Trinitatis XVIII

Trinitatis XVIII or 18th Sunday after Trinitatis

8 October 2023 – Today is Trinitatis XVIII or the 18th Sunday after Trinitatis. Two Leipziger cantatas for you today.

Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn, BWV 96, is from the chorale cantata cycle, the second annual cycle he wrote in Leipzig. It is based on the hymn in five stanzas "Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn" by Elisabeth Cruciger, published in Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn in 1524. Elisabeth Cruciger was the first female poet and hymn writer of the Protestant Reformation and a friend of Martin Luther.

The cantata Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169, is an example on how Bach reused older material he wrote even for completely different occasions: the first and fifth movements of that cantata are based on a lost concerto, possibly for oboe or flute, which he wrote during his time in Köthen (1721-1723). That same concerto is the source of Bach's Harpsichord Concerto BWV 1053, composed around 1739. According to John Eliot Gardiner, it may have also served as an organ concerto for the new Silbermann organ in Dresden's Sophienkirche in 1725. Bach used the first movement of the concerto, in da capo form, as an extended instrumental introduction, assigning the solo part to the organ, the tutti to the strings and three oboes which he added for the cantata. (source: Wikipedia).

Music for today

• Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn, BWV 96
  (first performance 8 October 1724, Leipzig period)
• Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169
  (first performance 20 October 1726, Leipzig period)