Oratorios for Pentecost
Discussions

Pentecost Oratorio Tradition

William L. Hoffman wrote (June 9/18, 2019):
The Pentecost oratorio tradition is part of the wider historiae tradition established about 1600 and originally growing initially out of the Johannes Bugenhagen 1524 gospel harmony, Evangelienharmonie, This includes the Passion and Easter summa harmony narratives, the latter set to music as a three-day Easter feast celebration. This became a tradition at the Saxon Court in Dresden in settings of Antonio Scandello, and later Heinrich Schütz and Nicolaus Adam Strungk throughout the 17th century (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Christological-Cycle-Summary.htm: "Lutheran Historiae Tradition"). The German Historiae tradition dates to the mid-16 century. "There are also numerous Historiae by Schütz and other composers for the feasts of Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, St John Baptist and other religious festivities," says Prof. Dr. Wolfram Steude.1 The most frequent settings of the high feast oratorios in the second half of the 17th century were the Easter Resurrection, says Howard E. Smither in his multi-volume oratorio study.² The Lutheran historia biblical account began with statements as an introit/exordium and ended with a conclusio, says Smither (Ibid.: 3). There also were rare historia festive settings of John the Baptist (Elias Gerlach, 1612), says Smither (Ibid.: 29), as well as Kuhnau's Actus Stephanicus for the feast of St. Stephen, December 26, and Abraham Petzoldt's Actus (in festo Michaelis, c.1690-1702).

The best known and most enduring oratorio tradition centered on Christmas, Easter, and the Passion and was observed in many German Lutheran communities into the 19th century (for details of this tradition, see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Easter-Cantatas.htm, "Easter Saxon Reformation Traditions"). The Schütz (1585-1672) historiae came out of the Dresden Court Italianate concerted tradition of Antonio Scandello (1517–1580, John Passion, Easter) and were replaced by later musicians at the Dresden Chapel, most notably Nikolaus Adam Strungk (1640-1700https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Strungk-Nicolaus-Adam.htm), who presented his Die Auferstehung Jesu in 1688 and who was admired by both Bach and Handel, says Steude (Ibid.). Schütz's historiae are strict settings of the gospels for Christmas, the Passions, and Easter. In contrast to the Italian form, the emerging German concerto/oratorio works emphasized biblical texts instead of dramatic paraphrases and used Lutheran chorales. Schütz also composed a setting of the most notable summa Passion, "The Seven Words of Christ from the Cross (Die Sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz), SWV 478 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRzA4zBkAPw: 2:47).

"The three [Schütz] Passions according to the evangelists Matthew, Luke and John were composed after 1662," says Steude (Ibid.: 17). "The earliest evidence of a performance of the Lukaspassion dates to 1663; the other two Passions followed in 1665 and 1666. Together with the Markuspassion of the Dresden court Kapellmeister Marco Gioseppe Peranda (c.1625–1675), composed in 1668, Schütz’s three Passions are to be found in a volume preserved in Leipzig, drawn up around 1697 by the future Kreuzkantor of Dresden Johann Zacharias Grundig (1669–1720)." Using almost exclusively the gospel texts, these were considered among the earliest form of the oratorio Passion settings.

About 1705, the Hamburg composer Reinhard Keiser began composing both liturgical Passion oratorios and poetic oratorio Passions. In 1712, Hamburg poet Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1680-1747, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barthold_Heinrich_Brockes) wrote an extended poetic Passion which soon was set by Keiser, Handel, Telemann, and Johann Mattheson. The four were set as a pasticcio and performed in 1722 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Brockes-Passion-List.htm). Various Brockes settings were the most popular Passions until 1750 when succeeded by "Der Tod Jesu" of Karl Wilhelm Ramler (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Tod_Jesu) through the end of the 18th century.

Bach's historical/new Testament oratorios were directly related to the Hamburg Passion oratorios and the Lüebeck School of Buxtehude's Abendmusik which he probably experienced in the winter of 1705-6. The former involved works notably of Keiser (1674-1739, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Keiser-Reinhard.htm) and Mattheson (1681-1764, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Mattheson-Johann.htm), who later also produce feast day oratorios. Bach's works began in the form of extended cantatas, with BWV 208, Hunting Cantata as tafelmusik in Weimar in 1714, followed by secular serenades in Cöthen and drammi per musca in Leipzig.³ All of these extant dramatic works provided Bach with materials for choruses and arias in his sacred cantatas and later in his feast-day Christological oratorios through the process of parody or new-text underlay.

In Germany the separation and delineation between Oratorio, Historia and Actus musicus are at times very difficult to maintain. In the 18th century these three actually existed side by side. The most popular settings of the three day high feats were Christmas and Easter. German sacred oratorios in Bach’s time also were know as “greater" cantatas with more then five movements. They usually were scored for trumpets (or horns) and timpani as liturgical works for feast days. In Bach’s case he used the gospel narration or summa harmony while other composers, Telemann for example, used multiple allegorical or symbolic figures in the Hamburg style. Some had dialogue movements between these figures and a narrator or a chorus. Sometimes the texts were paraphrases of the gospel. Many had a closing four-part chorale while the earlier ones had just the canto.

The Pentecost Sunday oratorio settings are based on the Epistle, Acts 2:1-13, the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Luke's sequel to his gospel, "The Acts of the Apostles"), and the Gospel, John 14:23-31, the Promise of the Holy Spirit (Jesus' Farewell Discourse to His Disciples). Only a few Pentecost oratorios or festive cantatas are extant, and fewer Ascension oratorios. They developed in three distinct categories:⁴ 1. the three Leipzig cantors who were Bach's predecessors — Sebastian Knüpfer (1633-1676, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Knupfer-Sebastian.htm), Johann Schelle (1648-1701, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Schelle-Johann.htm), and Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722) — who all had connections to the Saxon Court; 2. the Central German Actus pentacostalis, notably of Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow (1663-1712) and Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657-1714); and 3. the North German school based at the Hamburg Opera, particularly Keiser and Mattheson.

Initially, the music of Knüpfer established the aria-concerto (cantata) form with an emphasis on the chorale cantata, which set the verses as arias and choruses, and also on similar biblical settings of Psalms 6 and 137, as well as the dramatic use of expressive recitatives. Some of the earliest cantatas that added poetic madrigalian texts are found in the works of Knüpfer's successor, Schelle, who set the church-year texts of the Saxe-Weißenfels court poet David Elias Heidenreich (1638-1688, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Elias_Heidenreich), who also wrote Singspiel for the coopera, as well as settings of other poets. The versatile and learned Kuhnau produced cantata cycles. Meanwhile in the last decade of the 17th century, composers began using poetry as the Germ,an cantata from developed, notably in the so-called Actus pentacostalis, or Pentecost oratorios, of Philipp Heinrich Erlebach and Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, Handel's teacher.

Leipzig Cantors Knüpfer, Schelle, Kuhnau

Of Bach's three Leipzig cantor predecessors, extant is Knüpfer's Whitsun concerto, "Die Turteltaube lässet unser Heiland" (The voice of the turtle dove is heard), ISK 23, dating to the year of his death in 1676 (he began as cantor in 1657) with four trumpets https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W5126_67160, https://imslp.org/wiki/Die_Turteltaube_lässet_sich_hören_(Knüpfer%2C_Sebastian)). "Despite the enormous scoring [SSATB soli & ripieno, 2 violins soli & ripieno, 2 viols soli & ripieno, 4 clarini, bassoon, tympani], including four trumpets, the composition presents a particularly sweet mood which demonstrates Knüpfer’s great ability to incorporate stylistic elements of Rosenmüller and various Italian composers without giving up his own monumental style," says Peter Wollny.⁵ "The text of the work is a dialogue, drawn from different passages of the Bible, and is mostly scored for soloists. In this way the composer skilfully saves the full splendour of the tutti for the concluding hymn of praise to the Holy Trinity." The closing Trinitarian hymn is a setting of 2 Corinthians 1:3. The tenor-bass aria (No. 2) is the verse John 14:16 preceding the Gospel for Pentecost Sunday, John 14:23-31, the Promise of the Holy Spirit. The male voices in the arias (Nos. 2-4) represent settings from the bible, the Vox Christi of Jesus in John 14:16) and the Vox Dei of the bass in Isaiah 66:13-14. The other biblical verses are appropriate for Pentecost Sunday: the opening soprano alto duet from the Song of Songs 2:12, and the closing tutti setting of 2 Corinthians 1:3.

The movements and texts of the Knüpfer Pentecost cantata are: 1. Sinfonia, SSA, "Die Turteltaube lässt sich hören / in unsrem Lande, / der Feigenbaum hat Knoten gewonnen, / die Weinstöcke Auben haben gewonnen / und geben ihren Ruch." (The voice of the turtle dove is heard / in our land, / the fig tree puts forth its figs, / and the vines are in blossom; / they give forth fragrance. Songs of Songs 2:12); 2. Aria Vox Christi T, "Ich will den Vater bitten, / und er soll euch einen andern Tröster senden, / der bey euch bleibet ewiglich." (And I will pray the Father, / and he will give you another Counsellor, / to be with you for ever. John 14:16), Aria Vox Dei B, "Ich will euch trösten, / wie einen seine Mutter tröstet, ja, ja, / ihr sollet an Jerusalem ergötzet werden." (As one whom his mother comforts, / so I will comfort you; / you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. Isaiah 66:13); 3. Aria Vox Dei B tps, "Ihr werdet sehen und euer Herz wird sich freuen, / und euer Gebeine wird grünen wie Gras. /Da wird man erkennen / die Hand des Herren an seinen Knechten" (You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, / your bones shall flourish like the grass. / And it shall be known / that the hand of the Lord is with his servants. Isaiah 66:14); 4. Chorale (tutti), "Gelobet sei Gott und der Vater unsers / Herrn Jesu Christi. Alleluia. / Gelobet sei Gott und der Vater der Barmherzigkeit, / der Gott alles Trostes. / Gelobet sei Gott der uns tröstet in allem unserm Trübsaal. / Gelobet sei Gott und der Vater unsers / Herrn Jesu Christi. Alleluia" (Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia. / Blessed be the God and the Father of mercies, / and God of all comfort. / Blessed be the God who comforts us in all our affliction. / Blessed be the God and the Father / of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia. 2 Corinthians 1:3).

The versatile Schelle, who was Leipzig cantor from 1676 to 1701, composed various oratorio Passion histories and others such as a Whitsun history which no longer exists, says Percy Young.⁶ Schelle also composed a Christmas oratorio (Actus musicus, 1683) as a biblical cycle to a text of Leipzig poet Paul Thymich (1656-1694), says Marcus Rathey,⁷ and a cycle of chorale cantatas c.1690, as well various settings as vocal concertos with poetic textual sources, says Peter Wollny.⁸ Most imposing is the 1688 25-part setting of Psalm 103, "Lobe den Herrn, meine Selle (Praise the Lord, my soul), with trumpets for the festive occasion of the defeat of the Turkish Army, says Wollny in another article.⁹

Kuhnau, who was appointed organist at St. Thomas Church in 1684 and succeeded Schelle as cantor in 1701, composed a St. Stephen oratorio, Actus Stephanicus (c1690-1702) for the first martyr's feast, December 26, says Smither (Ibid.: 29). Also extant are three Kuhnau festive Ascension cantatas: Du wirst, mein Heyland, aufgenommen (1711), D-LEsm, text only; Ihr Himmel jubilirt von oben, 5 soloists with 2 fl., 3 Clarini, 2 vn., va. und B.c. (1717), D-Lem; Lobet, ihr Himmel, den Herrn, 4 soloists with 2 ob., 2 Clarini, timp, 2 vn., 2 va. und Organ, D-B (no date).¹⁰ Kuhnau is best known for inaugurating the cycle of gospel oratorio Passions, alternating between St. Thomas and St. Nicholaus churches, with his St. Mark setting in 1722. "Indeed, just as Kuhnau is the most significant link between Schütz and Bach he might also be the only German composer who was of immediate influence on the development of both Bach and Handel," suggests John Butt.¹¹

Erlebach, Zachow Actus pentacostalis

In the final decade of the 17th century, two central German composers produced Actus pentacostalis, says Smither (Ibid.: 29): Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657-1714, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Heinrich_Erlebach) at the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt court and Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow (1663-1712, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_Zachow) at Halle. The prolific Erlebach produced various cantata cycles as well as oratorio settings of the Christmas, Passion, Resurrection and Pentecost histories. Only the printed text is extant for his c1690 Pentecost Oratorio, "Die hocherfreuliche Geschicht Der Himmelfahrt Christi und Sendung des Hiligen Geistes" (The most joyful story of the Ascension of Christ and mission of the Holy Spirit; see description¹²). Countess Amelia Juliana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countess_Emilie_Juliane_of_Barby-Mühlingen) was active with poet Christoph Helm (?-1748) in these oratorios, also having connections to Bach's third cantata cycle of 1726. Extant is an Erlebach Pentecost Sunday concerto-aria cantata set to a Helm text "Die Liebe Gottes ist ausgegossen" (The love of God has been poured out, Romans 5:5; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGZpBgPkT2E, http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2008/Sept08/Erlebach_7773462.htm).

The largest number of Zachow's 109 identified Kirchenstücke are ten for Pentecost, says Wladimir Stadnitschenko.¹³ One possible work is "Die Apostel wurden alle voll des Heiligen Geistes" (The apostles all were filled with the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:4), TV 5.¹⁴ It has a festive scoring of two three trumpets (two clarini principale) and timpani, in addition to the customary SATB chorus, strings and basso continuo (see transcription and cover-leaf (https://www.facebook.com/pg/Zachow-Consort-and-Players-179074798968163/posts/, and parts set ). A transcribed copy by cantor Samuel Jacobi was premiered in Grimma c1719 and reperformed in 1724 and 1728 by Jacobi, who had an extensive collection of church music.¹⁵ The movements (Nos. 3, 5, 6 librettist unknown) are: No. 1. Sonata (organ obbligato); No. 2. Chorus "Die Apostel wurden" (Acts 2:4): "Die Apostel wurden alle voll des Heiligen Geistes und fingen an, zu predigen mit andern Zungen, nachdem der Geist ihnen gab auszusprechen." (The apostles were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.); No. 3. Recitative (tenor solo) "Was will das werden?" (What does that want to be?); No. 4. Arioso (Vox Dei bass), "In den letzten Tagen, spricht der Herr, will meinem Geist ausgiessen über alles Fleisch; und eure Söhne und Töchter sollen weissagen" (In the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, kjv, Gospel, Acts 2:17a); No. 5. Soprano Aria, "Mein Gott, du hast in den letzten Tagen Der Jünger Zungen zugerich'et" (My God, you have spoken tongues in the last days of the disciples); No. 6, Alto Aria with organ concertante, "Wie aber du hierdurch geweisen" (But how you prove this); No. 7, Chorale, "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist / Um den rechten glauben allermeist, / Daß er uns behüte an unserm ende, / Wenn wir heimfahren aus diesem elende. / Kyrieleis!" (We now beg the holy spirit / for true belief above all / so that he may watch over us at our end / when we travel home from this miserable world. / Lord, have mercy; trans. Francis Browne, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale146-Eng3.htm).

Jacobi copied out and performed in Grimma in the 1720s three other Zachow Pentecost cantatas: Herr, lehre mich tun nach deinem Wohlgefallen; SATB, Chs., 3 Trp. (2 Clarini, Principale), Pk., 2 Vn., Va. und B.c. (by 1709), D-Dl [?]; Lehre mich tun nach deinem Wohlgefallen; SATB, Chs., 3 Trp. (2 Clarini, Principale), Pk., 2 Vn., Va., Violone und B.c., D-Dl (Pk. Part missing; see https://www.facebook.com/pg/Zachow-Consort-and-Players-179074798968163/posts/); and Nun aber gibst du, Gott, einen gnädigen Regen; SAT(B), Chs., 2 Hr., 2 Ob., Fg., 2 Vn., Va. und B.c., copy lost., earlier Kaiserin-Augusta-Gymnasium Berlin-Charlottenburg [GW]; (another setting) SATB, Chs., 2 Hr., Ob., Fg., 2 Vn., Va. und B.c., D-Dl. A sampling of Zachow's Christmas cantatas is found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Y4b4civuA. Three other cantatas are found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUraX9lfbHg, Hyeok Lee, conductor, assisted by the Zachow Consort and Players.

Hamburg: Keiser, Mattheson, Telemann

The Hamburg group involved works of Reinhard Keiser and Johann Mattheson, primarily for Christmas and Easter. Keiser composed an oratorio for Pentecost Tuesday, 26 May 1733, Der bekennende und danckende Lutheraner, in einem von zweyen Chören besetztem Oratorio; Hd. It was originally composed as Der bekennende und jubilirende Lutheraner (O unbeglückt verirrtes Menschen-Kind) (Wendt), Or. (25 or 26. June 1730 [200th anniversary of Augsburg Confession] Hd), Text D-Hs; repeated as Der bekennende und danckende Lutheraner, 26 May 1733 [3. Pentecost] Hd. Bach performed a St. Mark Passion attributed to Keiser in 1713, 1726 and the late 1740s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark_Passion_(attributed_to_Keiser)). Two Mattheson Pentecost settings exist only in incipits: Die gnädige Sendung Gottes des Heiligen Geistes (1716), and Die Frucht des Geistes (Erdmann Neumeister) (1719), the latter cited in Philipp Spitta's Bach biography.¹⁶

Recent discoveries have found that Georg Philipp Telemann was involved in two oratorio cycles: a 1730-31 cycle of Albrecht Jacob Zell (1701-1754)¹⁷ and a complete 1731-32 cycle of Tobias Heinrich Schubart (1699-1747),¹⁸ selections from both recently published in the Bärenreiter Telemann Editions (see below). Both works have oratorio scoring for multiple voice parts, trumpets and timpani. The Zell work is presumed to be "Komm Gnadentau, befeuchte mich" (Come mercy, moisten me, SSATTBBB), TVWV 1:1000, in 19 movements and the Schubart is "Ihr habt nicht einen Knechtischen" (You do not have a servant), TVWV 904, not to be confused with its Frankfurt three-movement version, "Ach, reiner Geist" (Ah, pure spirit).

|Zell was a follower of Brockes and his writings are "indebted to his model in their moral outlook, and all regarding nature as the consequence of the Creation," says Ute Poetzsch and Steffan Voss.¹⁹ "Zell's oratorios prolonged a Hamburg tradition , where the genre had enjoyed considerable popularity from the beginning of the century," they say. "Zell's poetic language is noteworthy for its liveliness and vivid imagery"; "Telemann enters into the motion of the originals with equal brilliance and his music is equally vibrant and pictorial." This was the first Telemann liturgical oratorio cycle in the form of dramatic dialogues involving biblical and symbolic figures and was introduced in Hamburg to celebrate the bicentennial of the Augsburg Confession; in particular the oratorio for the 25th Sunday after Trinity, "Es wird ein Tag sein," TVWV 1:541/169, actually was composed as a Reformation oratorio in lieu of the adjacent feast day. Because of their length, the Zell oratorios were presented in Hamburg in 1730-31 before and after the sermon. The complete Zell cycle also was performed in Gotha's town churches during the 1741-42 liturgical year by the cantor Johann Ernst Hodermann (1691-1768).

In 1731-32 Telemann produced another oratorio cycle, Foresertzung des Harmonischen Gottesdienst (Continution of harmonious church services), to the text of Schubart, the preacher at Hamburg's Church of St. Michael's since 1728, while this became Schubart's third church-year cycle for Telemann. To Schubart's poetic arias and recitatives, Telemann sets biblical texts as choruses and ariosi and harmonizes one or more appropriate chorale stanzas. Meanwhile, Telemann continued to provide cantata-cycle music for the Frankfurt churches, arranging two arias with single instrument obbligato and string accompaniment and a recitative from the greater oratorio. In the 1741-42 liturgical season the full oratorio cycle "took place during the tenure of Johann Balthasar König (1691-1758, who, as chapel-master, was responsible for the music of the city's four main churches," says Christoph Stockmeier.²⁰

Bach Contemporaries: Kauffmann, Stölzel

Among Bach contemporaries, Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, (1679-1735), cantor at Saxe-Merseburg, composed an Ascension Oratorio, Die Himmelfahrt Christi (Rüstet euch, ihr Himmelschöre score), for SSATB, chor, 2 Tp., tmp, 2 ob., 2 vn., 2 va. and B.c., Part. (Autograph?), parts St. D-LEm. Kauffmann may have owed his Leipzig contacts to J. P. Kunzen, the librettist of his oratorio Die Himmelfahrt Christi. Kauffmann was a finalist for the Leipzig cantor's position. says Grove Music On-Line (2001, https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.14776). Says Grove Music on-Line: <<In the Ascension Oratorio, Kauffmann aids the dramatic flow by avoiding text repetition and demonstrates his fine instrumental style in the symphonia – a French overture in the style of Handel. Kauffmann’s recitatives achieve notable fluency of declamation; his arias, all set as strict da capos, have attractive thematic material and maintain well-balanced proportions between sections.>> Bach and Kauffmann may have had at least indirect contacts during the following years and his galant style appears to have influenced Bach's Clavierübung III.²¹

In 1720, the year after Mattheson presented the four summa Brockes Passions and began to compile his 1722 pasticcio, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690-1749) presented his first Passion setting at Gotha, Die Leidende und am Creutz sterbende Liebe Jesu. Bach in 1717 may have presented his Weimar-Gotha Poratorio at the invitation of the court since the Kapellmeister, Christian Friedrich Witt, was on his deathbed, says Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimarer_Passion). Since there is no source-critical evidence of such a work, only a court carmina payment to Bach, the Bach Werke Verzeichnis works catalogue has not accepted the Weimarer Passion into the official canon and is still listed as BWV deest. Stölzel's 1720 Passion-Oratorio, beginning with the opening chorus, “Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld,” was performed on. Good Friday, 23 April 1734, in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Lämmlein_geht_und_trägt_die_Schuld_(Stölzel)).

For the church year 1735-36 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1735.htm), Stölzel's "String-Music" Cycle (Das Saiten=Spiel des Hertzens, 1724-25, Benjamin Schmolck) was presented in Leipzig (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1735.htm). The Telemann Brockes Passion, TWV 5:1 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Telemann-Brockes-Passion.htm), may have been performance by J. S. Bach: at Nikolaikirche in Leipzig on Good Friday, 27 March 1739.²²

In 1736-37, performed at Schwartzburg-Sondershausen was a Stölzel double cantata cycle based on librettos from the pastor Johannes Caspar Manhardt (1685-1747) Erbauliche Kirchen-Andachten. For Pentecost Sunday 1737, presented before the sermon was "Werdet Voll Geistes" (And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:4; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acCiNSfW47E), opening chorus with a festive pair of horns; 2. tenor aria, "Was saust so sanft und so gelinde!; 3. tenor recitative, "Ach ja! Ich fühle schon"; arioso, alto, soprano; 4. alto aria with horns, "Soll ich voll Geistes werden?"; 5. tenor, bass recitative, "Wenn die Apostel nicht vom Wein" & Chorale: Komm, heiliger Geist, Herr Gott

Besides a Pentecost Oratorio, Bach also may have composed an oratorio setting for the St. Michael's Feast in 1734 in a special church performance of the Michaelmas oratorio, BWV 248a (no title), held on Wednesday, September 29, with the visiting Saxon court attending the Leipzig Fall Fair. Soon after, parodied in the Christmas Oratorio, Part 6, for the Epiphany Feast of 6 January 1735 are the opening chorus, "Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben" (Lord, when the stiff-necked foes do rage), alternating three accompagnati, two arias and the closing chorale chorus setting with the Passion melody. The original string doublet parts of BWV 248a survive — two violins, continuo (organ), and basso continuo transposed elaboration in Bach's hand — copyist Rudolph Straube (see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/VD/BWV248-Part6.htm: "Discussions in the Week of January 14, 2018 (4th round)."

Various later composers wrote works for Easter, Ascension and Pentecost, including Bach sons Friedemann, "Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen" (BR-WFB F 10); Emanuel, Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu (The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Auferstehung_und_Himmelfahrt_Jesu), and the Cantata (H.776) and Johann Christoph Friedrich, oratorio Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu (Wf XIV:10) (lost), and BR F 1 Pfingstkantate (Wf XIV:4, lost).

FOOTNOTES

¹ Wolfram Steude, "Passions, Resurrection History and Dialogues" (https://www.brilliantclassics.com/media/511841/94361-Downloadable-Booklet.pdf: 19, text 83-88).
² Howard E. Smither, The Oratorio in the Baroque Era, Protestant Germany and England, Vol. 2, A History of the Oratorio (Chapel Hill; NCV, University of North Carolina Press, 1977: 28).
³ See William L. Hoffman, Bach cantata Website articles, "Bach’s Dramatic Music: Serenades, Drammi per Musica, Oratorios," https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/HoffmanBachDramaII.pdf>.
⁴ See MGG Online (Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, https://www.mgg-online.com), subscription, under "Oratorium" and composers. The materials are provided by Thomas Braatz on pdf, see MGG Online sources following.
⁵ Peter Wollny, "Sebastian Knüpfer, Introduction," Viola Scheffel Eng. trans. 2000 liner notes to Hyperion recording of his sacred music (https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55393).
⁶ Percy Young, Ch. 5, "Leipzig, in The Bachs, 1500-1850 (London: Crowell, 1970: 134).
https://www.amazon.com/Bachs-1500-1850-Percy-Marshall-Young/dp/0690114265^.
7 Marcus Rathey, Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio: Music, Theology, Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016: 38f).
⁸ Peter Wollny, "Schelle, Johann," BIOGRAPHIE in: MGG Online, hrsg. von Laurenz Lütteken, Kassel, Stuttgart, New York: 2016ff., zuerst veröffentlicht 2005, online veröffentlicht 2016, https://www.mgg-online.com/mgg/stable/50569.
⁹ Peter Wollny "Johann Schelle, Introduction, 2001 liner notes to Schelle sacred music (https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55373): MP 3: "Lobe den Herrn."
¹⁰ See Clemens Harasim, "Kuhnau, Johann," WERKE in: MGG Online, hrsg. von Laurenz Lütteken, Kassel, Stuttgart, New York: 2016ff., zuerst veröffentlicht 2003, online veröffentlicht 2016, https://www.mgg-online.com/mgg/stable/50566.
¹¹ John Butt, "Johann Kuhnau: Introduction," 1998 liner notes to Hyperion recording Kuhnau Sacred Music, https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55394.
¹² Erlebach Pentecost Oratorio, https://books.google.com/books?id=V8WlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT153&lpg=PT153&dq=Erlebach+%22Die+hocherfreuliche+Geschicht%22+Pentecost&source=bl&ots=7_rbafD3Pp&sig=ACfU3U2kb3TEvwfh-my3fZa1EGudWlkC_w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwie1t262a_iAhUFlKwKHTCIDP0Q6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=Erlebach%20%22Die%20hocherfreuliche%20Geschicht%22%20Pentecost&f=false.
¹³ Wladimir Stadnitschenko, Zachows Kantaten: Quellen - Stil - Kontext, diss. 1999 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2015: 45-47, Nos. 49-50), https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/192895271&prev=search; also see Bach on Bach: "Bach in Halle," https://www.bachonbach.com/100-bach-faq-and-soon-there-are-500-bach-faq/faq-114-did-bach-want-to-move-to-halle-or-didn-t-he-want-to-move-to-halle/.
¹⁴ Zachow Pentecost Cantata, parts set copy, https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/92911/25/?tx_dlf%5Bpointer%5D=1&cHash=baa179241ee419151a3fc0b478e457bb;https://digital.slub-dresden.de/data/kitodo/zachapos_393876942/zachapos_393876942_tif/jpegs/zachapos_393876942.pdf.
¹⁵ See Samuel Jacobi, https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Jacobi&prev=search
¹⁶ Philipp Spitta, "Neumeister's Cantata Texts," Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685–1750, (London: Novello, 1884: II: 475), https://books.google.ca/books?id=6eMPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA475&lpg=PA475&dq=Neumeister+Die+Frucht+des+Geistes&source=bl&ots=B7VCfpPsYW&sig=ACfU3U0WeM_e3e1Do0kb_BgursgZ9jivTg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1u4iO39riAhWmtlkKHT-GBLgQ6AEwC3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=Neumeister%20Die%20Frucht%20des%20Geistes&f=false; description of Mattheson Pentecost oratorios, see https://books.google.com/books?id=NGMPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA679&lpg=PA679&dq=Mattheson++Die+gnädige+Sendung&source=bl&ots=WJ0u2HGFPB&sig=ACfU3U2QNl6cnbtvQNVAyLMYKQKi7WsrWw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHlYqzqPHiAhUGA6wKHSL8DqkQ6AEwAXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Mattheson%20%20Die%20gnädige%20Sendung&f=false: Nos. 9 and 10.
¹⁷ Albrecht Jacob Zell https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_Jakob_Zell&prev=search; publications, http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no2010117564/; cycle publication, http://lib.utep.edu/search/?searchscope=0&searchtype=o&searcharg=1018313481; recent discoveries, https://earlymusicreview.com/telemann-christmas-oratorios-2/; recording, https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=2012624149&searchType=1&permalink=y.
¹⁸ Tobias Heinrich Schubart, https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Heinrich_Schubart&prev=search; libretti, https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Schubart,_Tobias_Henrich/Librettist.
¹⁹ Ute Poetzsch and Steffan Voss, "Preface," Georg Philipp Telemann Oratorischer Jahrgang, Funf ausgewählte Oratorien nach libretti von Albrecht Jacob Zell, trans. J. Bradford Robinson; Telemann Ausgabe Vol. 58 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2017: XIVff; https://www.baerenreiter.com/en/shop/product/details/BA7809_01/; printed are the oratorios for Easter Tuesday, Misericordias Domini (2nd Sunday After Easter), St. John Festival, St. Michael Festival, and the 25th Sunday after Trinity (Reformation Day).
²⁰ Christoph Stockmeier, "Preface," Zwölf Oratorien aus einem Jahrgang, 8. bis 19. Sonntag nach Trinitatis, trans. J. Bradford Robinson; Telemann Ausgabe, Vol. 59 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2014: XV); https://www.baerenreiter.com/shop/produkt/details/BA7804_01/; all that is extant from this Schubart cycle are the works for the 8th to the 19th Sundays after Trinity, 1732.
²¹ See Friedrich Wilhelm Riedel/Undine Wagner, "Kauffmann, Georg Friedrich," BIOGRAPHIE in: MGG Online, hrsg. von Laurenz Lütteken, Kassel, Stuttgart, New York: 2016ff., zuerst veröffentlicht 2003, online veröffentlicht 2016, https://www.mgg-online.com/mgg/stable/50568; and for Kauffmann influence on Bach, see John Butt: "J. S. Bach and G. F. Kauffmann: Reflections on Bach's Later Style," Bach Studies, 2, ed. Daniel.R. Melamed (Cambridge, 1995), 47–61.
²² See Christoph Wolff: Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000: 295.