O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20
| O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort | |
|---|---|
| BWV 20 | |
| Chorale cantata by J. S. Bach | |
Nikolaikirche, c. 1850
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| Occasion | First Sunday after Trinity |
| Performed | 11 June 1724: Leipzig |
| Movements | 11 in two parts (7, 4) |
| Cantata text | anonymous |
| Chorale | "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort" by Johann Rist |
| Vocal |
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| Instrumental |
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O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (O eternity, you word of thunder),BWV 20, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the first Sunday after Trinity Sunday and first performed it on 11 June 1724. It is the first cantata he composed for his chorale cantata cycle, the second annual cycle he started in Leipzig. The cantata is based on Johann Rist's hymn "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort" (1642), with a chorale melody by Johann Schop.
Bach composed the cantata for the First Sunday after Trinity. The Sunday marks the beginning of the second half of the liturgical year, "in which core issues of faith and doctrine are explored". The year before, Bach had taken office as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. He was responsible for the education of the Thomanerchor, performances in the regular services in the Thomaskirche, the Nikolaikirche and others. He had started the project of composing one cantata for each Sunday and holiday of the liturgical year, termed by Christoph Wolff "an artistic undertaking on the largest scale". In 1724 he started a project on the first Sunday after Trinity to exclusively compose chorale cantatas, based on the main Lutheran hymn for the respective occasion, beginning with this cantata. Leipzig had a tradition of concentrating on the hymns. In 1690, the minister of the Thomaskirche, Johann Benedikt Carpzov, had announced that he would preach also on songs and that Johann Schelle, then the director of music, would play the song before the sermon. Bach composed some forty chorale cantatas in his second cycle.
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