(I stand with one foot in the grave now) for soprano, alto, tenor and bass, oboe, strings and continuo.

Cantata BWV 156 is distinguished by its poignant language and intimate scoring, and thus resembles the compositions of Bach’s Weimar period. But in fact, it belongs to the works that Bach, at least in part, composed for a text cycle by Picander, Bach’s “house poet” in Leipzig, and that was most likely first performed on 23 January 1729. The original parts are lost, and even the oldest surviving copy of the score probably did not find its way back to Leipzig until 1756 when Johann Friedrich Doles took up the position of Thomascantor. Nevertheless, there are an astounding number of copies remaining from around 1830, indicating that this cantata particularly appealed to Bach’s admirers from the romantic period.