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. e.g.extracts from BWV 38 and 207.

Volume One - Experimentation

The first Leipzig cycle and the early and secular cantatas.
A period of innovation of new works allied with the reuse of many that Bach had composed prior to 1723.

Volume Two - Consolidation

The second Leipzig cycle and 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.