Cantata of the Week
In the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists performed all of Bach’s surviving church cantatas on the appointed feast days within a single year. 20 years on, we are now celebrating the anniversary of a project that Gramophone Magazine called ‘one of the most ambitious and uplifting musical undertakings ever’.
We are now streaming our ‘Cantata of the Week’ for the First Sunday after Epiphany - listen for free now:
BWV 124 ’Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht’ (‘I shall not forsake my Jesus’)
Starting from the first Sunday after Easter, each Sunday will see a new cantata - composed for that day by J.S. Bach and especially chosen by John Eliot Gardiner – made available to stream in its entirety for the week ahead, accompanied by a few words from a musician who took part in this landmark project 20 years ago. This will be an opportunity to discover or rediscover these extraordinary pieces of music that transcend the religious and embrace ideas deeply-rooted in humanity - faith, hope and love – feelings that we need now more than ever.
We will announce a new cantata each week, which you can listen to by clicking the link above. Do please join us for a beautiful new piece of music every Sunday!
I believe that Bach’s music carries a universal message of hope and faith which can touch anybody, irrespective of their culture, religion or musical knowledge. Taken together his cantatas comprise some of the most consistently beautiful music ever to have been composed, a corpus of work which counts as one of the great glories of European music.’ John Eliot Gardiner
You can read more about our extraordinary year-long Bach Cantata Pilgrimage by clicking here.
Our Complete Bach Cantata Series is available to purchase from the MCO shop by clicking here.
Previous ‘Cantatas of the Week’:
BWV 123 ‘Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen’
Feast of Epiphany
Intro: Nicloas Robertson
BWV 153 ‘Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind’
Sunday after New Year’s Day
Intro: James Gilchrist
BWV 190 ‘Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!’
New Year’s Day
Intro: Howard Moody
BWV 133 ‘Ich freue mich in dir’
3rd Day of Christmas
Intro: Kati Debretzeni
BWV 121 ‘Christum wir sollen loben schon
2nd Day of Christmas
Intro: Matthew Truscott
BWV 110 ‘Unser Mund sei voll Lachens’
Christmas Day
Intro: Xenia Löffler
BWV 147 ‘Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben’
4th Sunday in Advent
Intro: Hildburg Williams
BWV 36 ‘Schwingt freudig euch empor’
3rd Sunday in Advent
Intro: Michael Niesemann
BWV 70 ‘Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!’
2nd Sunday in Advent
Intro: Silas Wollston
BWV 61 & BWV 62 ‘‘Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland’ I & II
1st Sunday in Advent
Intro: Rob Howarth
BWV 26 ‘Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig’
24th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Rosemary Nalden
BWV 139 ‘Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott’
23rd Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Annette Isserlis
BWV 115 ‘Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit’
22nd Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Lawrence Wallington
BWV 38 ‘Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir’
21st Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Robert Quinney
BWV 80 ‘Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott’
Feast of Reformation
Intro: Anne Schumann
BWV 180 ‘Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele’
20th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Rachel Beckett
BWV 56 ‘Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen’
19th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Peter Harvey
BWV 169 ‘Gott soll allein mein Herze haben’
18th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Nicolette Moonen
BWV 47 ‘Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden’
17th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Katharine Fuge
BWV 50 ‘Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft’
BWV 19 ‘Es erhub sich ein Streit’
Feast of St Michael and All Angels
Intro: Michael Harrison
BWV 27 ‘Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende?’
16th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Catherine Rimer
BWV 100 ‘Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan’
15th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Marten Root
BWV 78 ‘Jesu, der du meine Seele’
14th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Howard Moody
BWV 77 ‘Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben’
13th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Alison Bury
BWV 69a ‘Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele’
12th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Valerie Botwright
BWV 71 ‘Gott ist mein König’
Inauguration of the Mühlhausen Town Council
Intro: William Towers
BWV 101 ‘Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott’
10th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Julian Clarkson
BWV 106 ‘Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit’
(Actus tragicus)
Intro: John Eliot Gardiner
BWV 45 ‘Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist’
8th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Jane Rogers
BWV 186 ‘Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht’ (‘Fret not, O soul’)
7th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Kobie van Rensburg
BWV 170 ‘Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust’
6th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Michael Chance
BWV 93 ‘Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten’
5th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Joanne Lunn
BWV 24 ‘Ein ungefärbt Gemüte’
4th Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Nicolas Robertson
BWV 10 ‘Meine Seel erhebt den Herren’
Visitation of the Virgin Mary
Intro: Lisa Larsson
BWV 135 ‘Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder’
3rd Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Vernon Kirk
BWV 7 ‘Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam’
Feast of St John the Baptist
Intro: Dietrich Henschel
BWV 2 ‘Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein’
2nd Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Adam Woolf
BWV 20 ‘O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort’
1st Sunday after Trinity
Intro: Dietrich Henschel
BWV 176 ‘Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding’
Trinity Sunday
Intro: Ruth Holton
BWV 175 ‘Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen’
Whit Tuesday
Intro: Stephan Loges
BWV 174 ‘Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte’
Whit Monday
Intro: Annette Isserlis
BWV 172 ‘Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!’
1st day of Pentecost
Intro: Christoph Genz
BWV 44 ‘Sie werden euch in den Bann tun’
Sunday after Ascension Day
Intro: Philip Turbett
BWV 128 ‘Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein’
Ascension Day
Intro: Anneke Scott
BWV 86 ‘Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch’
5th Sunday after Easter
Intro: Robert Quinney
BWV 166 ‘Wo gehest du hin?’
4th Sunday after Waster
Intro: Robin Tyson
BWV 146 ‘Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen’
3rd Sunday after Easter
Intro: John Eliot Gardiner
BWV 85 ‘Ich bin ein guter Hirt’
2nd Sunday after Easter
Intro: David Watkin
BWV 67 ‘Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ’
1st Sunday after Easter
Intro: Kati Debretzeni