WHICH BACH
CANTATA TODAY?

The ceiling of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.  

Bach's cantata calendar
Discover which cantata Bach wrote for which day, and listen to the playlists

Painting by Francesco di Giovanni Botticini (1446-1498) of the three archangels (from left to right Michael, Raphael, Gabriel) with young Tobias (1470 - Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy).

September 29, 2023
Michaelmas (Feast of Saint Michael and the Archangels)
Schloss Wiederau, where Angenehmes Wiederau, BWV 30a, was first performed on September 28th 1737.

September 28, 2023
Celebration Johann Christian von Hennicke
Probable portrait of Antonio Vivaldi, around 1723. Bach rendered hommage to this great Italian composer in the opening bars of the tenor aria in the cantate, Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende?, BWV 27: it echoes the opening lines of Antonio Vivaldi's "Spring" of the Four Seasons, which was published the year before in 1725.

September 24, 2023
Trinitatis XVI or 16th Sunday after Trinitatis
On Saturday September 11, 2021, the Swiss Andreas Reize took office as the new Thomaskantor, in succession of Gotthold Schwarz, who retired in June of 2021. For his inauguration concerto with the Thomaner, he performed (among others) Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 99, the cantata for Trinitatis XV, which fell on the following Sunday September 12th. Andreas Reize is the first non-German and non-Protestant to hold the post (he is a Catholic), which apparently led to some discussion.

September 17, 2023
Trinitatis XV or 15th Sunday after Trinitatis
Jesus healing ten lepers, the evangelical reading for Trinitatis XIV. 14th century fresco from the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Visoki Decani, located south of the city of Peć, Kosovo.

September 10, 2023
Trinitatis XIV or 14th Sunday after Trinitatis

Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (aged 61) in a portrait by Elias Gottlob Haussmann, copy or second version of his 1746 canvas. The original painting hangs in the upstairs gallery of the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) in Leipzig, Germany. (Wikipedia)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) left us a wide collection of cantatas, written for celebratory days of the liturgical calendar or other special celebrations.

This website follows that calendar, based on the liturgical rhythm and the dates of those celebrations, presenting the cantata(s) for the day and playlists with those cantatas on three major audio streaming services.

Bach cantata playlists on Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer