Trinity Time Lectionary

William L. Hoffman wrote (August 6, 2024):
Following the second early communion chorale in his second chorale cantata BWV 2 for the 2nd Sunday after Trinity on 18 June 1724, Bach turned to festival chorale Cantata 7 for St. John's Day feast, also known as the Feast of John the Baptist, 24 June 1724 on a Thursday between the 4th and 6th Sundays after Trinity, which often took precedence over an adjacent regular Sunday service (Carus 1724/25 calendar, Carus-Verlag). The official Bach Cantatas Website (BCW) 1723 calendar (BCW) shows no recorded performances on 4th Sunday after Trinity (July 2) which fell on the feast of the Visitation or the 6th Sunday after Trinity (July 16) but chorale Cantata 10 performed for Visitation on Friday, July 2.

2nd Chorale Cantata Cycle

Now, the 2nd, chorale cantata cycle 1724/25 commenced with all new works (BCW calendar, BCW). Assisting Bach from the first cycle had been his accounting of Early Trinity Time appropriate chorales (Hymn of the Day, Pulpit & Communion Hymns, BCW) and liturgy (readings; BCW: scroll down to 1st Sunday after Trinity), which are the two key textual ingredients in Bach's vocal music cantatas, oratorios (great cantatas), and Latin Church Music. Bach's cantata cycles were governed by his single-lectionary of readings ( LCMS) which drew on the best-known gospel and epistle readings in the Lutheran Prince Heinrich's 1540 Saxon Agenda and Church (A Collection of Prayers). A special supplement is Paul Zeller Strodach's The Church Year: Studies in the Introits, Collects, Epistles, and Gospels.¹

Current Revised Common Lectionary

A new, three-year Revised Common Lectionary (Wikipedia) was created in the 20th century for the Catholic and progressive Protestant churches with Year B representing the Gospel of Mark (2023-24); Year C, the Gospel of Luke; and Year A, the Gospel of Matthew. Important selective Johannine readings are found in all three years. Portions of the Gospel of John are read throughout Eastertide, and are also used for other liturgical seasons including Advent, Christmastide, and Lent where appropriate.

Complementing this lectionary is John S. Setterlund's Bach Through the Year: The Church Music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the Revised Common Lectionary.² "Bach Through the Year has reassigned the cantatas, as well as the motets, passions, and oratorios, to the Sundays and festivals with whose current readings and themes they most closely correspond. In each commentary, the relationship between a lectionary reading, usually the gospel, and the designated cantata is highlighted, says Setterlund (Ibid.). Besides the Sunday and feast-day services, Bach Through the Year covers single observances during the closed periods of Advent and Lent, as well as saints days and "minor changes in the liturgical year itself that have been made since the time of Bach," he says (Ibid.: Preface). "Although Bach clearly indicated the occasion on which most of his cantatas were performed [on score ms. title page], the readings, and therefore the theme of the day do not necessarily coincide with the readings and themes of the modern church" (Ibid.: Preface). Thus, "Bach Through the Year has reassigned the cantatas to the Sundays and festivals with whose current readings and themes they most clearly correspond. In each commentary the relationship between a lectionary readings, usually the gospel, and the designated cantata is highlighted. Sometimes these relationships are explicit, other times they are more general." "Since Bach composed several cantatas for most occasions, there are approximately as many to be distributed as there are Sundays in the modern three-year lectionary." "Where no year-designation is given [A,B, or C], the day or occasion is intended for Annual observance." "Cantatas are provided for numerous minor festivals and occasions, reflecting the calendar of the Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Augsburg-Fortress 2006)," Wikipedia.

Trinity/Pentecost Season

Now, the second half of the church year on the practices, themes, and teachings of the Christian Church is known as the Sundays after Pentecost, where in Bach's time they were designated as Sundays after The Holy Trinity or simple Trinity Season (see lectionary Contents, Project of MUSE). Following the feast of The Holy Trinity Sunday (Setterlund, Ibid.: 67) ending the de tempore first half of the Church Year on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the second half (omnes tempore), now designated as Sundays after Pentecost, begins with Setterlund's designation "SUNDAY 8," meaning the Eighth Sunday after Easter or Pentecost Sunday. Setterlund designates these first four Sundays after Pentecost, Sunday 9 to Sunday 12) as "If this occurs after Holy Trinity Sunday." Setterlund describes each Sunday with the three-year designations, Year B, Mark gospel, 2023-24, Lectionary Library; Year A, Matthew Gospel, 2025-26, Lectionary Library; Year C, 2024-25, Luke Gospel, Lectionary Library. The distinction between the halves of the church year, de tempore, also known as the half year of the Lord, and omnes tempore, half year of the Church, according to Strodach's The Church Year (Ibid., 2023: 164), "was originally divided into cycles:" Pentecost to Apostles St. Peter and Paul's Day (June 29), then to St. Laurentius' Day (August 10), then to St. Michael's Day, September 29, then to Advent. "The latter half of the Church Year, which we are now entering, has sometimes been called the Festival-less half of the year, in contrast with the first half, which contains all the great festivals; but this Season is not without its important Festivals, as a glance at the Calendar will show," involving saints' days as outlined above. "The Trinity Season is somewhat of a contrast to the preceding portion," says Strodach (Ibid.: 165), "but that only because of the nature of its objective. The last of the Three Great Festivals, immediately preceding, it will be remembered was Pentecost, the Founding of the Church. Now with the church established, much as we began our Lord's Day worship, we entered the period of doctrinal foundation and instruction." The three-year Revised Common Lectionary provides more gospel readings and accommodates various festivals and other observances. All three years begin as the Season After Pentecost with the Trinity Sunday festival and the Marian feast of the Visitation of May to Elizabeth on May 31, known in Bach's single-lectionary time as Mariae Heimsuchung or the Feast of the Visitation on July 2. Bach's first church-year cantata cycle, 1723-24, began with Volume 1, the 1st to the 4th Sunday after Trinity involving Cantatas 75, 76, 21.3, and 185.2 and 24 (double bill), see Amazon.com. This mini-cycle of Trinity 1-4 has as its thematic patterns in Bach's gospels a four-week sequence of parables (source: BCW: scroll down to "THEMATIC PATTERNS IN BACH¹S GOSPELS"). Volume 2 (BCW) covers the feasts of John the Baptist (BWV 167) and Visitation (BWV 147) and the 7th and 8th Sundays after Trinity (BWV 186, 136) with no cantatas presented for the 5th and 6th Sundays after Trinity.

Three-Year Lectionary

Turning to the three-year Revised Common Lectionary, the Holy Trinity feast (1st Sunday after Pentecost): Year B (2024), John 3:1-17 (Mission of Christ: Saving the World), 26 May 2024, preferred Cantata 174, alternate Cantata 68; Year C (2025), John 16:12-15 (Spirit will guide you in truth), 15 June 2025, preferred Cantata 165, alternate BWV 108; Year A (2026), Matthew 28:16-20 (Living in the Trinity community), 31 May 2026, preferred Cantata 129, alternate Cantata 176; 1-year lectionary, John 3:1-15 (Mission of Christ: Saving the World); preferred Cantata 176. 1st Sunday after Trinity (2nd Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 4 [9]): Year B, Mark 2:23-3:6 (Doing work of God on Sabbath), 2 June 2024, preferred Cantata 76 Part 1, alternate Cantata 101); Year C, Luke 7:1-10 (Jesus heals Roman officer's servant), 22 June 2025, preferred Cantata 25, alternate Cantata 17; Year A, Matthew 7:21-29 (Two house builders), 7 June 2026, preferred Cantata 45, alternate Cantata 109; 1-year lectionary, Luke 16:19-31(Rich Man and Lazarus), preferred Cantata 75.

Special, single-day festive events during early Trinity Time are: feast of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth has the date of May 31 in the current lectionary but July 2 in Bach's 1-year lectionary, Luke 1:39-47 (Mary visits Elizabeth); preferred Cantata 10, alternate Magnificat, BWV 243; Apostle Barnabas, June 11, gospel Matthew 10:7-16 (Mission of the 12), preferred Cantata 126.

The current 3-year Revised Common Lectionary continues in early Trinity Time with the 2nd Sunday after Trinity (3rd Sunday after Pentecost): Year B (1724), Mark 3:20-35 (Doing work of God, Proper 5 [10]), 9 June 2024; preferred Cantata 76 Part 2, alternate Cantata 80; Year C (1725), Luke 9:51-62 (Jesus says: Follow me; Proper 8 [13], 29 June 2025; preferred Cantata 161, alternate Cantata 156; Year A (1726), Matthew 9:35-10:8 (Sending of the Twelve), 14 June 2026; preferred chorale Cantata 2, alternate BWV 103; 1-year lectionary,(Luke 14:16-24 (Parable of Great Feast); preferred Cantata 76. 3rd Sunday after Trinity (4th Sunday after Pentecost: Year B (1724), Mark 4:26-34 (Parable of mustard seed, Proper 6 [11]), 16 June 2024; preferred Cantata 188, alternate BWV 69a; Year C (1725), Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 (Jesus sends 70 disciples; Proper 9 [14]), 6 July 2025; preferred Cantata 150, alternate Cantata 39; Year A (1726), Matthew 10:24-39 (Cost of discipleship, Proper 7 [12]), 21 June 2026; preferred Cantata 104, alternate Cantata 177; 1-year lectionary, Luke 15:1-10 (Parable of Lost Sheep); preferred Cantata 76. 4th Sunday after Trinity (5th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B (1724), Mark 4:35-41 (Christ calming sea; Proper 7 [12]), 23 June 2024; preferred Cantata 81, alternate Cantata 14; Year C (1725), Luke 10:25-37 (Parable of Merciful Samaritan; Proper 10 [15]); Year A (1726), Matthew 10:40-42 (Welcome Christ in those Christ sends; Proper 8 [13]), 28 June 2026; preferred Cantata 114, alternate Cantata 112; 1-year lectionary, Luke 6:36-42 (Judging others); preferred Cantata 185.

Special single-day festive events during earlier Trinity Time are: Nativity of John the Baptist, June 24, gospel Luke 1:57-67 (Birth of John the Baptist), preferred Cantata 167; Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, June 25, gospel Matthew 10:32-39 (Confessing, rejecting Christ; not peace but sword), preferred Cantata 190a; Apostles St. Peter & St. Paul, June 29, gospel Mark 8:27-35 (Peter declares Jesus Messiah, Jesus predicts suffering, death), preferred Cantata 159. St. Mary Magdalene, July 22; gospel John 20:1-2, 11-18 (Empty tomb, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene), preferred Cantata 145; Apostle James the Elder, July 25, gospel Mark 10:35-45 (James & John request Jesus' throne), preferred Cantata 98.

END NOTES

¹ Paul Zeller Strodach, The Church Year: Studies in the Introits, Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, With Historical Annotations on the Seasons and Days (Philadelphia PA: United Lutheran Publication House, 1924: 107ff); edited version (Malone, Texas: Repristination Press: 2023), Amazon.com.
² John S. Setterlund, Bach Through the Year: The Church Music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the Revised Common Lectionary (Minneapolis MN, Lutheran University Press 2013), Kirk House Publishers

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To Come: Chorale Cantatas for Trinity 3 and 4.