Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin in 1725 for the feast for the Purification of Mary. The cantata is based on Martin Luther’s 1524 hymn. It forms part of Bach’s chorale cantata cycle, written to provide Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year with cantatas based on related Lutheran hymns.

About Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125 in brief

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin in 1725 for the feast for the Purification of Mary. The cantata is based on Martin Luther’s 1524 hymn. It forms part of Bach’s chorale cantata cycle, written to provide Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year with cantatas based on related Lutheran hymns. Bach structured the work for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque ensemble consisting of horn, flauto traverso,. oboe, oboe d’amore, strings and basso continuo. The opening chorus has been compared to the opening movement of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. In the third movement, Bach sets the single lines from the hymn’s second stanza differently from the commentary in the librettist’s words, but unifies both elements by a continuous ‘motif of joy’ in the accompaniment. The first column gives the number with a link to the number of the performance of the first cantata of the cycle, and the fourth gives the name of the occasion on which it is based. The following column shows the third and fourth performance dates of the chorala cantata, but all but the fourth show the date of which Bach performed the first performance of this cantata for this liturgical occasion. The fourth column shows all the performance dates for which Bach is known to have performed the second and third chorales of this cycle, as well as the dates for the first and second performances of the fourth and third cantata.

The fifth column shows that Bach performed a choral cantata based on a hymn by Luther during the third performance of that cycle. During the fourth performance, Bach performed Christ lag in Todes Banden again in the same way as he had done in the previous cantata on the same hymn, but this time on a different day of the week. The last column shows how Bach performed his chorals based on Luther during that cycle, but the date for which he performed it is not known. It is possible that Bach may have used a different hymn for each of the nine performances of his first cycle of choraled cantata in the 1730s and 1740s. The choice of hymens to use was probably made according to the wishes of a local minister, who based the choice upon the prescribed readings and his plans for sermons. Bach composed an early choralled cantata by a Luther, probably in 1707, which he used for the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, which is celebrated on 2 February and is also known as Candlemas. In 1723, Bach was appointed as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. He was responsible for the music at four churches and for the training and education of boys singing in the Thomanerchor. In his first twelve months in office, Bach decided to compose new works for almost all liturgical events. These works became known as his first cantala cycle.

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Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161 Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4 Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a Max Fried