(Christ our Lord came to the Jordan), 7, is one of several church cantatas which Johann Sebastian Bach composed

for the Feast of St. John the Baptist. He wrote it in Leipzig and led its first performance on 24 June 1724.

It is the third cantata Bach composed for his chorale cantata cycle, the second cantata cycle he started after being appointed Thomaskantor in 1723. The cantata is based on the seven stanzas of Martin Luther's hymn "", about baptism. The first and last stanza of the chorale were used for the outer movements of the cantata, while an unknown librettist paraphrased the inner stanzas of the hymn into the text for the five other movements. The first movement, a chorale fantasia, is followed by a succession of arias alternating with recitatives, leading to a four-part closing chorale.

The cantata is scored for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, two oboes d'amore, two solo violins, strings and continuo.

History and words

Bach composed for St. John's Day, 24 June 1724, in Leipzig, as the third cantata of his second annual cycle, the chorale cantata cycle, which had begun about two weeks earlier on the first Sunday after Trinity. The cycle was devoted to Lutheran hymns, in the format of his chorale cantatas rendered by retaining their text of the first and last stanza, while a contemporary poet reworded the inner stanzas.

Bach led the first performance on 24 June 1724.

Music

Scoring and structure

Bach structured the cantata in seven movements and scored it for three vocal soloists (alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir (SATB), two oboes d'amore (Oa), two solo violins (Vs, the second one only introduced in a later performance), two violins (Vl), viola (Va) and basso continuo (Bc).<!-- The duration is given as 44 minutes.-->

Cited sources

  • Tim Smith: Bach fan thrills to discovery of lost 1724 pages Baltimore Sun, 31 August 2008
  • BWV 7 Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam: English translation, University of Vermont
  • BWV 7 Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam: text, scoring, University of Alberta
  • Cantata BWV 7 Christ unser Herr zum Jordan Kam Oregon Bach Festival 2006
  • 2022

<!--* Richard D. P. Jones: The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Volume II: 1717–1750-->