Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750):
Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht, BWV 55
Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067
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Melchior HOFFMANN (1679-1715):
Meine Seele rühmt und preist (in the past listed under J. S. Bach’s works as BWV 189)
Johann Sebastian BACH:
Ich habe genug, BWV 82 (version for high voice)

In the 18th century, Leipzig was a proud and powerful Protestant trading city with impressive churches, a university, public lighting and a thriving concert society. When Bach moved there from Köthen in 1723, he used all his skills to prove that the self-conscious citizens had made the right choice in electing him to the position of Thomaskantor and, in addition to his church music works, he also sought to demonstrate his proficiency in fashionable secular music.
Under his contract, the cantor of St. Thomas Church did not simply serve at the services of the central church of the city. He had to teach and supervise at St. Thomas School, and had to organize the musical schedule of the other important churches of the city. However, Bach was not fully content with these responsibilities only: over time, he also took over the leadership of Collegium Musicum, the concert society, founded by Telemann, the (the elegance of which is evoked in the programme by the Suite in B minor), and from then he was in control over Leipzig’s musical life just like Buxtehude was in Lübeck. The two cantatas you are about to hear were composed during his early years in Leipzig: Ich armer Mensch in 1726 for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity, and Ich habe genug in 1727 for the Feast of the Purification of Mary. Both are solo cantatas, the first one for tenor, the second one for bass, and there are also soprano versions. Melchior Hoffmann, the successor to Telemann as director of the Collegium Musicum, also composed his work for a tenor soloist. That piece was attributed to Bach for a time and included in his oeuvre under catalogue number BWV 189.