The Coffee Hour from KFUO Radio BACH WEEK Part Five: J.S. Bach's Chorale Cantatas
It's Bach Week on The Coffee Hour! Today, Dr. Maurice Boyer, professor of music at Concordia University Chicago and director of the American Kantorei (a group dedicated to the performance of J.S. Bach’s music), joins Andy and Sarah to talk about Bach's theology in his sacred chorale cantatas. Hear about the place of the cantata or passion in the liturgy of a Sunday morning, how these cantatas follow our Church Year, what makes a chorale a unique part of the cantata, and which chorales would sound especially familiar to us.
Familiarize yourself with Bach's music that you will probably recognize! Work through this list of Chorale Cantatas by J.S. Bach with melodies contained in the Lutheran Service Book. For solid literal translations of the texts, see Emmanuel Music in Boston at emmanuelmusic.org. For lectionary readings, see the one-year lectionary found in the LSB Introduction p.xx or download at lcms.org/worship/lectionary-series.
BWV 7 – Christ unser Herr zu Jordan kam (1724)
St John the Baptist
LSB 406: To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord
BWV 93 – Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten (1724)
Fifth Sunday after Trinity
LSB 750: If Thou but Trust in God to Guide Thee
Organ: BWV 642
BWV 9 – Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (1732-5)
Sixth Sunday after Trinity
LSB 555: Salvation to Us Has Come
Organ: BWV 638
BWV 94 – Was frag ich nach der Welt (1724)
Ninth Sunday after Trinity
LSB 730: What is the World to Me
BWV 99 – Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan (1724)
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
LSB 760: What God Ordains Is Always Good
BWV 96 – Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn (1724)
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
LSB 402: The Only Son from Heaven
Organ: BWV 601
BWV 180 – Schmucke dich
Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
LSB 636: Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness
BWV 8 – Aus Tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir (1724)
Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity
LSB 607: From Depths of Woe I Cry to You
BWV 61 – Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (Weimar 1714)
BWV 62 – Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (1724)
First Sunday of Advent
LSB 332: Savior of the Nations, Come
Organ: BWV 599
No concerted music (i.e. with instruments) after the First Sunday of Advent until Christmas Day
BWV 91 – Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (1724)
Christmas Day
LSB 382: We Praise You, Jesus, at Your Birth
Organ: LWV 604
BWV 125 – Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin (1725)
Purification (German Nunc Dimittis)
LSB 938: In Peace and Joy, I Now Depart
Organ: BWV 616
BWV 126 – Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort (1725)
Sexagesima (60 days before Easter)
LSB 555: Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word
BWV 127 – Herr Jesu Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott (1725)
Estomihi or Quinquagesima (50 Days before Easter = last Sunday before Lent)
Quotes „Christe, du Lamm Gottes“ (German « Agnus Dei »)
Organ: BWV 619
No concerted music during Lent
BWV 1 – Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (March 25, 1725)
Annunciation (first piece after Lent since Annunciation coincided with Palm Sunday)
LSB 395 O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright
St John Passion (2nd version) with chorale movements bracketing the whole work and some changes in arias.
Good Friday (1725)
BWV 4 – Christ lag in Todesbanden (1707?)
Easter (Reprise in Leipzig 1725)
LSB 458: Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands
Organ: BWV 625