Bach was
Thomaskantor, responsible for church music at four churches in
Leipzig, a position he had assumed in 1723. Bach had presented
church cantatas for the
Christmas season in the
Thomaskirche and
Nikolaikirche, including two cantatas for Epiphany: • As part of
his first cantata cycle:
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65, first performed in 1724. • As part of
his second cantata cycle:
Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen, BWV 123, first performed in 1725. For the oratorio, the libretto by an unknown author followed the
Nativity of Jesus from the
Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with reflective texts for
recitatives and
arias, and stanzas from two
Lutheran hymns. Bach led the first performances with the
Thomanerchor at the two main churches of Leipzig on 6 January 1735. The cantata transmitted in the BWV 248a fragment, consisting of four revised performance parts in the bundle of contemporary performance material for , is a sacred cantata for
Michaelmas (29 September), likely first performed in 1734. While nothing more survives of the Michaelmas cantata as such, the four revised performance parts show that most of its music, including the music of its opening chorus and recitatives, was
parodied in Part VI of the
Christmas Oratorio. == Music ==