Welcome to a unique website devoted to Bach's Cantatas.
You are never more than two clicks away from an original essay on each of the church and 'secular' cantatas. There are over 1000 music examples which can be heard by clicking the icons (see below).
Due to ongoing contributions from readers helping to cover the cost of hosting this site, it will continue to be available for the foreseeable future.
Volume One - Experimentation
The first Leipzig cycle followed by the early and secular cantatas.
Experimentation and recycling within the first cycle followed by the earliest religious and extant secular cantatas.
Volume Two - Consolidation
The second Leipzig cycle followed by the later chorale cantatas.
The chorale as the critical foundation of the cantata.
Volume Three - Culmination
Cycles three and four and the late works.
Contextual considerations and expansions of the genre.