One of Bach's greatest and most famous Cantatas, the Cantata 140 has left behind a tremendous legacy of some of the most famous choral and vocal music written to date.
The monumental piece was composed in Leipzig and premiered in 1731.

The first movement, a Chorale fantasia, utilizes two distinct motifs, a dotted rhythm motif, and an ascending scale motif which Bach expands with the power of his free polyphony. The fantasia concludes with a beautiful melismatic fugato on the word "Hallelujah."

Of this movement, John Eliot Garden writes, "From this a rising syncopated figure emerges, taken up later on by the altos as they lead off with their funky 'alleluia' figure and adopted by all the other singers. If anyone in the posh world of classical music ever doubted that JS Bach could also be considered the father of jazz, here is the proof."

After a recitative for tenor, calling the Daughters of Zion, a beautiful aria duet ensues with a solo violin accompanying. The soprano voice represents the Soul and the bass is representative of the voice of Jesus. The violin illustrates the flickering oil lamps with its rolling cascades of semidemiquavers.

The fourth movement is the most popular: "Zion hört die Wächter singen" (Zion hears the watchmen singing). It is in the style of a choral prelude with phrases of the chorale sung as a cantus firmus by the tenor(s), which works beautiful against the famous sweeping violin melody which echoes nothing but sweetness and majesty.

After a recitative for Bass, another, this time lighter, duet ensues between the Bass and Soprano titled "Mein Freund ist mein!" (My Friend is mine!). With a beautiful oboe accompanying this time, the. soprano is once again symbolic of the soul and the bass is symbolic of Jesus Christ. Bach's setting of an operatic love-duet with its flourishing thirds and sixths to depict this symbol gives the text an added feeling of unified joy showing a relaxed mood that is yet still filled with emotional intensity.

The Cantata ends with a four voice Chorale titled: "Gloria sei dir gesungen" (Let Gloria be sung to You). It is one of Bach's most famous chorales ever written and its harmonic setting is still widely used for various hymns in Christian churches throughout the world to this day.

The Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann sees the cantata as one of the composer's "most beautiful, most mature and, at the same time, most popular sacred cantatas". Dürr notes that the cantata, especially the duets in a unity of "earthly happiness in love and heavenly bliss", are an expression of Christian mysticism in art. William G. Whittaker calls it "a cantata without weakness, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order"

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Wishing Bach the best 335th birthday.

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