Rogate
Sunday 10 May 2026

Rogate is the 5th Sunday after Easter (""pray"" in Latin). Two Leipzig cantatas on the playlist, from the first two annual cantata cycles Bach composed there, both based on the scriptures for the day covering (like the preceding Sundays) the farewell speeches given by Jesus to his disciples.

The poet who wrote the text for Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch, BWV 86 is unknown.

Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen, BWV 87, is again one of the nine cantatas written by Christiane Mariane von Ziegler. For the closing chorale, she chose a stanza of Heinrich Müller''s hymn ""Selig ist die Seele"" (1659). You may recognise the music of that chorale, as Bach repurposed the music of his beautiful motet Jesu Meine Freude, BWV 227.

Music for today

• Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch, BWV 86
  (first performance 14 May 1724, Leipzig period)
• Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen, BWV 87
  (first performance 6 May 1725, Leipzig period)