On the Cantatas of J.S. Bach: Epiphany to Lent

This fifth book in the Bach Cantatas series is concerned with thirty-five sacred cantatas for Epiphany through Lent. They are grouped into the period for Epiphany, Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the cantatas for the pre-Lenten Sundays (Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima), Annunciation, and Lent. I also include the three wedding cantatas and the cantata for the installation of the town council of Mühlhausen.

Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of the divinity of Christ in human form, the theophany of God. This is one of the prime subjects in the Pauline constitution of Christianity, with its ancillary preoccupation with mortal death and immortal re-birth. Cantatas 124 and 32 at Epiphany I, cantata 156 at Epiphany III, are especially fine.

The Purification of Mary, also termed the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the temple, occurs once the mother, according to the Mosaic strictures, has been purified. There are two exceptional cantatas: 125 and 82.

The pre-Lenten period, largely concerned with Christian self-assessment before the sacrifices during Lent, extends from the ninth Sunday before Easter to the seventh. The finest cantata are 84 for Septuagesima, cantata 18 for Sexagesima, and cantata 159 for Quinquagesima.

Lent is the penitential preparation for Easter. Except for Annunciation, no concerted music was performed in Leipzig, but we do have the earlier cantatas for Oculi and Palm Sunday, including the magnificent cantata 182 for the latter, wherein Bach celebrates Christ as the hope of the world, all the while knowing the Passion that is soon to come.