On the cantatas of j.s. bach : Epiphany to Lent: The Bach Cantatas, #5

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. In his more than 200 cantatas Bach interprets the human condition through musical assertion and examination of the relevance of the gospels and epistles of the Christian Bible. Every cantata is discussed in my six book series On the Cantatas of J.S. Bach. The epistle, which is essentially didactic, is from the Apostolic letters retained in Scripture. The gospel, which is concerned with the life and teachings of Christ, is effectively an exposition of His adherence to principles and the application of action. Guided by this context, Bach consistently propounds surpassing interpretations of the nature and spirit of life. Though the over-reaching principles are philosophical and ethical, how they apply is determined, ultimately, by the individual. Book Five of this series examines the 40 surviving cantatas for the Sundays and feast days from Epiphany to Lent, and includes three sacred and two secular wedding cantatas, a cantata for the installation of a town council, and three secular congratulatory cantatas. The religious cantatas are grouped into the period for Epiphany (fourteen cantatas), Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (four cantatas), the ten cantatas for the pre-Lenten Sundays (Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima), Annunciation (one cantata), and Lent (two cantatas). Bach, in these, affirms and explains such fundamental aspects as mortal death and immortal re-birth, the manifestation of divinity in human form, and self-assessment and penitential preparation. It is a personal exploration, both his and mine.