Credits: my main Bach cantata information sources

Autograph Manuscript of the opening chorus from the cantata Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben BWV 77 with instrumental cantus firmus Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot.

Bach cantata information sources

I would like to thank everyone who has msade the information available which allowed me to deduce this Bach cantata calendar and associated playlists. A few information sources deserve a special mention and are worthwhile to check out:

  • First of all, Wikipedia. The amount of information on it regarding Bach and his work is simply unbelievable. Every cantata has a separate lemma with detailed information, but other lemma's have also served me incredibly well. To name just a few, click on these links to go to the lemma's on:

  • Next, there's an incredible site created by Dutch Bach expert Eduard van Hengel. The content is in Dutch I'm afraid, which is no problem for me luckily. It has incredibly detailed information on every cantata, including the libretto, links to recordings, a link to the original score on Bach Digital if available, and an analysis of every movement. A magnificent work! If you don't understand Dutch, use Deepl or Google Translate to help you out, because it is really that good.
  • All of Bach is the project of the Dutch Bach Society to record everything by Bach, including of course the cantatas. The pages with information are very helpful, and a full performance is freely available. If a specific cantata is covered, I mention it on the associated page with a direct link.
  • The JS Bach Foundation of Switzerland was created to perform the complete vocal works of Bach in a 25 year cycle. Ambitious! They also host the Bachipedia, with a page for each cantata and freely available recordings. Website in German, English and Spanish.
  • A reliable source as well is the Bach Cantatas Website (BCW), especially for information on recordings for each cantata. They seem to have referenced every known recording old and new. And if that's not enough, there's always Discogs, which has information on all possible music recordings, often a useful backup.
  • The Bach Archiv Leipzig deserves a mention as well of course.
  • And hey, of course the Google search engine... Because there is so much information at your fingertips, waiting to be found.

So again thank you to everyone who has helped me make this project possible.