The three-day festival of Easter was initially observed in the Heinrich Sch¨¹tz Resurrection History:? Historia der Auferstehung Christi, SWV 50, his first Historiae of 1623, with the Resurrection story (John 20:1-18), the Walk to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), and the Upper Room meeting of Jesus and His Disciples (Luke 24:36-49).? In 1725, during his second (chorale cantata) cycle, Bach ceased composing and presenting chorale cantatas on Easter Sunday with Cantata 4.2 (), although Bach selectively added per omnes versus chorale cantatas to fill selected services (see :? scroll down to "Later additions to the chorale cantata cycle").? Tradition shows that in Bach's time in Leipzig, Easter Tuesday as a feast day was not observed while his closest competitor, Telemann in Hamburg, composed Easter oratorios for two oratorio cycles in the early 1730s and one sacred oratorio, Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu, TWV 6:6 (, in 1760.
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The Easter Vigil, held in darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day, is a vespers of prayer and liturgy ().? Holy Saturday uses the gospel of Matthew 27:57-66 (Burial of Jesus, ).? This is appropriate for both Bach's one-year lectionary and today's three-year Revised Common Lectionary, observes John S. Setterlund.? His preferred work for this day is Cantata 156 (3rd Sunday after Epiphany, , .? The Christian Worship lectionary of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (2021, ) prefers the St. Matthew Passion closing (parts 62-68, see ) or Cantata 106 (funeral music, , ). While the three day festival of Easter is not observed much today, other observances are, such as Easter Sunrise outdoor vigil (), using the gospel of John, 20:1-18 (Resurrection of Jesus, ), reading preferred in the one- and three-year lectionaries:? Year C, 20 April 2025, preferred Easter Oratorio, BWV 249.3 (, ), alternate Cantata 67 (Quasimodogeniti Sunday, , ); Year A, 5 April 2026, preferred Cantata 66 (Easter Monday, , ), alternate Cantata 31.2 (Easter Sunday, , ), Bach's one-year lectionary, preferred Easter Oratorio, BWV 249.3 (see above, Year C); Year B, 27 march 2027, preferred Cantata 4 (Easter Sunday, , ), alternate Cantata 137 (12th Sunday after Trinity, , ).
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Easter Day:? Year C, 20 April 2025, gospel Luke 24:1-12 (Resurrection of Jesus, ), or John 20:1-18 (Resurrection of Jesus, ), preferred Cantata 137 (12th Sunday after Trinity, , ), alternate Cantata 66 (Easter Monday, , ); Year A, 5 April 2026, gospel Matthew 28:1-10 (Resurrection of Jesus, ) or John 20:1-18, Resurrection of Jesus, ), preferred Cantata 149 (Michael's Feast Day, , ), alternate Cantata 158 (Purification of Mary or 3rd Day of Easter, , ); Year B, 28 March 2027, gospel Mark 16:1-8 (Resurrection of Jesus, ) or John 20:1-18 (Resurrection of Jesus, ), preferred Cantata 31.2 (Easter Sunday, ), alternate Easter Oratorio BWV 249 (Easter Sunday), );?
Bach's one-year lectionary, gospel Mark 16:1-8 (see above, Year B).
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Easter Evening:? Year C, 20 April 2025, gospel Luke 24:13-49 (Walk to Emmaus) or John 20:1-18 (Resurrection of Jesus),? preferred Cantata 158 (see above, Easter Day, Year A alternate), alternate Cantata 130.1 (Michael's Feast Day, , ); Year A, 5 April 2026, gospel Luke 24:13-49, Walk to Emmaus, 0, preferred chorale Cantata 4, (Easter Sunday, , ), alternate Cantata 42 (Quasimodogeniti [lst Sunday after Easter, , ); Year B, 28 March 2027, gospel Luke 24:13-49 (Walk to Emmaus, 0), preferred Cantata 6 (Easter Monday, , ), alternate Cantata 149 (see above, Easter Day, Year A).
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Easter Monday (same as Easter Evening or 1st Sunday after Easter (Quasimodogeniti), gospel John 20:19-31 (Jesus appears to His Disciples, or Easter Tuesday), Year C, gospel Matthew 28:9-15 (Jesus appears to His Disciples, ), preferred Cantata 134.3 (Easter Tuesday, , ); for Easter Monday, Bach in his own one-year lectionary composed Cantatas BWV 66 and 6, according to Supplement:? "Bach's Own Lectionary," according to John S. Setterlund (Ibid.:? 173).
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Easter Tuesday, gospel Luke 24:36-49 (Jesus appears to His Disciples, ); preferred?
Cantatas 134 (see above, Easter Monday Year C preferred) and 158 (see above, Easter Evening Year C preferred), Bach composed both cantatas in his own one-year lectionary, says Setterlund (Ibid.:? 173).
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Easter Wednesday (), gospel John 21:1-14 (Jesus appears to 7 Disciples, ) and in Bach's one-year lectionary, or Matthew 26:14-25 (Judas agrees to betray Jesus, ), preferred "chorale" Cantata 93 (5th Sunday after Trinity, , ), alternate Cantata 134 (see above, Easter Monday Year C).
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ENDNOTES
1 John S. Setterlund, Bach Through the Year: The Church Music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the Revised Common Lectionary, 2nd ed. (Burnsville MN: Kirk House Publishers, 2024:? 148), .
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To Come:? 1st Sunday after Easter (Quasimodogeniti, as new-born babes)
William Hoffman