Trinitatis XXII

Bach Cantata Day Information:
Trinitatis XXII or 22nd Sunday after Trinitatis

22nd Sunday after Trinitatis. Liturgical period : Ordinary time II.

Occurrences: October 27 2024, November 16 2025, November 1 2026, October 24 2027, November 12 2028, October 28 2029, November 17 2030, November 9 2031, October 24 2032, November 13 2033, November 5 2034, October 21 2035, November 9 2036, November 1 2037.


Music for this day

  • Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim, BWV 89
    (first performance 24 October 1723, Leipzig period)
  • Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit, BWV 115
    (first performance 5 November 1724, Leipzig period)
  • Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht, BWV 55
    (first performance 17 November 1726, Leipzig period)


Trinitatis XXII is the 22nd Sunday after Trinitas. Three Leipzig cantatas for this day, from the first three annual cantata cycles Bach wrote in that city.

First up, from the fall of 1723, Bach's first Leipzig year, is Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim, BWV 89. As a theme it uses the parable of the Ungrateful Servant. It is a solo cantata, where the four soloists also cover the choral parts.

We are getting close to the end of the liturgical year, and in the scriptures the theme of the pending Last Judgment begin to play a part. Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit, BWV 115, a chorale cantata from 1724 based on a hymn by Johann Burchard from 1697 encourages the faithful to be prepared at any moment in a religious sense.

The third cantata, Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht, BWV 55 (1726), is Bach's only extant cantata for tenor.


Extra information

The Netherlands Bach Society website has more information and a performance of BWV 55:
https://bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-55/