The Coffee Hour – BACH WEEK Part Five: J.S. Bach’s Chorale Cantatas

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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
youtu.be/06PQgj_K8dI
LSB 406: To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord

BWV 93 – Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten (1724)
Fifth Sunday after Trinity
youtu.be/in5XDlJnrB8
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
youtu.be/zq1IAR_J0NI
LSB 555: Salvation to Us Has Come
Organ: BWV 638

BWV 94 – Was frag ich nach der Welt (1724)
Ninth Sunday after Trinity
youtu.be/UmtTuCgUeT4
LSB 730: What is the World to Me

BWV 99 – Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan (1724)
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
youtu.be/TwmQo97zb6I
LSB 760: What God Ordains Is Always Good

BWV 96 – Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn (1724)
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
youtu.be/ojRmbYXKXtc
LSB 402: The Only Son from Heaven
Organ: BWV 601

BWV 180 – Schmucke dich
Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
youtu.be/CfmPmuirwkA
LSB 636: Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness

BWV 8 – Aus Tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir (1724)
Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity
youtu.be/CvJDnR-bELM
LSB 607: From Depths of Woe I Cry to You

BWV 61 – Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (Weimar 1714)
youtu.be/MzWJsRjanC4
BWV 62 – Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (1724)
youtu.be/lGv4I7bd8JY
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
youtu.be/SJa716LSba4
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)
youtu.be/2on7CBhCkQs
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)
youtu.be/xSaY0fX8LiA
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)
youtu.be/Fm-0GjrmDmo
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)
youtu.be/ZnXMV4JcEnc
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)
youtu.be/nBhALSvlujU

BWV 4 – Christ lag in Todesbanden (1707?)
Easter (Reprise in Leipzig 1725)
youtu.be/IDMYl0YjCn0
LSB 458: Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands
Organ: BWV 625

The Coffee Hour is underwritten by Concordia University Wisconsin. Live Uncommon. Learn more at cuw.edu.

Have a topic you’d like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact Andy Bates at andrew.bates@kfuo.org or call 314-996-1519.