Bach's early cantatas

Johann Sebastian Bach started composing cantatas around 1707, when he was still an organist in Arnstadt. The first documented performances of his work took place in Mühlhausen, where he was appointed in 1708.

Models
Bach's early cantatas are "Choralkonzerte" (chorale concertos) in the style of the 17th century, different from the recitative and aria cantata format associated with Neumeister that Bach started to use for church cantatas in 1714. The Altbachisches Archiv, a collection of 17th-century vocal works, mostly by members of the Bach family, initiated by Bach's father Johann Ambrosius, contained works in the older style. Bach also had some acquaintance with Johann Pachelbel's works, although there is no evidence that Bach and Pachelbel met. Bach grew up in Thuringia while Pachelbel was based in the same region, and Bach's elder brother and teacher Johann Christoph Bach studied with Pachelbel in Erfurt. There has been recent speculation that Bach wanted to pay tribute to Pachelbel after his death in 1706. Wolff points out the relation of Bach's early cantatas to works by Dieterich Buxtehude, with whom Bach had studied in Lübeck.

Compositions
The texts for the early cantatas were drawn mostly from biblical passages and hymns. Features characteristic of his later cantatas, such as recitatives and arias on contemporary poetry, were not yet present, although Bach may have heard them in oratorios by Buxtehude, or even earlier. Instead, these early cantatas include 17th-century elements such as motets and chorale concertos. They often begin with an instrumental sinfonia or sonata (sonatina). The following table lists the seven extant works composed by Bach until 1708, when he moved on to the Weimar court.

Bach uses the limited types of instruments at his disposal for unusual combinations, such as two recorders and two viole da gamba in the funeral cantata Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, also known as Actus Tragicus. He uses instruments of the continuo group as independent parts, such as a cello in Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich and a bassoon in Der Herr denket an uns. The cantata for the inauguration of a town council is richly scored for trumpets, woodwinds and strings.

Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4
An early version of the Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4, was probably first performed in Mühlhausen on Easter 24 April 1707, as a presentation piece that was part of Bach's test to become an organist at the Divi Blasii church. The composition is a per omnes versus chorale cantata based on Martin Luther's hymn "Christ lag in Todesbanden". The cantata is only known in its later Leipzig versions. The cantata shows similarities to a composition of Johann Pachelbel based on the same Easter chorale.

Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131
Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131 is probably Bach's oldest preserved cantata. It was commissioned by Georg Christian Eilmar, pastor at St Marien (St Mary) in Mühlhausen.

Gott ist mein König, BWV 71
Gott ist mein König, BWV 71, was first performed for Ratswechsel (change of the city council) in Mühlhausen on 4 February 1708, and was printed the same year.

A cantata for the same event a year later, which was commissioned to be printed, is however not extant. The BWV number for the missing work is BWV Anh. 192.

Actus Tragicus, BWV 106
Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106, known as Actus Tragicus, was possibly first performed 3 June 1708 for the funeral of Dorothea Eilmar or 16 September 1708 for the funeral of Adolph Strecker, mayor of Mühlhausen.

Der Herr denket an uns, BWV 196
Der Herr denket an uns, BWV 196 is a wedding cantata, possibly first performed in Dornheim on 5 June 1708, for the wedding of Johann Lorenz Stauber and Regina Wedemann.

Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 was possibly first performed on the third Sunday after Trinity, 10 July 1707. The authenticity of the cantata has been doubted. One of Pachelbel's works appears to be referenced in the cantata.

Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 143
Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 143 is a cantata for New Year (or Council election in Mühlhausen?), which would have originated between 1709 and 1711. Its authenticity has been doubted.

Meine Seele soll Gott loben, BWV 223
Meine Seele soll Gott loben, BWV 223 is a largely lost (BWV Anh. I) cantata that has been attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. If written by Bach it probably originated in his Mühlhausen time.

Reception
Christoph Wolff writes:"The overall degree of mastery by which these early pieces compare favourably with the best church compositions from the first decade of the eighteenth century ... proves that the young Bach did not confine himself to playing organ and clavier, but, animated by his Buxtehude visit, devoted considerable time and effort to vocal composition. The very few such early works that exist, each a masterpiece in its own right, must constitute a remnant only ... of a larger body of similar compositions."

The Bach scholar Richard D. P. Jones writes in The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach:""His remarkable flair for text illustration is evident even in the early cantatas, particularly the two finest of them, the Actus tragicus, BWV 106, and Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4. We already sense a powerful mind behind the notes in the motivic unity of the early cantatas, in the use of reprise to bind their mosaic forms together ...""