(Photo: Chris King)

CANTATAS FOR THE 2nd AND 4th SUNDAYS AFTER TRINITY

JS BACH

Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (The heavens are telling the glory of God), BWV 76
Ein ungefärbt Gemüte (An unblemished conscience), BWV 24
Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and mouth and deed and life), BWV 147

Keen to impress the congregations in Leipzig, Bach’s first Cantatas in his new role set the bar extraordinarily high. Both Cantata 75 (for Whit Sunday) and Cantata 76 are written on a great scale consisting of 14 movements, in two parts divided by the sermon, and display magnificent choruses.

Cantata 24 was written and performed two weeks later, and Cantata 147 on the Feast of the Visitation of Mary featuring two identical pastoral chorales, famously known in the English-speaking world as Jesu, joy of man’s desiring.