ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the weekly pattern of worship within which Bach's music was heard. It begins with a review of the Leipzig churches, which, in the decades before Bach's arrival in 1723, had experienced a significant period of renewal and expansion. Details of the Leipzig liturgy are not as straightforward as might be assumed. In Leipzig in Bach's day, it was an improvised prelude that had a similar function, except that it introduced different liturgical music depending on the season of the church year. The Ministry of the Word began with one of the clergy chanting the Epistle of the day or celebration from the lectern. In addition to concerted music, organ chorale preludes, and congregational singing, there was also the possibility of other music during the distribution. Cantatas were only included in Vespers on the major festivals and were reperformances of the cantata that had been heard in the other church that morning.
