Bach, Johann Sebastian : Der Friede sei mit dir

The cantata Der Friede sei mit dir is one of those works of Bachís which present the most problems. Neither the author of the text nor the history of the workís composition is known to us; and to judge by appearances, the version that has come down to us is but a fragment compounded of a number of once disparate elements, and gives little indication of the workís original form.

Yet the movements that have come down to us are of such uncommon musical interest that we would not want to be deprived of them just because they may be incomplete. The modesty of its requirements is at least in part responsible for the comparatively wide popularity enjoyed by this cantata.