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. Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn was his first cantata for the fourth Sunday in Advent. The libretto by the court poet Salomo Franck is related to the day's prescribed gospel reading, the testimony of John the Baptist. Franck derives from it thoughts about baptism as a preparation of the individual Christian who is addressed as a limb of Christ.
Librettist | Salomo Franck (1659-1725) (Nos.1-5) Elisabeth Kreuziger (ca.1500-ca.1535) (No.6) |
Date of composition | 1715 in Weimar, Germany |
Premiered | 1715, December 22nd in Weimar, Germany |
First published | 1881 (BGA) |
Dedicated to | 4th Sunday in Advent |
Type | Sacred Cantata |
Tonality | A Major |
Catalogue | BWV 132 |
Instruments |
4x
Voice
Chorus/Choir Orchestra |
Links | |
Autotranslations beta |
Jean-Sébastien Bach: Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn en la majeur, BWV 132 Johann Sebastian Bach: Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn in la maggiore, BWV 132 Johann Sebastian Bach: Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn A-dur, BWV 132 |