The Sacred Cantatas Of J.S.Bach’s Weimar Period

Sacred music plays a remarkable role in Western music. Johann Sebastian Bach, a devout Lutheran, is the greatest sacred music composer in Baroque period. He composed numerous liturgical music, in which the sacred cantata, an integral genre in the service of Lutheran church, is his most creative area and is a reflection of his religious faith and value.Based on the examination of four selected scared cantatas, the thesis summarizes the style of the cantatas in J. S. Bach’s Weimar period and illuminates the importance of the genre within his sacred vocal oeuvre.Chapter One is a survey of the evolution of cantata in the European countries during 17th-18th century. It also gives more prominence to the function and significance of cantata in Lutheran church service and the reasons of why there are a great deal of cantatas by Bach and his contemporaries.Chapter Two is an introduction of Bach’s cantatas which were composed in Muhlhausen, Weimar, and Leipzig.Chapter Three, one of the main sections of the thesis, is an exploration of the composer’s Weimar cantatas which is comprised three aspects:the innovation of cantata’s text by German poet Erdmann Neumeister; an analysis in their music structure, the relationship of the music and the text of Bach’s four cantatas, BWV12, a cantata in transitional style, BWV21,61, and 132, cantatas in new style; and a study of the religious significance of the cantatas.Chapter Four summarizes the characteristics of Bach’s cantatas during the Weimar period based on the analysis of Chapter Three. The study shows that the composer’s concept during his Weimar period is an integration of the traditional and innovatory style.Chapter Five is the conclusion of this thesis. Bach has written many new style cantatas, the works in Weimar period were the connecting link between his early period, or Muhlhausen period, and the later period, or Leipzig period. Moreover, Bach absorbed almost all the different styles of his time in his cantatas, which show the experimental characteristics. These cantatas contain and indicate the boundless possibilities and extensities in his later vocal music; they are also the sources of his most various style among his vocal works. The study then proves from another side that the sacred cantata is not only a music genre but also a mirror of Bach’s feeling and a symbol of German culture.