Prepare ye the way of the Lord BWV 132

Bach’s cantata BWV 132 was written for the 4th Sunday in Advent, and the autograph score is dated 1715. It was composed while Bach was at Weimar, to a libretto by the Weimar Court Preacher Salomon Franck. Its subject matter is the testimony of John the Baptist addressed to the Christian community and to individual believers. Since the original concluding chorale, the fifth verse of the hymn “Herr Christ der einig Gotts Sohn" (Elisabeth Cruziger), has been lost, here the cantata ends with the last movement (transposed from B flat to A major), to the same words, of the cantata BWV 164.

Scoring: Soli SATB, Coro SATB, Ob, Fg, 2 Vl, Va, Vc, Bc