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

Pentecost by Italian painter Giotto (1267-1337), National Gallery, London.

May 30, 2023
Whit Tuesday
Pentecost, from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, a book of hours by the Dutch painters the Limbourg brothers, left unfinished in 1416 when all three brothers and their patron, Jean, Duc de Berry, died, possibly from the plague. Musée Condé, Chantilly, France.

May 29, 2023
Whit Monday
Pentecost by the Greek-Spanish painter El Greco (1541-1614), Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

May 28, 2023
Pentecost or Whit Sunday
The Thomaskirche in Leipzig, not really in a setting that Bach would recognise.

May 21, 2023
1st Sunday after Ascension Day or Exaudi
The Ascension of Christ, 1775, by American painter John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

May 18, 2023
Ascension Day

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