The cantata Bereitet die Wege is one of the few works by Johann Sebastian Bach of which we know fairly well how it came into being. The autograph full score bears the date 1715; Bach therefore composed the piece for the church service given by the Weimar court orchestra (of which he was the concert master) on 22 December, the fourth Sunday in Advent, in the year 1715.

We even know the author of the words: it was the High Ecclesiastical Secretary in Weimar, Salomon Franck, who wrote the poem e...