"Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen" (BWV 51) was intended by Bach for the 15th Sunday after Trinity “et in ogni tempo.” Its use going beyond the Sunday after Trinity must have been planned from the outset, for the text (by an unknown author) has practically no relationship to the Gospel reading for that Sunday whatsoever. On the other hand from the point of view of style, form and scoring it fits well into a series of post-Trinity cantatas of the 1726 annual cycle in that it closes a gap resulting from the 15th Sunday after its having fallen on the same day as the Feast of the Archangel Michael in 1726.
The text and music are completely attuned to glorification, adoration and jubilation. The clarity of form, virtuosity and concerto tone of the movements - particularly in parallel thirds and concertato dialogues between trumpets and treble - conspicuously call the cantatas of Alessandro Scarlatti to mind. But the affinity of inflections and techniques does nut disguise the fact that as far as Bach is concerned virtuosity is never an end in itself, but always remains related to the text. Between the two splendid C major movements there are two A minor pieces which contrast quiet praying gestures with louder jubilation. The recitative has the solemn prayer, with its quite simple chordal accompaniment, followed by an arioso in which the “Lallen” (stuttering) of the “schwachen Mundes” (broken voice) is graphically and symbolically illustrated by hesitant melismas and a bare minimum of musicians at that point.
The aria in 12/8 time suggests in its amiable rocking siciliano rhythm the realisation of divine goodness set forth in the text in the image of the Good shepherd. The concertato chorale arrangement with a subsequent free fugal alleluia provides the four-voiced chorale with which a series of solo cantatas of the 1726 annual cycle concludes.
"Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht" (BWV 52) for the 23rd Sunday after Trinity (November 24) in 1726 belongs to this cantata group of the third annual cycle, as do both Cantatas No. 55 written a week earlier and No. 56, which in turn was composed three weeks later. In this case too, the text author is unknown, but is distinctly different from Cantata No. 51 in the sense that the parable of paying taxes to Caesar is used to postulate the Christian’s determined rejection of the false world and his turning to God. The textual and musical structure of the work is very simple and directly intelligible: a recitative and an aria each describe the false world and the goodness of God. They are preceded by an instrumental sinfonia while the conclusion is formed by a chorale verse. The key sequence is just as clear: F major forms the framework, D minor and A minor are the false world, while B flat major is allotted to God’s realm. This simple basic plan is enriched by unusually colourful instrumentation resulting from use of the first movement of the Brandenburg Concerto (without violino piccolo) as the Sinfonia. The magnificent concerto sound of this sinfonia provides a contrast to the ascetic tone painting (2 violins and continuo) of the first aria in which the pious Christian, with contemptuous declamatory motifs (”Immerhin" - nevertheless) rejects the false world. The adamant rejection of the declamation in the first recitative is the antithesis of the soft, frequently repeated arioso motif “Gott ist getreu” (My God is true) in the second recitative; this is followed by the second aria when both the illuminating scoring (3 oboes) and almost polonaise-type dancing character symbolize the bright world of God and the “dance of the soul” on the part of the devout Christian. The full orchestra again joins in the concluding chorale verse, with the first horn augmenting the treble cantus firmus.
"Widerstehe doch der Sünde" (BWV 54) for Sunday "Oculi” (?) - an alto cantata with string accompaniment without choir - is one of the most impressive early Bach Cantatas, written in Weimar in 1714 to a 1711 text by the Darmstadt court poet Georg Christian Lehms. Bach let himself be inspired by the zealous note of the poetry, its wealth of pictures and its biblical allusions and composed a musical sermon which unites gloomy tension with extreme differentiation and which at the same time makes do with the simplest formal and instrumental means. The first aria describes in extremely bold fashion the temptation of sin and the Christian’s struggle to withstand sin - the one in softly flattering melodic turns, the other in the signal-style dissonance of the beginning (dominant seventh chord above tonic pedal point!) in tortuous suspended dissonances and daring modulations. Just as graphically, with the simplest means, the recitative paints the “ubertünchte Grab” (a whited sepulchre) and the ”scharfe Schwert” (the sharp sword) of sin. The final aria is a four-part fugal movement which absolutely bores its way into the repudiation of sin: with lamenting “sin chromatics,” burrowing semi-quavers on ”Teufel” (devil) and a lead voice revelling in dissonances, a terrible vision is conjured up, the like of which can scarcely be found in Bach’s works.
"Ich armer Mensch, /ch Sündenknecht" (BWV 55), written for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity (November 17) in 1726 and dealing with the Gospel depicting the funlaithful servant, covers almost the same subjet t as the early work from Weimar but with a conspicuous shift in perspectives - no longer as a, so to speak, apocalyptic sermon, but as a subjective confession and plea for mercy. The anonymous poetic setting is, as with the solo cantatas composed at the same time, simply structured as regards form and content: an aria and a recitative each deal with the sinfulness of man and with God's mercy, a chorale verse forming the conclusion. The keys of sin are G minor and (in the recitative) C and D minor; the plea for mercy is in D minor and (in the textually linked recitative) in B flat major; the concluding chorus is in B flat major. The unusual tonal openness of the cantata thus manifestly signifies the movement from remorse for sins to consolation through Christ’s sacrificial death. It is in keeping with this that the two arias are entirely taken up with the torments of sin and contrition - by way of the high position of the instruments and the lack of an instrumental middle ground, as well  as the extremely high tessitura of the tenor and that the chorus, as opposed to the subsequent composition of the same verse in the St Matthew Passion, is kept in a markedly modest style, thus being more effectively distinguished and in a more consoling manner than the foregoing sections.
"Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen" (BWV 56) was composed three weeks before Cantata No. 55 and displays exactly the same arrangement, in addition to a similar key sequence from G minor via B flat major to C minor. Its abundance of contrasts and pictures in detail, to which the lyrically significant text of an unknown poet inspired the composer, is all the more unusual. The introductory aria is already unconventional in its bar form (AA'B) and is exceedingly impressive in the contrast of the musical symbols for ”Kreuzstab” (cross-staff) and "tragen" (carry) to the consoling rocking melody of the B section (”Da leg' ich den Kummer auf einmal ins Grab”). The subsequent accompagnato depicts the allegorical ”Schiffahrt” (sea journey) of human life and the arrival in port (the wave motion in the violoncello ceases!) with sober forcefulness. Certainty of faith and the joy of believing are reflected by the second aria which is a consistent counterpart to the first aria in its regular da capo structure, dance rhythm and solo oboe. The following accompagnato - with appropriate interpretation of the text - leads into a repetition of the first aria's B section; an element with touching effect which was certainly a poetic-musical idea of Bach’s rather than one by the text author. The concluding chorus in its rich palette of harmonies, and in details such as the emphatic syncopation of the beginning, displays once more the loving attention to an overall formal plan entailing the finest of details which so especially sets its seal upon this cantata and because of which it has quite rightly become one of the most popular Bach cantatas.