In Johann Sebastian Bach's time, the election or inauguration of a new town council, normally an annual event, was celebrated with a church service. A cantata written for such occasion was indicated with the term German: Ratswahl (council election) or German: Ratswechsel (council change). Bach composed such cantatas for Mühlhausen and for Leipzig. Five of these cantatas (BWV 71, 119, 120.1, 29 and 69.2) are entirely extant. One further cantata, BWV 193.2, lost part of its music, and there are another five that have only been known to exist (two for Mühlhausen), or for which only the text is extant (three for Leipzig).
Bach worked in Mühlhausen from 1707 to 1708. His first council election cantata for that town was performed and printed in 1708. Two further works for council election in Mühlhausen, BWV 1138.1 (in 1709) and 1138.2 (in 1710) are documented. These latter works are entirely lost, in contrast to the first, BWV 71, of which both Bach's autograph and the contemporary print survive. During Bach's tenure as director musices in Leipzig, from 1723 to 1750, there were 27 instances where he had to provide music for the council election occasion. For 20 of these instances no music is known to be extant: the librettos of three cantatas, BWV 1139.1 (programmed in 1725 and 1751), 1140 (programmed in 1730) and 1141 (programmed in 1740), did however survive. Picander was the author of the first two of these librettos.
On 1 July 1707 Johann Sebastian Bach assumed the position of organist in the German: [[Blasiuskirche]] (Divi Blasii), one of two major churches in Mühlhausen. In that town, the council election cantata was performed on 4 February in the other major church, the German: [[St. Mary's Church, Mühlhausen|Marienkirche]] (St. Mary's Church), with a repeat performance of the work in the German: Blasiuskirche on the first Sunday after the day of the première. Customarily, the music and text of that cantata were printed on the town council's expenses.
Notwithstanding that Bach had left for a new position in Weimar in the second half of June 1708, he kept in contact with his former employers at Mühlhausen, for instance supervising the remodelling of the organ of the German: Blasiuskirche according to his design, which was not completed until 1709, and also writing two more council election cantatas for the town. Both text and music of these cantatas are lost, not even their title is known.
Bach's lost second council election cantata for Mühlhausen, BWV 1138.1 (formerly BWV Anh. 192), was composed for 4 February 1709.
Bach's lost third council election cantata for Mühlhausen, BWV 1138.2, was composed for 4 February 1710.
Bach was director musices of Leipzig's principal churches from late May 1723 until his death in July 1750.[1] In that town the council election service was held at the German: [[St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig|Nikolaikirche]] (St Nicholas Church) on the Monday following Bartholomew (Bartholomäus), 24 August. From 1723 to 1749 that were 27 occasions where Bach had to provide the music for this service. Four entirely extant cantatas cover, as far as known, only half a dozen of these occasions (1723, 1729 or earlier, 1731, 1739, 1748 and 1749). Another, partially lost, council election cantata was performed in 1727. For the 20 other occasions no music has been known to survive, although in a few instances (1725, 1730, 1740 and 1741), at least the libretto of the council election cantata is extant.
Philipp Spitta, Bach's 19th-century biographer, surmised that Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, BWV 137, a chorale cantata for Trinity XII, was performed as a council election cantata on 25 August 1732. According to later research, the cantata was first performed on 19 August 1725 (as part of Bach's chorale cantata cycle), while Spitta's hypothesis of a 1732 performance as council election cantata could not be proved.
An extant contemporary print of the libretto, recovered in the first decade of the 21st century, shows that the council election cantata Wünschet Jerusalem Glück (Wish luck to Jerusalem), BWV 1139.1 (formerly BWV Anh. 4), was first performed on 27 August 1725. The recovered text has these sections, which are assumed to have been the movements of Bach's composition:
| Incipit | Type | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wünschet Jerusalem Glück | Dictum | |
| 2 | Rühm' und lobe, sing' und preise | Aria | |
| 3 | Gott Lob! Der Herr hat viel an uns gethan | (Recitative) | |
| 4 | Der Höchste steh uns ferner bey | Arioso | |
| 5 | Herrscher aller Seraphinen | Aria | |
| 6 | Herr, weihe selbst das Regiment | (Recitative) | |
| 7 | Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich | Chorale |
A variant version of the cantata, BWV 1139.2 (formerly BWV Anh. 4a) was performed on 27 June 1730, as last of three cantatas Bach performed for the 200th Anniversary of the Augsburg Confession. Likely that version of the cantata, which is also lost apart from its libretto, shared the music of only three movements with the 1725 council election cantata.
Another performance of BWV 1139.1 as council election cantata is documented for 28 August 1741. According to the libretto published in the Nützliche Nachrichten of 1741, the cantata was then performed in a six-movement version, that is, without the central arioso movement of the first version, but including the "Herr, weihe selbst das Regiment" recitative.
Picander published his libretto German: Cantata auf die Raths-Wahl zu Leipzig, 1730 (Cantata on the council election at Leipzig, 1730) in 1732. Bach's lost setting of that libretto, German: Gott, gib dein Gerichte dem Könige (God, give now thy judgement unto the King), BWV 1140 (formerly), had been performed on 28 August 1730. Picander's text has these sections:
| Incipit | Type | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gott, gieb Dein Gerichte dem Könige | (Dictum) | |
| 2 | Höchster, zeige Dein Gerichte | Aria | |
| 3 | Herr Zebaoth, Du bist getreu | (Recitative and chorale) | |
| 4 | Wir schauen Wir bauen | Aria | |
| 5 | Darum verleih, Daß unser Regiment geruhig sey | (Recitative and chorale) |
The libretto of the lost council election cantata for 28 August 1740, Herrscher des Himmels, König der Ehren, BWV 1141 (formerly BWV Anh. 193), was published in the Nützliche Nachrichten of 1740, under this header:The libretto, the author of which is unknown, has these sections:
| Incipit | Type | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Herrscher des Himmels, König der Ehren | Chorus | |
| 2 | Gott, welcher selbst Regenten setzt | (Recitative) | |
| 3 | Gerechte müßen wie Palmen | Aria | |
| 4 | Gesegnete, beglückte Stadt | (Recitative) | |
| 5 | Dancke Gott, daß er in Segen | Aria | |
| 6 | So sencke doch, o Höchster, Geist und Kraft | (Recitative) | |
| 7 | Es falle ietzt auf uns dein himmliches Feuer | Chorus |