 April: BC D 5b11 April: BWV 244b?26 March: BWV 245?
Easter21 April: JLB 21 13 April28 March
Easter 222 April: JLB 1014 April29 March
Easter 323 April: JLB 1115 April30 March
Easter I28 April: JLB 620 April4 April
Easter II5 May: JLB 1227 April11 April
Easter III12 May: JLB 8, BWV 146?4 May18 April: BWV 146?Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal
Easter IV19 May: JLB 1411 May25 April
Easter V26 May18 May2 May
Ascension30 May: BWV 4322 May6 MayGott fähret auf mit Jauchzen
Ascension I2 June25 May9 May
Pentecost9 June1 June: BWV 3416 MayO ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe
Pentecost 110 June2 June: BWV 17317 MayErhöhtes Fleisch und Blut
Pentecost 211 June3 June: BWV 18418 May
Trinity16 June: BWV 1948 June: BWV 12925 May

Notes

Other occasions

Apart from secular cantatas Bach composed in his third to fifth year in Leipzig also a few cantatas for liturgical occasions likely originated in this period:
Also the motet for New Year Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225, would have been first performed in this period.

Librettos

The librettos of the church cantatas presented for the first time in Leipzig during Bach's third to fifth year in that city have a diverse origin. The most substantial group of librettos with a similar structure derives from a 1704 cycle of cantata texts printed in Meiningen, which was used for most of the cantatas presented in the liturgical year 1725–26. In 1728 many of the librettos of cantatas associated with Bach's third to fifth year in Leipzig were grouped in a single publication by Christoph Birkmann.

Trinity III to Trinity VII 1725

A booklet printed in 1725, with the cantata texts from Trinity III to Trinity VI, was recovered in 1971. The period covered by the booklet included the feasts of St. John and Visitation:
The musical settings of these librettos as performed in Leipzig on these days have not been recovered. A Trinity VII cantata, only known by its title, is presumed to have been the cantata for the next Sunday,
It is not certain Bach composed any of the cantatas from Trinity III to Trinity VII 1725. Georg Philipp Telemann has been suggested as their possible composer: he had set all cantata librettos of Neumeister's 1711 cycle, and for the Trinity VII cantata there are two known Telemann cantatas that have the same title.

Trinity IX to Trinity XIII 1725

The ninth Sunday after Trinity is the first occasion with an extant new cantata by J. S. Bach after Trinity 1725:
The next extant cantata is for the 12th Sunday after Trinity:
The next Sunday Bach sets again a text by Franck:
The sacred cantata for the next occasion, Council Election, does not belong to any cycle. Its libretto was published in 1725:
In this period Bach relied on Picander for the librettos of several of his secular cantatas, but also for a few more church cantatas:
Other early versions of librettos that were adopted by Picander in his 1728–29 cycle may have been set by Bach in 1727. Recent recovery of a copy of Birkmann's 1728 libretto cycle seems to suggest Welt, behalte du das Deine and Ich kann mich besser nicht versorgen for the first and the second Sunday after Easter respectively.

[|Lehms' cycle of 1711]

A cantata with a libretto from a cycle by Georg Christian Lehms, published as Gottgefälliges Kirchen-Opffer in 1711, may have been presented on the 15th Sunday after Trinity 1725:
From Christmas 1725 to the second Sunday after Trinity 1726 Bach drew most of his cantata librettos from Lehms' 1711 libretto cycle:
In the Post Trinitatem season of 1726 there are two further cantatas from Lehms' 1711 cycle:
Trinity XVII may have seen the performance of another cantata on a libretto by Franck:
From Council Election to the Christmas season of 1725 there is only one further cantata extant:
The cantata for the Sunday between Christmas 1725 and New Year 1726 has a libretto drawn from Erdman Neumeister's fourth cycle:
The cantata for the third Sunday after Epiphany 1726 has a libretto from Salomon Franck's Evangelisches Andachts=Opffer:
In 1704 a cycle of cantata texts was published anonymously in Meiningen, under the title Sonn- und Fest-Andachten. Its third edition appeared under the title Sonntags- Und Fest-Andachten in 1719. Bach scholars have suggested that Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, Johann Ludwig Bach's employer, might have been the author of these librettos. The librettos follow a strict format, in two variants. The short form applies to most of the cantatas:
The build is symmetrical around the central New Testament section. The long form has a strophic poem instead of the Aria and Recitative after the New Testament section. When the cantata is split in two parts, as was customary in Leipzig, the split was usually after the third item, so that both parts started with a prose dictum. The 18 cantatas by Johann Ludwig Bach that were performed in Leipzig from Purification to Trinity XIII 1726 had a libretto from this cycle, as well as seven of the cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach which were presented for the first time from Ascension to Trinity XIV 1726. Six of the extant cantatas of the latter used the short form, only the first one, for Ascension, has a libretto in the long form.
Further cantatas with a libretto from the Meiningen cycle may have been presented in Leipzig in 1726, for instance on the fourth and the ninth Sundays after Trinity. In chronological order:
For cantatas not belonging to the Meiningen libretto cycle, performed on the sixth and twelfth Sunday after Trinity 1726, see [|above] in the section on Lehms' cycle of 1711. J. S. Bach's cantata for Trinity VI was a short solo cantata. J. L. Bach's cantata for the same day, on a Meiningen libretto, required a chorus only for its last movement. Probably this cantata wasn't split: one of the two cantatas for this Sunday in 1726 was sung as part I, and the other as part II.

Easter III 1726 or 1728