Motets (Bach)

It is uncertain how many motets Johann Sebastian Bach composed, because some have been lost, and there are some doubtful attributions among the surviving ones associated with him. There are six authenticated motets catalogued BWV 225–230. BWV 228 appears to have been written at Weimar, between 1708 and 1717, and the other five in Leipzig, between 1723 and 1727. A seventh motet, Ich lasse dich nicht, BWV Anh. 159, which was formerly attributed to Bach's older cousin Johann Christoph Bach, appears to be one of Bach's earlier works, possibly composed during the Weimar period.

Several of the motets were written for funerals. There is some uncertainty as to the extent that motets would have been called for in normal church services - there is evidence that it was considered an archaic form. The text of Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt, BWV Anh. 160 (whether or not the piece is attributable to Bach) suggests a performance at Christmas. Another possible use is the suggestion of the scholar Christoph Wolff that some of the choral writing in the motets for example Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, would have been useful for training Bach's young singers.

Bach's motets are his only vocal works that kept repertoire without interruption between his death in 1750 and the 19th-century Bach Revival. In the early 19th century six motets (BWV 225, 228, Anh. 159, 229, 227, 226) were among Bach's first printed music, after the second half of the 18th century when the only vocal music by Bach that was printed were collections of his four-part chorales.

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