J.S. Bach: Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159 - The Church Cantatas, Vol. 180

Cantata 159 ‘Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem’ was composed for the 7th Sunday before Easter, known as Quinquagesima or Esto mihi, probably 27 February 1729. This was therefore the last cantata before the performance of the St Matthew Passion on Good Friday 1729. The text anticipates the Passion period: in the expressive opening recitative and arioso the believer is moved by Christ’s suffering, while the wonderful fourth movement, an expressive duet for bass and oboe, refers to Good Friday with the words ‘Es ist vollbracht’. Cantata 165 ‘O heil’ges Geist- und Wasserbad’ is a cantata from Bach’s Weimar period, probably written for Trinity Sunday on 16 June 1715. With a few small alterations Bach performed the work again in Leipzig in his first year as cantor of the Thomaskirche (1723-24). The theme of this six-movement work is the redemption of the heirs of Adam (‘Adamserben’), the sinners, through the blood of Christ (‘Christi Blut’). Three arias and two recitatives are heard in turn, with a simple choral