Easter Music: Resurrection of Our Lord

William L. Hoffman wrote (April 24, 2025):
The three-day festival of Easter was initially observed in the Heinrich Schütz Resurrection History: Historia der Auferstehung Christi, SWV 50, his first Historiae of 1623, with the Resurrection story (John 20:1-18), the Walk to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), and the Upper Room meeting of Jesus and His Disciples (Luke 24:36-49). In 1725, during his second (chorale cantata) cycle, Bach ceased composing and presenting chorale cantatas on Easter Sunday with Cantata BWV 4.2 (Carus-Verlag), although Bach selectively added per omnes versus chorale cantatas to fill selected services (see Wikipedia: scroll down to "Later additions to the chorale cantata cycle"). Tradition shows that in Bach's time in Leipzig, Easter Tuesday as a feast day was not observed while his closest competitor, Telemann in Hamburg, composed Easter oratorios for two oratorio cycles in the early 1730s and one sacred oratorio, Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu, TWV 6:6 (IMSLP), in 1760.

The Easter Vigil, held in darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day, is a vespers of prayer and liturgy (Wikipedia). Holy Saturday uses the gospel of Matthew 27:57-66 (Burial of Jesus, Bible Gateway). This is appropriate for both Bach's one-year lectionary and today's three-year Revised Common Lectionary, observes John S. Setterlund¹. His preferred work for this day is Cantata BWV 156 (3^rd Sunday after Epiphany, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois. The Christian Worship lectionary of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (2021, Christan Worship) prefers the St. Matthew Passion closing (parts 62-68, see BCW) or Cantata BWV 106 (funeral music, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois). While the three day festival of Easter is not observed much today, other observances are, such as Easter Sunrise outdoor vigil (Wikipedia), using the gospel of John, 20:1-18 (Resurrection of Jesus, Bible Gateway), reading preferred in the one- and three-year lectionaries: Year C, 20 April 2025, preferred Easter Oratorio, BWV 249.3 (Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata BWV 67 (Quasimodogeniti Sunday, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois); Year A, 5 April 2026, preferred Cantata BWV 66 (Easter Monday, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata BWV 31.2 (Easter Sunday, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois), Bach's one-year lectionary, preferred Easter Oratorio, BWV 249.3 (see above, Year C); Year B, 27 march 2027, preferred Cantata BWV 4 (Easter Sunday, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata BWV 137 (12^th Sunday after Trinity, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois).

Easter Day: Year C, 20 April 2025, gospel Luke 24:1-12 (Resurrection of Jesus, Bible Gateway), or John 20:1-18 (Resurrection of Jesus, Bible Gateway), preferred Cantata BWV 137 (12^th Sunday after Trinity, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata BWV 66 (Easter Monday, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois); Year A, 5 April 2026, gospel Matthew 28:1-10 (Resurrection of Jesus, Bible Gateway) or John 20:1-18, Resurrection of Jesus, Bible Gateway), preferred Cantata BWV 149 (Michael's Feast Day, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata BWV 158 (Purification of Mary or 3^rd Day of Easter, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois); Year B, 28 March 2027, gospel Mark 16:1-8 (Resurrection of Jesus, Bible Gateway) or John 20:1-18 (Resurrection of Jesus, Bible Gateway), preferred Cantata BWV 31.2 (Easter Sunday, Carus-Media), alternate Easter Oratorio BWV 249 (Easter Sunday), IOPN Library Illinois); Bach's one-year lectionary, gospel Mark 16:1-8 (see above, Year B).

Easter Evening: Year C, 20 April 2025, gospel Luke 24:13-49 (Walk to Emmaus) or John 20:1-18 (Resurrection of Jesus), preferred Cantata BWV 158 (see above, Easter Day, Year A alternate), alternate Cantata BWV 130.1 (Michael's Feast Day, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois); Year A, 5 April 2026, gospel Luke 24:13-49, Walk to Emmaus, Bible Gateway), preferred chorale Cantata BWV 4, (Easter Sunday, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata BWV 42 (Quasimodogeniti Sunday [1^st Sunday after Easter, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois); Year B, 28 March 2027, gospel Luke 24:13-49 (Walk to Emmaus, Bible Gateway), preferred Cantata BWV 6 (Easter Monday, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata BWV 149 (see above, Easter Day, Year A).

Easter Monday (same as Easter Evening or 1st Sunday after Easter (Quasimodogeniti), gospel John 20:19-31 (Jesus appears to His Disciples, Bible Gateway or Easter Tuesday), Year C, gospel Matthew 28:9-15 (Jesus appears to His Disciples, Bible Gateway Bible Gateway), preferred Cantata BWV 134.3 (Easter Tuesday, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois); for Easter Monday, Bach in his own one-year lectionary composed Cantatas BWV BWV 66 and BWV 6, according to Supplement: "Bach's Own Lectionary," according to John S. Setterlund (Ibid.: 173).

Easter Tuesday, gospel Luke 24:36-49 (Jesus appears to His Disciples, Bible Gateway); preferred Cantatas BWV 134 (see above, Easter Monday Year C preferred) and BWV 158 (see above, Easter Evening Year C preferred), Bach composed both cantatas in his own one-year lectionary, says Setterlund (Ibid.: 173).

Easter Wednesday (Wikipedia), gospel John 21:1-14 (Jesus appears to 7 Disciples, Bible Gateway) and in Bach's one-year lectionary, or Matthew 26:14-25 (Judas agrees to betray Jesus, Bible Gateway), preferred "chorale" Cantata BWV 93 (5^th Sunday after Trinity, Carus-Media, IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata BWV 134 (see above, Easter Monday Year C).

ENDNOTES

¹ John S. Setterlund, Bach Through the Year: The Church Music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the Revised Common Lectionary, 2^nd ed. (Burnsville MN: Kirk House Publishers, 2024: 148), Amazon.com.

To Come: 1st Sunday after Easter (Quasimodogeniti, as new-born babes)

William L. Hoffman wrote (April 25, 2025):
Easter Music: Resurrection of Our Lord ADDENDUM

The website, "Which Bach Cantata Today" has posted recommended Bach sacred vocal music for Holy Saturday or Sabbatum Sanctum with the Motets, BWV 225-230 and the St. Mark Passion, BWV 247; for Easter Sunday Chorale Cantata BWV 4, Cantata BWV 31, and the Easter Oratorio, BWV 249; for Easter Monday, Cantatas BWV 66 and BWV 6; and for Easter Tuesday, Cantatas BWV 134, BWV 145, and BWV 158.