The Name of Jesus

This is a celebratory cantata for the New Year, probably premiered in 1729. Its libretto is also by Picander, who had become a regular collaborator of Bach by now. Picander’s text is closely related to the Gospel for the day, Luke 2: 21, a single verse that states that eight days after his birth, Mary’s […]

Orchestral Suite No. 3

Bach wrote only four orchestral suites, which is surprising given how popular the genre was during his time, as Germany started to welcome French and Italian influences after the Thirty Years War. Telemann, Graupner, Fasch and others wrote dozens, if not hundreds of suites. In spite of this apparent lack of interest, Bach used the […]

Trusting in God’s will

Like Cantata 72, which we heard in late 2020, this one was composed for the third Sunday after Epiphany in 1729. While the former had a libretto by Salomon Franck, Bach’s frequent collaborator in Weimar, this one is part of Bach’s partnership with Picander in Leipzig. Picander based his libretto on the Gospel for the […]