JS Bach

Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin (Take what is yours and go away), BWV 144
Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister (Light-minded frivolous spirits), BWV 181
Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt (Just as the rain and snow fall from heaven), BWV 18

In the lead up to Lent, three cantatas based on parables: Cantata 144, based on the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, reveals an alto aria with a sustained melody of great beauty; and Cantatas 181 and 18, both based on the Parable of the Sower, projecting dramatic scenes of spasmodic birds pecking at the scattered seed, and a furious litany in which Bach rains fire and brimstone on the ‘pantomime villains, the Turks and the Papists’.