WHICH BACH
CANTATA TODAY?

The statue of Bach outside the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.  

Current date: September 15, 2024

Cantatas to be published (ascending):

A 16th century woodcarving of Johannes Gigas (1514-1581), a German Protestant theologian, hymn writer, educator and reformer. The libretto of Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost, BWV 114, is based on a hymn text by Gigas with the same name.

September 22, 2024 - Published:
Trinitatis XVII or 17th Sunday after Trinitatis
Schloss Wiederau, where Angenehmes Wiederau, BWV 30a, was first performed on September 28th 1737.

September 28, 2024 - Published:
Celebration Johann Christian von Hennicke
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, 2024 - Published:
Michaelmas (Feast of Saint Michael and the Archangels)
Young members of the Thomanerchor performing. The Thomanerchor was founded in 1212, and the Thomaskantor is its director, as was Bach from 1723 until his death in 1750.

September 29, 2024 - Published:
Trinitatis XVIII or 18th Sunday after Trinitatis
Katharinenstraße 16, 14 and 12, engraving by Johann George Schreiber in 1720. Number 14, the house in the middle, is Café Zimmermann, home of the musical ensemble Collegium Musicum, which Bach led from 1729 to 1741. The house was destroyed during a heavy Allied air raid on December 4th, 1943.

October 1, 2024 - Published:
Café Zimmermann season opener 1729

Cantatas to be removed (descending):

The Paulinum in Leipzig, completed in 2007. It stands at the site of the former Pauliner Kirche, the Leipzig University church, which was destroyed in 1968 during the communist regime of East Germany. Bach performed many cantatas in the Pauliner Kirche.

December 11, 2023 - Published:
Appointment of Gottlieb Kortte as professor to the University of Leipzig
Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen (1694-1728) in a contemporary painting by an unknown artist.

December 10, 2023 - Published:
Birthday of Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen
View of the Weimar Stadtschloss. Several Bach cantatas were premiered in the church of the schloss.

December 10, 2023 - Published:
Advent II or Populus Sion
Maria Josepha, the dedicatee, in a 1720 painting by the Venetian rococo painter Rosalba Carriera.

December 8, 2023 - Published:
Birthday of Maria Josepha, Queen of Poland and Electress of Saxony

Cantatas already published (descending):

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 15, 2024 - Published: 1
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 8, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis XV or 15th Sunday after Trinitatis
Portrait of crown prince Friedrich Christian of Saxony by Rosalba Carriera around 1739-1740 (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden). Rosalba Carriera was a female rococo painter from Venice, Italy, who was admired by the crown prince's father Frederick Augustus II, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.

September 5, 2024 - Published: 1
Birthday crown prince Friedrich Christian von Saksen
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 1, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis XIV or 14th Sunday after Trinitatis
Schloss Kleinzschocher, southwest of Leipzig in Bach's time, but now engulfed by the city, was the residence of Carl Heinrich von Dieskau.

August 30, 2024 - Published: 1
Birthday of Carl Heinrich von Dieskau
The Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) today, which houses the Museum of City History of Leipzig.

August 30, 2024 - Published: 1
Ratswechsel 1723
View of the city of Leipzig centered on the main square and the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) from 1712.

August 29, 2024 - Published: 1
Ratswechsel 1742
The main hall inside the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) of Leipzig today.

August 27, 2024 - Published: 1
Ratswechsel 1731
Etching of the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) in Leipzig from 1672.

August 26, 2024 - Published: 1
Ratswechsel 1748
The Good Samaritan, painted around 1616 by Jacob Jordaens, a painter from my hometown Antwerp (Louvre Abu Dhabi).

August 25, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis XIII or 13th Sunday after Trinitatis
The oldest known depiction of Leipzig's Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) from 1547, before the modifications begun by Hieronymus Lotter around 1556, which have given the building its current dimensions and aspect, and which was also the building Bach was familiar with.

August 25, 2024 - Published: 1
Ratswechsel 1727
Painting of Leipzig by Christian Schildbach (1765).

August 18, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis XII or 12th Sunday after Trinitatis
A statue of Johann Sebastian Bach in Weimar.

August 11, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis XI or 11th Sunday after Trinitatis
On display in the Bachhaus in Eisenach is the Bach Goblet, one of very few undoubtedly authentic household items left from Bach's possessions. It is a Bohemian-Saxon work from around 1735. In the front, there is a VIVAT with a double (mirrored) monogram of the letters JSB underneath. The ends of the letters terminate in points. In total, there are 14 of these points – the Bach number, since B+A+C+H = 2+1+3+8 = 14 according to baroque numerology. In the back, there is a dedication poem that includes the name of Bach both in letters and in (German) musical notation. It is still an unsolved riddle who may have been the donor of the goblet, and on what occasion Bach received it.

August 11, 2024 - Published: 1
Marriage
Wood engraving of the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, 1592. The Nikolaikirche was also under the supervision of Bach as Thomaskantor, and he performed many cantatas there too.

August 4, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis X or 10th Sunday after Trinitatis
For this celebration of the nameday of August, it is appropriate to use a painting by German expressionist August Macke, called "Coloured composition hommage to Johann Sebastian Bach" (1912). Macke, born in 1887, died on the front in World War 1, in the Champagne region in 1914.

August 3, 2024 - Published: 1
Nameday August III and Dr August Friedrich Müller
Autograph of a soprano aria in the cantata Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht, BWV 105 (source: Wikipedia)

July 28, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis IX or 9th Sunday after Trinitatis
The grave of Johann Sebastian Bach in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.

July 28, 2024 - Published: 1
Anniversary of Bach's death
The Bach glass window in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.

July 21, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis VIII or 8th Sunday after Trinitatis
'Loaves and Fishes (from Jesus is my homeboy)' is a picture from 2003 by photographer David LaChapelle (born 1963). 

July 14, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis VII or 7th Sunday after Trinitatis
As a break from practicing and studying, students from the Thomasschule enjoy a game of football.

July 7, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis VI or 6th Sunday after Trinitatis
Visitation, a painting by Rogier Van der Weyden (1399-1464), Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig.

July 2, 2024 - Published: 1
Visitation
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, a cartoon (a design for a tapestry) by Raphael (1483-1520). The cartoons were commissioned by Pope Leo X for tapestries intended for the Sistine Chapel. The cartoons are on display in the wonderful Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum in London. Painting suggested to me by subscriber Jennifer. 

June 30, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis V or 5th Sunday after Trinitatis
Gravure by Christian Beyer (1482-1535) depicting the Imperial Diet in Ausburg, with the Augsburg Confession being presented to Emperor Charles V on the left.

June 26, 2024 - Published: 1
200th anniversary of Augsburg Confession
Russian icon depicting the nativity of St John Baptist. His parents, Elisabeth and Zachariah, an elderly couple, were visited by the Archangel Gabriel to announce the birth of a son who they should name John. Zachariah did not believe the prophecy and was struck with numbness, until, on the day of the birth, he wrote "His name is John", which is depicted here.

June 24, 2024 - Published: 1
Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
The Sermon on the Mount, 1598, by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625), J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

June 23, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis IV or 4th Sunday after Trinitatis
View of Weimar with the Herderkirche and the Stadtschloss.

June 16, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis III or 3rd Sunday after Trinitatis
Bach was born in Eisenach, and in the mid-19th century it was determined that this house at Frauenplan 21 was the original birthhouse of the great master. When it was threatened by demolition in 1905, the Neue Bachgesellschaft (New Bach Society), founded in Leipzig in 1900, decided to buy the house and establish a museum there. Research in 1928 showed however that members of the Bach family had indeed resided at this address, but that it was not JS Bach's birthhouse - that house was long gone. The picture shows the opening of the Bachhaus in 1907.

June 9, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis II or 2nd Sunday after Trinitatis
The St. Bartholomäikirche in Dornheim, where Der Herr denket an uns, BWV 196 was created in 1708. It is also the church where Bach married his first wife, Maria Barbara, in 1707.

June 5, 2024 - Published: 1
Marriage of Johann Lorenz Stauber
Then and now, the Thomanerchor is instrumental in the performance of Bach cantatas in the Thomaskirche, here under direction of the previous Thomaskantor, Gotthold Schwarz. The predecessors of these choristers performed under Bach's direction as Thomaskantor.

June 2, 2024 - Published: 1
Trinitatis I or 1st Sunday after Trinitatis
The Holy Trinity by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), the most famous painter from my hometown Antwerp. Painted around 1620, it now resides in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, which reopened after extensive restorations in 2022. Definitely worth a visit!

May 26, 2024 - Published: 1
First Sunday after Pentecost or Trinitatis
Pentecost by Italian painter Giotto (1267-1337), National Gallery, London.

May 21, 2024 - Published: 1
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 20, 2024 - Published: 1
Whit Monday
Pentecost by the Greek-Spanish painter El Greco (1541-1614), Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

May 19, 2024 - Published: 1
Pentecost or Whit Sunday
The Thomaskirche in Leipzig, not really in a setting that Bach would recognise.

May 12, 2024 - Published: 1
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 9, 2024 - Published: 1
Ascension Day
Water colour painting of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig by Louis Braun, around 1870. Louis Braun was a German painter, mostly known for his battlescenes, especially those of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871.

May 5, 2024 - Published: 1
5th Sunday after Easter or Rogate
Students of the Thomasschüle in Leipzig studying for their performances in the Thomanerchor.

April 28, 2024 - Published: 1
4th Sunday after Easter or Cantate
A contemporary etching of Christiana Mariana von Ziegler (1695-1760), the author of the libretto for Ihr werdet weinen und heulen, BWV 103.

April 21, 2024 - Published: 1
3rd Sunday after Easter or Jubilate
The good shepherd, mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, Italy (from around 425).

April 14, 2024 - Published: 1
2nd Sunday after Easter or Misericordia Domini
The incredulity of Saint Thomas by Italian painter Caravaggio from 1601-1602. Sanssouci Picture Gallery, Potsdam, Germany.

April 7, 2024 - Published: 1
1st Sunday after Easter or Quasimodogeniti
Next to the Thomaskirche in Leipzig on a sunny spring day.

April 2, 2024 - Published: 1
Easter Tuesday
Christ with two disciples on the road to Emmaus and braking the bread at the evening meal, Carolingian ivory relief from around 900-950, Metz, France.

April 1, 2024 - Published: 1
Easter Monday
The resurrection of Christ by Paolo Veronese, around 1570, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie.

March 31, 2024 - Published: 1
Easter
The baptismal font in the Georgenkirche in Eisenach, over which Johann Sebastian Bach was baptised on April 2nd 1685, two days after his birth.

March 31, 2024 - Published: 1
Bach's birthday Gregorian calendar
The Harrowing of Hell by Andrea Mantegna, around 1470. An important part of Mediaval Easter traditions, the Harrowing of Hell describes the descent by Christ into Hell between his death and resurrection to release the innocent victims of the devil.

March 30, 2024 - Published: 1
Holy Saturday or Sabbatum Sanctum
Central panel of the altarpiece in the Herderkirche in Weimar. The remarkable triptych was begun by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1552/53, shortly before his death, and completed in 1555 by his son Lucas Cranach the Younger. It is regarded as a major work of art of the 16th century in Saxony and Thuringia. You can see Martin Luther on the right holding a bible.

March 29, 2024 - Published: 1
Good Friday or Passionis Domini
The Annunciation (1434–1436) by Jan Van Eyck (c.1390-1441), National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. It is thought that it was the left (inner) wing of a triptych; there has been no sighting of the other wings since before 1817.

March 25, 2024 - Published: 1
Annunciation
The Entry into Jerusalem, 14th century painting by Giotto (c.1267-1337).

March 24, 2024 - Published: 1
Palm Sunday or Palmarum
Schlossanlage Köthen, home of the princes of Köthen, around 1650 in a copper etching by Caspar Merians (Bach-Archiv Leipzig).

March 24, 2024 - Published: 1
Funeral of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen
A wooden memorial plate above the entrance portal of the Georgenkirche in Eisenach, commemorating Bach's baptism according to the Julian calendar.

March 21, 2024 - Published: 1
Bach's birthday Julian calendar
The statue of Paul Fleming (1609-1640) in front of the city hall of Hartenstein. Fleming wrote the hymn on which In allen meinen Taten, BWV 97, is based.

March 17, 2024 - Published: 1
5th Sunday of Lent or Judica
Statue of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy next to the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Mendelssohn's performance of the Matthaeus Passion in 1829, the first performance since Bach's lifetime, was a watershed moment in the rediscovery of Bach's work in the 19th century.

March 11, 2024 - Published: 1
Mendelssohn's performance of the Matthaeus Passion
The interior of the Marienkirche in Mühlhausen, where the cantata Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131, was first performed in 1707.

March 10, 2024 - Published: 1
4th Sunday of Lent or Laetare
Remembrance plaque marking the spot where Bach's house stood in Weimar. That location is now... a parking lot.

March 3, 2024 - Published: 1
3rd Sunday of Lent or Oculi
Hommage to Bach, a painting by French Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy (1877-1953). Dufy has made several paintings honouring classical composers.

February 25, 2024 - Published: 1
2nd Sunday of Lent or Reminiscere
Hotel Jaegerhof in Weissenfels originally was the hunting lodge of the Dukes of Saxe-Weissenfels, and the location for the first performance of Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!, BWV 208 in 1713.

February 23, 2024 - Published: 1
Birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
Coronation mantle of Augustus III which he wore on January 17 1734. National Museum in Warsaw.

February 19, 2024 - Published: 1
Coronation of August III as King of Poland
Woodcarving print based on an aquarel by Eduard Bendemann (1850) of the monument for Bach in Leipzig, erected by Felix Mendelssohn in 1843. It may very well be the only example of a monument erected by a composer to honour another.

February 18, 2024 - Published: 1
1st Sunday of Lent or Invocabit
The statue of Johann Sebastian Bach next to the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. When Bach came to Leipzig to audition for the position as Thomaskantor, he could not have imagined that many centuries later a statue would be erected for him outside the church.

February 11, 2024 - Published: 1
Quinquagesima or Estomihi
The interior of the Wehrkirche in Pomßen, where Bach performed BWV 157. The organ by Gottfried Richter (1640–1717) is the oldest organ in Sachsen.

February 6, 2024 - Published: 1
Funeral service for Johann Christoph von Ponickau
A view of the Herderplatz in Weimar from the southeast (etching by L. Oeder, 1840). The church of Saint-Paul and Saint-Peter, also known as the Herderkirche, saw the premieres of several Bach cantatas. John Eliot Gardiner suggests that Bach cantatas using a festive orchestra were first performed there, including his first cantata for Christmas, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63 and Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31 for the Easter Sunday of 1715, scored for soloists, a five-part choir and three instrumental groups. Bach frequently played the organ, and two of his sons were baptized in the church.

February 4, 2024 - Published: 1
Sexagesima
The Divi Blasii church in Mühlhausen, where Bach was appointed as organist from 1707 to 1708.

February 4, 2024 - Published: 1
Inauguration of Mühlhausen town council
Memorial plaque in the Burgplatz in Leipzig for Christian Friedrich Henrici (January 14, 1700 – May 10, 1764), writing under his pen name Picander, author of the libretti of many Bach cantatas, including the Matthaeus Passion and the Coffee Cantata.

January 21, 2024 - Published: 1
Epiphany III
The Wedding Feast at Cana (1563) by Paolo Veronese (1528–1588). This magnificent large painting hangs in the Louvre opposite the Mona Lisa, so it's a pity that very many visitors do not pay it the attention it deserves. The wedding at Cana is the inspiration for the libretto for Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange?, BWV 155, and Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13.

January 14, 2024 - Published: 1
Epiphany II
A contemporary portrait of Christian von Sachsen-Weissenfels, attributed to Martin Bernigeroth (1670-1733)

January 12, 2024 - Published: 1
Homage for Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
A picture of the Thomanerchor in the Thomas Kirche, with the previous Thomaskantor, Gotthold Schwarz, appointed in 2016. On September 11, 2021, the new Thomaskantor, Andreas Reize, was appointed.

January 7, 2024 - Published: 1
Epiphany I
The journey of the Three Magi, carrying gold, frankincense and myrrh, following the star in the right hand corner. Mosaic in the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy, from the 6th century.

January 7, 2024 - Published: 1
First Sunday after New Year
The adoration of the Magi by Peter Paul Rubens, the most famous painter from my hometown Antwerp. Painted in 1609 to decorate the negotiations hall for the Twelve Year's truce. Given to the Spanish ambassador in 1612, it came into possession of the Spanish king Philips IV. Rubens himself reworked it slightly in Spain in 1628-1629. It survived a fire in 1734 by being cut from its frame and thrown out the window, and now resides in the Prado in Madrid.

January 6, 2024 - Published: 1
Epiphany
An impressive fireworks display over Leipzig welcomes the New Year. You can spot the Thomaskirche left of the skyscraper in the center. Happy New Year!

January 1, 2024 - Published: 1
New Year's Day
The Holy Family, a painting from around 1480/1490 by Martin Schongauer (around 1440/45 Colmar - 1491 Breisach), Kunsthistorischen Museum Wien (Vienna). Painting suggested to me by website subscriber Jennifer.

December 31, 2023 - Published: 1
Sunday after Christmas
The adoration of the shepherds is the scene depicted in the thirth cantata of the Weihnachtsoratorium, so I am honoured to present to you the adoration by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), a painter of my hometown of Antwerp, a contemporary of Rubens and Van Dyck. This painting hangs in a museum in Grenoble since it was robbed in 1794 by the French who occupied my country at the time. It is one of at least 173 outstanding works of art they took.

December 27, 2023 - Published: 1
Third day of Christmas
The annunciation to the shepherds by Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1681), from around 1630 - 1650. The annunciation is the subject of the second Weihnachtsoratorium cantata, Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend, BWV 248-2.

December 26, 2023 - Published: 1
Second day of Christmas
The nativity, a tempera on wood painting by Lorenzo Monaco (born Piero di Giovanni; c. 1370 – c. 1425), the leading painter in Florence in the early fifteenth century and active as a painter of illuminated manuscripts, frescoes and panel paintings.

December 25, 2023 - Published: 1
Christmas Day
The title page of the original manuscript of Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn, BWV 132, from 1715.

December 24, 2023 - Published: 1
Advent IV or Rorate
A reconstruction of the Bach familiy house in Weimar as it may have looked in his lifetime (view from the east). Don't try to look for the house on a visit to the city, because it is now... a parking lot. Visualisation done by the Hummel architecture office in 2011.

December 17, 2023 - Published: 1
Advent III or Gaudete