Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63

Christen, ätzet diesen Tag (Christians, engrave this day) , BWV 63, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the cantata for the First Day of Christmas, possibly in 1713.

History and words

The prescribed readings for the feast day were Titus 2:11–14, "God's mercy appeared" (or Isaiah 9:2–7, "Unto us a child is born") and from the Gospel of Luke Luke 2:1–14, the Nativity, Annunciation to the shepherds and the angels' song

The text of the cantata, echoes of theologians in Halle, suggests that it was composed with Halle's Liebfrauenkirche in mind, possibly in 1713, when Bach applied to be organist of this church, or 1716, when he was involved in rebuilding its organ. The text is possibly by that church's 'Pastor primarius' Johann Michael Heineccius, who also wrote the librettis for other Bach cantatas definitely written for Halle.

The musicologist Philipp Spitta's theory that it was written for a 1723 premiere in Leipzig probably originated in several revivals of it by Bach, including one in Leipzig in 1723, Bach's first Christmas as cantor of the Thomaskirche.

External links

• Christen, ätzet diesen Tag on the International Music Score Library Project
• Cantata BWV 63 Christen, ätzet diesen Tag on the bach cantatas website
• German text and English translation, Emmanuel Music
• Christen, ätzet diesen Tag on the Bach website (German)
• BWV 63 Christen, ätzet diesen Tag text, structure, instrumentation, University of Alberta
• BWV 63 Christen, ätzet diesen Tag English text, University of Vermont