Kantate, BWV 122 "Das neugeborne Kindelein"

Das neugeborne Kindelein (The newborn little Child), BWV 122, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the chorale cantata in six movements in Leipzig for the Sunday after Christmas and first performed it on 31 December 1724. It is based on a 1597 hymn of the same name by Cyriakus Schneegaß. The work is part of Bach's chorale cantata cycle; in the format of this cycle, the text of the first and last stanzas of the hymn is retained unchanged while the text of the inner stanzas was paraphrased by an unknown librettist into a sequence of alternating arias and recitatives. The cantata is opened by a chorale fantasia and closed by a chorale setting. It is scored for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of recorders, oboes, strings and basso continuo.