(I will the cross-staff gladly carry) for bass, vocal ensemble, oboe I+II, taille, violoncello, strings and basso continuo.

The cantata “I will the cross-staff gladly carry” was written for the 19th Sunday after Trinity in 1726. Thanks to recent scholarship, the long unknown librettist has been identified as Christoph Birkmann (1703–1771), a theologian from Nuremberg. Birkmann belonged to Bach’s circle of students during his studies in Leipzig and apparently wrote numerous libretti of striking eloquence for the Thomascantor.