Kantate, BWV 108 "Es ist euch gut, daß ich hingehe"

Es ist euch gut, daß ich hingehe (It is good for you that I leave), BWV 108, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for Cantate Sunday, the fourth Sunday after Easter, and first performed it on 29 April 1725.

It is the second of nine cantatas on texts by Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, with whom he collaborated at the end of his second cantata cycle. She used two quotations from the prescribed gospel from the Farewell Discourse and closed the cantata with a stanza from Paul Gerhardt's "Gott Vater, sende deinen Geist". The topic is the prediction of Jesus of his parting and the coming of the Spirit as a comforter. The first announcement is sung by the bass as the vox Christi, the second, in the centre of the work, by the choir in three fugues combined in motet style but unified by similar themes. Bach scored the cantata for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes d'amore, strings and continuo. He used elements of word-painting, such as very long notes to illustrate firm belief, and sigh motifs interrupted by rests to illustrate the desiring heart.