A Bach Cantata for Each Day of Holy Week
Holy Week is upon us, and Christians the world over mark these eight days in many different ways. This year, I’ve added a pertinent Bach cantata to my daily devotions.
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote almost 300 cantatas, over 200 of which survive today. He wrote them for specific Sundays of the liturgical year, so my assigning them to the other days of the week is entirely my own invention — but I’ve chosen them thematically, as you’ll see.
Palm Sunday
As recorded in St. Matthew 21:1–11, Jesus enters Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, symbolizing peace. Crowds of people line the streets with their clothes, waving palm branches (symbolizing triumph), and crying “Hosanna,” which means “Deliver us.”
While written for the somewhat mundane inauguration of a Leipzig town council, the jubilant “Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn” (“Praise, Jerusalem, the Lord, BWV 119”), with text from Psalm 147, is the perfect fit.
Holy Monday
