Trinitatis XXIII

Trinitatis XXIII or 23rd Sunday after Trinitatis

23 November 2025 – Today is Trinitatis XXIII or the 23rd Sunday after Trinitas. Three cantatas for you today, one from the Weimar period, and two from Leipzig.

The first cantata, Nur jedem das Seine, BWV 163, is based on the gospel of the day (Matthew 22:21), where Jesus answers the trick question by the Pharisees: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's".

What many do not realise is that Bach created those cantatas at a certain moment, but that he performed them repeatedly in later years. The only problem is that we do not have his complete performance schedule. But of the second cantata, Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott, BWV 139, which was created in 1724 (so in his second Leipzig annual cantata cycle), we know that Bach performed it again between 1732 and 1735, and again between 1744 and 1747. Considering the enormous amount of cantatas he wrote, he had a great body of work to perform time and time again.

Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht, BWV 52, is a solo soprano cantata from 1726, with a libretto by Christoph Birkmann which focuses on the sneakiness of the Pharisees in the lecture.

This year Trinitatis XXIII closes this liturgical year; next Sunday is already the first Sunday of Advent, the period leading up to Christmas and the start of a new liturgical year.

Music for today

• Nur jedem das Seine, BWV 163
  (first performance 24 November 1715, Weimar period)
• Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott, BWV 139
  (first performance 12 November 1724, Leipzig period)
• Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht, BWV 52
  (first performance 24 November 1726, Leipzig period)