WHICH BACH
CANTATA TODAY?

The statue of Bach outside the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.  

All cantata day posts

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, 2023
Michaelmas (Feast of Saint Michael and the Archangels)
Schloss Wiederau, where Angenehmes Wiederau, BWV 30a, was first performed on September 28th 1737.

September 28, 2023
Celebration Johann Christian von Hennicke
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 24, 2023
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 17, 2023
Trinitatis XV or 15th Sunday after Trinitatis
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 10, 2023
Trinitatis XIV or 14th 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, 2023
Birthday crown prince Friedrich Christian von Saksen
The Good Samaritan, painted around 1616 by Jacob Jordaens, a painter from my hometown Antwerp (Louvre Abu Dhabi).

September 3, 2023
Trinitatis XIII or 13th Sunday after Trinitatis
The Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) today, which houses the Museum of City History of Leipzig.

August 30, 2023
Ratswechsel 1723
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, 2023
Birthday of Carl Heinrich von Dieskau
View of the city of Leipzig centered on the main square and the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) from 1712.

August 29, 2023
Ratswechsel 1742
Painting of Leipzig by Christian Schildbach (1765).

August 27, 2023
Trinitatis XII or 12th Sunday after Trinitatis
The main hall inside the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) of Leipzig today.

August 27, 2023
Ratswechsel 1731
Etching of the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) in Leipzig from 1672.

August 26, 2023
Ratswechsel 1748
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, 2023
Ratswechsel 1727
A statue of Johann Sebastian Bach in Weimar.

August 20, 2023
Trinitatis XI or 11th Sunday after Trinitatis
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 13, 2023
Trinitatis X or 10th 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, 2023
Marriage
Autograph of a soprano aria in the cantata Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht, BWV 105 (source: Wikipedia)

August 6, 2023
Trinitatis IX or 9th 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, 2023
Nameday Augustus III and Dr August Friedrich Müller
The Bach glass window in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.

July 30, 2023
Trinitatis VIII or 8th Sunday after Trinitatis
The grave of Johann Sebastian Bach in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.

July 28, 2023
Anniversary of Bach's death
'Loaves and Fishes (from Jesus is my homeboy)' is a picture from 2003 by photographer David LaChapelle (born 1963). 

July 23, 2023
Trinitatis VII or 7th Sunday after Trinitatis
As a break from practicing and studying, students from the Thomasschule enjoy a game of football.

July 16, 2023
Trinitatis VI or 6th Sunday after Trinitatis
The Miraculous Draught of Fish by Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734), a Venetian painter of the late Baroque, Detroit Institute of Arts.

July 9, 2023
Trinitatis V or 5th Sunday after Trinitatis
The Sermon on the Mount, 1598, by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625), J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

July 2, 2023
Trinitatis IV or 4th Sunday after Trinitatis
Visitation, a painting by Rogier Van der Weyden (1399-1464), Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig.

July 2, 2023
Visitation
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, 2023
200th anniversary of Augsburg Confession
View of Weimar with the Herderkirche and the Stadtschloss.

June 25, 2023
Trinitatis III or 3rd Sunday after Trinitatis
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, 2023
Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
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 18, 2023
Trinitatis II or 2nd Sunday after Trinitatis
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 11, 2023
Trinitatis I or 1st 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, 2023
Marriage of Johann Lorenz Stauber
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!

June 4, 2023
First Sunday after Pentecost or Trinitatis
Pentecost by Italian painter Giotto (1267-1337), National Gallery, London.

May 30, 2023
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 29, 2023
Whit Monday
Pentecost by the Greek-Spanish painter El Greco (1541-1614), Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

May 28, 2023
Pentecost or Whit Sunday
The Thomaskirche in Leipzig, not really in a setting that Bach would recognise.

May 21, 2023
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 18, 2023
Ascension Day
Water colour painting of the Thomaskirche 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 14, 2023
5th Sunday after Easter or Rogate
Students of the Thomasschüle in Leipzig studying for their performances in the Thomanerchor.

May 7, 2023
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 30, 2023
3rd Sunday after Easter or Jubilate
The good shepherd, mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, Italy (from around 425).

April 23, 2023
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 16, 2023
1st Sunday after Easter or Quasimodogeniti
Next to the Thomaskirche in Leipzig on a sunny spring day.

April 11, 2023
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 10, 2023
Easter Monday
The resurrection of Christ by Paolo Veronese, around 1570, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie.

April 9, 2023
Easter
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.

April 8, 2023
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.

April 7, 2023
Good Friday or Passionis Domini
The Entry into Jerusalem, 14th century painting by Giotto (c.1267-1337).

April 2, 2023
Palm Sunday or Palmarum
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, 2023
Bach's birthday Gregorian calendar
Felix Mendelssohn playing for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1830. A painting by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim from 1864. Goethe was a Leipzig native, and this painting depicting a scene in 1830, a year after Mendelssohn conducted the Matthaeus Passion at the age of 20, somehow creates a link with Bach in my mind.

March 26, 2023
5th Sunday of Lent or Judica
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, 2023
Annunciation
Schlossanlage Köthen, home of the princes of Köthen, around 1650 in a copper etching by Caspar Merians (Bach-Archiv Leipzig).

March 24, 2023
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, 2023
Bach's birthday Julian calendar
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 19, 2023
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 12, 2023
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.

March 5, 2023
2nd Sunday of Lent or Reminiscere
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 26, 2023
1st Sunday of Lent or Invocabit
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, 2023
Birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
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 19, 2023
Quinquagesima or Estomihi
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 12, 2023
Sexagesima
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, 2023
Funeral service for Johann Christoph von Ponickau
The parable of the workers in the vineyard by Austrian painter Johann Christian Brand (1722-1795).

February 5, 2023
Septuagesima - Third Sunday before Ash Wednesday
The Divi Blasii church in Mühlhausen, where Bach was appointed as organist from 1707 to 1708.

February 4, 2023
Inauguration of Mühlhausen town council
The Presentation in the Temple, painting by Jacques Daret from around 1434. The figure with the long grey beard is Simeon.

February 2, 2023
Candlemas
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), subject of the libretti for the cantatas on Epiphany IV, BWV 81 and 14. It is Rembrandt's only known seascape. This painting was stolen in 1980 from a Boston museum, along with 12 others including a Vermeer, and remains lost.

January 29, 2023
Epiphany IV
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 22, 2023
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 15, 2023
Epiphany II
A contemporary portrait of Christian von Sachsen-Weissenfels, attributed to Martin Bernigeroth (1670-1733)

January 12, 2023
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 8, 2023
Epiphany I
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, 2023
Epiphany
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 1, 2023
First Sunday after New Year
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, 2023
New Year's Day