Celebration Johann Christian von Hennicke
Sunday 28 September 2025

This day''s cantata is a secular cantata Bach wrote as an hommage to Johann Christian von Hennicke, a nobleman who had just acquired a castle in Wiederau, a small village in Saxony. The cantata, to a libretto by Picander, was first performed on this day in 1737 at Schloss Wiederau.

Bach reused some of its music in later works, including Freue dich, erlöste Schar, BWV 30, a church cantata for the feast of St John Baptist (June 24), which was nearly entirely modelled after the secular composition.

Music for today

• Angenehmes Wiederau, BWV 30a
  (first performance 28 September 1737, Leipzig period)