Picander cycle

Picander's cycle of 1728–29 is a year cycle of church cantata librettos, published for the first time in 1728 as Cantaten auf die Sonn- und Fest-Tage durch das gantze Jahr (Cantatas for the Sun- and feastdays throughout the year). Johann Sebastian Bach set several of these librettos, but it is unknown whether he covered a substantial part of the cycle. This elusive cycle of cantata settings is indicated as the composer's fourth Leipzig cycle, or the Picander cycle (German: Picander Jahrgang).

A few questions regarding the collaboration between Bach and Picander regularly return in the scholarly literature on the subject. A first question is when they started to collaborate actively: that may have been as early as 1723 or as late as 1729. Another one is how many Picander texts were set by Bach: apparently as good as nothing from Picander's 1724–25 cycle, and from all other settings, including the St Matthew Passion, no more than around a dozen settings is extant. Finally: how did Bach and Picander get along? Picander was primarily a satirist producing lighthearted poetry, how come that his spiritual poetry, deemed without particular intrinsic qualities, led, when set by Bach, to sacred masterpieces? The collaboration seems unlikely: the serious Bach and the jocular librettist.

According to Spitta, Bach chose Picander among other poets producing sacred poetry, such as Erdmann Neumeister and Salomon Franck, because Picander had little talents apart from having a swift pen and some affinity with music, that is, he could develop almost anything into lyrics, and so was amenageable to produce texts tailored to the composer's expectations. A supposedly cordial relationship between the poet and the composer is illustrated by the fact that Picander's wife became a sponsor to Bach's daughter Johanna Carolina, born in 1737.

Besides, Bach may have been grave in religious matters, he had a humorous side too, for instance illustrated by the quodlibets on popular tunes he produced early in his career (BWV 524) as well as later on (BWV 988/31, 1741). When producing secular cantatas such as Hercules auf dem Scheidewege (1731), the Coffee Cantata, and the 1742 Peasant Cantata, the composer and satirist seem to have been likeminded.

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