List of church cantatas by liturgical occasion

The following is a list of church cantatas, sorted by the liturgical occasion for which they were composed and performed. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, although there are later examples.

The liturgical calendar of the German Reformation era had, without counting Reformation Day and days between Palm Sunday and Easter, 72 occasions for which a cantata could be presented. Composers such as Telemann composed cycles of church cantatas comprising all 72 occasions (e.g. Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst). Such a cycle is called an "ideal" cycle, while in any given liturgical year feast days could coincide with Sundays, and the maximum number of Sundays after Epiphany and the maximum number of Sundays after Trinity could not all occur.

In some places, of which Leipzig in Johann Sebastian Bach's time is best known, no concerted music was allowed for the three last Sundays of Advent, nor for the Sundays of Lent (apart when Annunciation fell on a Sunday in that period, or in Holy Week), so the "ideal" year cycle (German: Jahrgang) for such places comprised only 64 cantatas (or 63 without the cantata for Reformation Day).^[1]

As the bulk of extant cantatas were composed for occasions occurring in the liturgical calendar of the German Reformation era, including Passion cantatas for Good Friday, that calendar is followed for the presentation of cantatas in this section. Most cantatas made reference to the content of the readings and to Lutheran hymns appropriate for the occasion. The melodies of such hymns often appeared in cantatas, for example as in the four-part settings concluding Bach's works, or as a cantus firmus in larger choral movements. Other occasions for church cantatas include weddings and funeral services. Thus below also readings and hymns associated with the occasion are listed, for the hymns for instance based on Vopelius' Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch.^[2] Data such as readings and hymns generally apply to Bach's Leipzig: differences may occur in other places, or other times, as indicated.