Free Johann Sebastian Bach by Christoph Wolff

from Bach’s Weimar period, amounting merely to some twenty works, does not give us an accurate picture of his compositional output of cantatas from March 1714 through December 1717 (see Table 6.3). Even assuming that he produced only one cantata per month, as his concertmaster contract of 1714 required, he would have composed nearly twice as many works as we can now document. Moreover, the net loss of three cantatas during the three-month state mourning period for Prince Johann Ernst, during which no musical performances were permitted, 31 would have been balanced by the lost funeral piece “Was ist, das wir Leben nennen,” BC B 19. Considering Bach’s special relationship with the Red Palace, it is hardly plausible that another composer would have been commissioned. 32 And the funeral piece is by no means the only work for which the music has been lost. We know of four other cantatas definitely written by Bach in Weimar—one cantata (BWV 80a) from Franck’s 1715 cycle and three cantatas (BWV 70a, 147a, and 186a) from the 1717 cycle—whose scores have not survived.
    T ABLE 6.3. Cantatas for the Himmelsburg, 1713–17

BWV
Title
Liturgical Date
Scoring
Unpublished texts (1714), by various (unnamed) authors
182
Himmelskönig, sei willkommen
Palm Sunday/Annunciation
SATB; rec, v, [v rip], 2va, bc
12
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen
Jubilate Sunday
SATB; tr, ob, 2v, 2va, bc
172
Erschallet, ihr Lieder
Whitsunday
SATB; 3tr, ti, ob, 2v, 2va, bc
21
Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis
3rd Sunday after Trinity a
SATB; 3tr, ti, ob, 2v, 2va, bc
63
Christen, ätzet diesen Tag
Christmas Day
SATB; 4tr, ti, 3ob, 2v, va, bc
Salomo Franck, Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer (Weimar, 1715)
132
Bereitet die Wege
4th Sunday in Advent
SATB; ob, 2v, va, bc
152
Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn
Sunday after Christmas
SB; rec, ob, va d’am, va d. g., bc
155
Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange
2nd Sunday after Epiphany
SATB; 2v, va, bc
80a
Alles, was von Gott geboren
Oculi
music lost
31
Der Himmel lacht
Easter Sunday
SSATB; 3tr, ti, 3ob, taille, 2v, 2va, bc
165
O heilges Geistund Wasserbad
Trinity Sunday
SATB; 2v, va, bc
185
Barmherziges Herze
4th Sunday after Trinity
SATB; ob, 2v, va, bc
161
Komm, du süsse Todesstunde
16th Sunday after Trinity
SATB; 2rec, 2v, va, bc
162
Ach! ich sehe, jetzt
20th Sunday after Trinity
SATB; 2v, va, bc
163
Nur jedem das Seine
23rd Sunday after Trinity
SATB; 2v, va, bc
Salomo Franck, Evangelische Sonnund Festtages-Andachten (Weimar, 1717)
70a
Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!
2nd Sunday in Advent
music lost
186a
Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht
3rd Sunday in Advent
music lost
147a
Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben
4th Sunday in Advent
music lost
Erdmann Neumeister, Geistliches Singen und Spielen (Gotha, 1711)
18
Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee
Sexagesimae b
SATB; 4va, bc
Erdmann Neumeister, Geistliche Poesien (Frankfurt, 1714)
61
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland
1st Sunday in Advent
SATB; 2v, 2va, bc
Georg Christian Lehms, Gottgefälliges Kirchen-Opffer (Darmstadt, 1711)
54
Widerstehe doch der Sünde
Oculi Sunday b
A; 2v, 2va, bc
199
Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut
11th Sunday after Trinity b
S; ob, 2v, va, bc
Unpublished funeral text, presumably by Salomo Franck (Weimar, April 2, 1716)
deest
Was ist, das wir Leben nennen (BC B 19), parts I and II
music lost
 
Note : Original Weimar parts and/or scores are extant for all works except BWV 54, 161, and those marked lost.

    Apart from the questions surrounding the extent of Bach’s cantata output, the exact chronological order of the Weimar works remains uncertain. 33 Only four cantatas bear autograph dates, for 1714 (BWV 21 and 61) 34 and 1715 (BWV 185 and 132); because of their liturgical designations, we can easily date them to June 17 and December 2, 1714, and July 14 and December 22, 1715. Despite these performance dates, however, most movements of BWV 21 relate to an earlier, undatable version of the work, as does the opening movement of BWV 61. The cantata