ABSTRACT

As Leipzig town cantor, Johann Sebastian Bach was responsible for the performance of a sacred cantata for each Sunday and feast day in the Lutheran liturgical year, about 60 annual performances in all. His schedule, therefore, in his early Leipzig years was intense. For a typical Sunday, not only did Bach compose the cantata, but he also arranged for its parts to be copied and directed its rehearsals and performances. And once these Sunday performances were completed, Bach began anew preparing the next Sunday’s cantata. This schedule only intensified with the addition of feast days which did not fall on a Sunday. Consider, for example, the year 1724 and Bach’s first Christmas in Leipzig: Christmas, like Easter and Pentecost, was a three-day feast in the Lutheran year, so it required three cantatas. Bach was therefore responsible for three Christmas cantatas: Saturday 25 December; Sunday 26 December; and Monday 27 December. This was closely followed by a cantata for New Year’s Day, Saturday 1 January, and then for the Sunday following New Year’s Day, 2 January. Adding Epiphany on Thursday 6 January, and the next Sunday, 9 January, Bach was required to provide seven cantatas in this 16-day period.