Cantata BWV 150Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich

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This is potentially one of Bach's earliest cantatas, dating perhaps to his time in Arnstadt (1703-7, when he was just 18-22 years old). We only know of the cantata from secondary sources: no manuscript survives. The style is quite crude (for Bach!) and requires very minimal orchestral resources (two violins, continuo and bassoon), with few solo arias -reflecting, probably, the lesser quality of the instrumental and vocal resources available to him at the time. It's authenticity has been doubted at times, though Dürr is adamant that such doubts are unfounded. [...] 

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Cantata BWV 143Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele

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This work is problematic: it survives only in a manuscript dated 1762, 12 years after Bach died. It is fairly crude in form and musical invention -and this has led most to assume it to have been an early work, perhaps dating from around 1708, when Bach was working in Mülhausen. The text is not always certain (as can be seen in some of my translation notes); when it is certain, it's not always clearly sensible! In some circles, the lack of musical heft and the lack of a decent contemporary manuscript has made the work doubtful: the New Groves (at least, my 1980 edition) relegates it to is list of 'doubtful and spurious'  works, for example. However, the NBA is still, at present, declaring it authentic and Dürr sees no fundamental reason to doubt its authenticity. [...] 

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Cantata BWV 140Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

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This is one of Bach's later cantatas, since it was written for the 27th Sunday after Trinity, which only happens in the calendar if Easter Sunday falls before March 27th, which is about as early as Easter can get... and accordingly doesn't happen very often. In fact, it only happened twice in Bach's professional career: 1731 and 1742. We can therefore be pretty sure that this cantata was written in 1731 and first performed on November 25th that year. [...] 

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