Bach, C.P.E.: Vocal Works

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Explore the complete catalog of Vocal compositions by Bach, C.P.E.. This curated list includes composition years, historical Wikipedia context, and interactive audio to add specific tracks directly to your listening queue.

Title Year Actions
20 Oden mit Melodien, for voice and keyboard, Wq.199

Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, flute, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. There are over 1,000 known compositions by Bach. Almost all are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions.

21 Neue Lieder-Melodien nebst einer Cantate, H.700–08, 734–5, 740–41, 747–8, 755–60

Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, flute, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. There are over 1,000 known compositions by Bach. Almost all are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions.

30 Geistliche Gesänge mit Melodien, H.752, Wq.198
Anbetung dem Erbarmer, easter cantata for 4 voices, 2 oboes, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings and continuo, H.807, Wq.243
Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu, oratorio for 3 voices, chorus, orchestra and continuo, Wq.240

Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu (The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus) is an oratorio by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach to a text by Karl Wilhelm Ramler on the subject of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. The first documented performance evidently took place in 1774, and was first publicly performed in 1778; it was further revised between 1778 and 1780. Along with the other oratorios that CPE Bach composed, Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu has been described as being "among the most important Protestant vocal works of the second half of the 18th century".

Bitten, motet for 2 voices and continuo, Wq.208c
Da schlägt des Abschieds Stunde, song for voice and keyboard, H.743, Wq.202/O/4
Dank-Hymne der Freundschaft, ein Geburstags-Stück, birthday cantata for voices and orchestra, H.824e
Der Gerechte, ob er gleich zu zeitlich stirbt, H.818

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). 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. Data such as readings and hymns generally apply to Bach's Leipzig: differences may occur in other places, or other times, as indicated.

Der Herr lebet, Wq.251, H.821g
Der Kampf der Tugend, motet for chorus and continuo, H.826, no. 2, Wq.208, no. 2
Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu, Wq. 240, H.777

Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu (The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus) is an oratorio by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach to a text by Karl Wilhelm Ramler on the subject of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. The first documented performance evidently took place in 1774, and was first publicly performed in 1778; it was further revised between 1778 and 1780. Along with the other oratorios that CPE Bach composed, Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu has been described as being "among the most important Protestant vocal works of the second half of the 18th century".

Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, cantata for 4 soloists, chorus, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 trombones, strings and timpani, H.821e
Die Israeliten in der Wuste, oratorio, Wq.238, H.775
Freude, du Lust der Gotter, for tenor and orchestra, Wq.237, H.723

Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, flute, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. There are over 1,000 known compositions by Bach. Almost all are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions.

Gellert-Lieder, H.686

This is a list of compositions by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. It is sorted by H (Helm) numbers, but the corresponding Wq. (Wotquenne) numbers are also shown. C. P. E. Bach's works have been catalogued in different ways. The first comprehensive catalogue was that by Alfred Wotquenne first published in 1905, and this led to Wq. numbers being used. In 1989, E. Eugene Helm produced a revised catalogue, and H numbers are now also used. The catalogue assignment numbers listed here conform to an accepted concordance found between Wq. numbers and H numbers. They do not, however, reflect parallel chronologies in Bach's works. The catalogue of Helm is now the preferred one for the works of C. P. E. Bach. This listing also substantially conforms to the works given by Grove Music Online. The new complete edition of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's works surpasses any other earlier organizational efforts in dating and cataloguing the enormous output of C. P. E. Bach.

Gott hat den Herrn auferwecket, easter cantata for 3 voices, chorus, 2 oboes, 3 trumpets, strings and continuo, H.803, Wq.244
Helig, for voice, double chorus, 2 oboes, bassoon, 3 trumpets, strings and continuo, H.778, Wq.217
Herrn Pastors Gasie Einfuhrungsmusik, for soloists, choir and orchestra, H.821, Wq.250
Lyda, song for voice and keyboard, H.737, Wq.202, no. G2
Magnificat for 4 voices, chorus, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 trumpets, 2 horns, strings and continuo in D major, H.772, Wq.215

Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, flute, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. There are over 1,000 known compositions by Bach. Almost all are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions.

Morgengesang am Schopfungsfeste, for soloists, choir and orchestra, H.779, Wq.239
Psalm 8, psalm setting for chorus, 2 oboes, 3 trumpets, strings and continuo, H.831, Wq.222

Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, flute, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. There are over 1,000 known compositions by Bach. Almost all are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions.

Sie liebt, mich liebt die Auserwählte, for soprano, 2 flutes, and strings, Wq.236
St. John Passion, for soloists, chorus and orchestra, H.801

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers of classical music. The Bach family had already produced several composers when Johann Sebastian was born in Eisenach, the youngest child of the city musician Johann Ambrosius Bach. After being orphaned at age 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph, then continued his musical education in Lüneburg. In 1703 he returned to Thuringia, working as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. Around that time he also paid extended visits to the courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertory, and the reformed court at Köthen, where he was mostly engaged with chamber music. By 1723 he was hired as Thomaskantor, church music director of the city of Leipzig and thus responsible for music in four Lutheran city churches and for the St. Thomas School. He decided to compose annual cycles of church cantatas, and also wrote music for Leipzig University's student ensemble, Collegium Musicum. In 1726 he began publishing his organ and other keyboard music. In Leipzig, he had difficult relations with his employer, as he had during some of his earlier positions. This situation was somewhat remedied when his sovereign, Augustus III of Poland, granted him the title of court composer of the Elector of Saxony in 1736. In the last decades of his life, Bach reworked and extended many of his earlier compositions. He died due to complications following eye surgery in 1750 at the age of 65. Four of his twenty children, Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian, became composers. Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France. His compositions include hundreds of cantatas, both sacred and secular. He composed Latin church music, Passions, oratorios, and motets. He adopted Lutheran hymns, not only in his larger vocal works but also in such works as his four-part chorales and his sacred songs. Bach wrote extensively for organ and other keyboard instruments. He composed concertos, for instance for violin and for harpsichord, and suites, as chamber music as well as for orchestra. Many of his works use contrapuntal techniques like canon and fugue. Several decades after his death, in the 18th century, Bach was still primarily known as an organist. Several biographies of Bach were published in the 19th century, and by the end of that century all of his known music had been printed. Dissemination of Bach scholarship continued through periodicals (and later websites) devoted to him, other publications such as the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV, a numbered catalogue of his works), and new critical editions of his compositions. His music was further popularised by a multitude of arrangements, including the "Air on the G String" and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", and recordings, among them three boxed sets of performances of his complete oeuvre marking the 250th anniversary of his death.

St. Luke Passion, for soloist, chorus and orchestra, H.784

Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, flute, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. There are over 1,000 known compositions by Bach. Almost all are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions.

St. Matthew Passion, for soloists, chorus and orchestra, H.798

Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, flute, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. There are over 1,000 known compositions by Bach. Almost all are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions.

Sturms Geistliche Gesänge no. 1, H.749, Wq.197
Sturms Geistliche Gesänge no. 2, H.752, Wq.198
Weihnachts-Musik: Auf schicke dich, Wq.249, H.815
Wer ist so wurdig als du, for choir and orchestra, H.831, Wq.222