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The following is a list of church cantatas, sorted by the liturgical occasion for which they were composed and performed. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, although there are later examples.
The liturgical calendar of the German Reformation era had, without counting Reformation Day and days between Palm Sunday and Easter, 72 occasions for which a cantata could be presented. Composers such as Telemann composed cycles of church cantatas comprising all 72 occasions (e.g. Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst). Such a cycle is called an "ideal" cycle, while in any given liturgical year feast days could coincide with Sundays, and the maximum number of Sundays after Epiphany and the maximum number of Sundays after Trinity could not all occur.
In some places, of which Leipzig in Johann Sebastian Bach's time is best known, no concerted music was allowed for the three last Sundays of Advent, nor for the Sundays of Lent (apart when Annunciation fell on a Sunday in that period, or in Holy Week), so the "ideal" year cycle (German: Jahrgang) for such places comprised only 64 cantatas (or 63 without the cantata for Reformation Day).[1]
As the bulk of extant cantatas were composed for occasions occurring in the liturgical calendar of the German Reformation era, including Passion cantatas for Good Friday, that calendar is followed for the presentation of cantatas in this section. Most cantatas made reference to the content of the readings and to Lutheran hymns appropriate for the occasion. The melodies of such hymns often appeared in cantatas, for example as in the four-part settings concluding Bach's works, or as a cantus firmus in larger choral movements. Other occasions for church cantatas include weddings and funeral services. Thus below also readings and hymns associated with the occasion are listed, for the hymns for instance based on Vopelius' Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch.[2] Data such as readings and hymns generally apply to Bach's Leipzig: differences may occur in other places, or other times, as indicated.
Telemann's ideal cycle thus consists of four Sundays of Advent; Seven occasions from Christmas to Epiphany; Nine Sundays between Epiphany and Lent; Six Sundays of Lent; 14 occasions from Easter to Trinity; 27 Sundays after Trinity; Three Marian Feasts, St. John's Day (24 June) and Michaelmas – totalling 72 occasions for which he provided a cantata.
Graupner's church cantatas don't include the sixth Sunday after Epiphany, nor cantatas for St. John's Day or Michaelmas, however there are cantatas for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, which totals 71 occasions from GWV 1101 to 1171, with GWV 1173 indicating Reformation Day cantatas.
The election or inauguration of a new town council was celebrated with a service. Normally this was an annual event. The cantata written for such celebrations were indicated with the term "Ratswechsel" (changing of the council) or "Ratswahl" (election of the council).
25 June 1730 was 200 years after the Augsburg Confession. In Leipzig the occasion was remembered by a three-day festival. Picander wrote three cantata librettos (later published in Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte, Vol. III, 1732), one for each day of the celebration.[284] Johann Sebastian Bach set these librettos. The music of these settings is however largely lost:[285]
Music for weddings includes sacred cantatas for wedding ceremonies and secular cantatas for wedding celebrations. Telemann's music for weddings includes wedding anniversary cantatas.[286] BWV 202, 210 and 216 are examples of secular cantatas for weddings by J. S. Bach.[287]
Christoph Graupner:
Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel wrote birthday cantatas for his employer, Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg:[15][289][290]
Georg Philipp Telemann wrote cantatas for funerals.[297]
Christoph Graupner:
In addition to funeral motets (e.g. BWV 118) and secular cantatas for memorial services (e.g. BWV 198) Johann Sebastian Bach wrote church cantatas for funerals:[285]
Johann Sebastian Bach or Georg Melchior Hoffmann:
Georg Philipp Telemann wrote chorale cantatas intended for communion in a Abendmahlsgottesdienst .[298]
Georg Philipp Telemann (in addition to chorale cantatas for specified occasions):[299]
Johann Sebastian Bach (in addition to chorale cantatas for specified occasions):[285]
Felix Mendelssohn:[300]
"Et in ogni tempore" (literally "and at all times") was specified by Bach for his cantatas BWV 21 and 51. It may apply for other cantatas with an unknown designation.
Johann Ludwig Bach:
For several of Georg Philipp Telemann's church cantatas no occasion is indicated.[301]
Also several of Johann Sebastian Bach's church cantatas have an unknown or uncertain designation:[285][75]
Felix Mendelssohn wrote several sacred cantatas, many of these at least in part a tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach.[300]
In 1953 Arthur Honegger composed Une cantate de Noël (A Christmas Cantata).
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