Weimar cantata (Bach)


worked at the ducal court in Weimar from 1708 to 1717. The composition of cantatas for the Schlosskirche on a regular monthly basis started with his promotion to Konzertmeister in March 1714.

Church cantatas

From 1714 to 1717 Bach was commissioned to compose one church cantata a month. His goal was to compose a complete set of cantatas for the liturgical year within four years. In the course of almost four years there he thus covered most occasions of the liturgical year.

For former employers?

Uncertain purpose and date of origin:
The expression "Weimar cycle" has been used for the cantatas composed in Weimar from 1714.
Cantatas 54 and 199 were performed within the cycle but possibly composed earlier. BWV 18 may also have been composed before 1714.
The first version of Liebster Gott, vergisst du mich, BWV 1136, a lost cantata the libretto of which was written by Georg Christian Lehms and published in 1711 for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, may have been composed in Weimar.
performed in the Weimar period, however not considered to be passion cantatas, thus not generally listed in the Weimar cycle:
Bach composed the first version of his secular cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 for performance on.