Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150

Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich BWV 150
Church cantata by J. S. Bach
Portrait of the young Bach (disputed)
Performed	Possibly 1707
Movements	7
Bible text
Vocal	SATB choir and solo
Instrumental	2 violins bassoon continuo

Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (For Thee, O Lord, I long),BWV 150, is an early church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach composed for an unknown occasion. It is unique among Bach's cantatas in its sparse orchestration and in the independence and prominence of the chorus, which is featured in four out of seven movements. The text alternates verses from Psalm 25 and poetry by an unknown librettist. Bach scored the work for four vocal parts and a small Baroque instrumental ensemble of two violins, bassoon and basso continuo.

Many scholars think that it may be the earliest extant cantata by Bach, possibly composed in Arnstadt in 1707.

Bach's original score is lost. The music survives in a copy made by C F Penzel, one of Bach's last pupils, after the composer's death. The date of composition is not known, and sources differ as to when and where Bach composed the work. However, the balance of opinion has moved towards a date at the beginning of Bach's career. It is not currently in dispute that it is one of Bach's earliest surviving cantatas. Suggestions for the place of composition have been:

The Bach scholar Andreas Glöckner argued in 1988 that the cantata may have been composed in Arnstadt. The scholar Hans-Joachim Schulze () identified in 2010 a remarkable acrostic in the concluding four movements (which he described in the 2010 Bach-Jahrbuch, the journal of the Neue Bachgesellschaft). Adjusting for transposition errors by the copyist, the initial letters should spell DOKTOR CONRAD MECKBACH and plausibly therefore the work was composed to mark this Mühlhausen councillor's 70th birthday in April 1707. On this basis the cantata may date from Bach's time in Arnstadt. Possibly the cantata was heard a few weeks later after the end of Lent, and thus it may have formed a test-piece for the Mühlhausen appointment, composed in Arnstadt with Bach's supporter Meckbach in mind.