Bach had taken up regular cantata composition a year before when he was promoted to concertmaster at the Weimar court, writing one cantata per month to be performed in the Schlosskirche, the court chapel in the ducal Schloss. O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad was his first cantata for Trinity Sunday, the feast day marking the end of the first half of the liturgical year. The libretto by the court poet Salomo Franck is based on the day's prescribed gospel reading about the meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus. It is close in content to the gospel and connects the concept of the Trinity to baptism.
Librettist | Salomo Franck (1659-1725) (Nos.1-5) Ludwig Helmbold (1532-1598) (No.6) |
Date of composition | 1715 in Weimar, Germany |
Premiered | 1715, June 16th in Weimar, Germany |
First published | 1887 (BGA) |
Dedicated to | Trinity Sunday |
Type | Sacred Cantata |
Tonality | G Major |
Catalogue | BWV 165 |
Instruments |
4x
Voice
Chorus/Choir Orchestra |
Links | |
Autotranslations beta |
Jean-Sébastien Bach: O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad en sol majeur, BWV 165 Johann Sebastian Bach: O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad in sol maggiore, BWV 165 Johann Sebastian Bach: O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad G-dur, BWV 165 |