(May peace now be with thee) for bass, vocal ensemble, oboe, strings and basso continuo

Bach’s third bass cantata, BWV 158, is often to be found on CD compilations together with the famous “Kreuzstab” and “Ich habe genug” bass cantatas, and while this makes for most sensible programming, BWV 158 generally seems to come off as the poor cousin of the trio. Indeed, the cantata’s disparate themes of rejection of the world and the Easter message lends the composition a somewhat bizarre tension, a circumstance that may well be explained by the work’s divergent manuscripts, which survive only in transcripts by Bach’s students. Nevertheless, the cantata’s extant sources suggest that it was initially written for the Feast of Purification (Simeon’s Day, 2 February), and then reassigned in part and reorchestrated for the Third Day of Easter.