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List of songs and arias by Johann Sebastian Bach

Wikimedia list of musical works by composer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 8, 2025
Entity authorityQ2916335
Source-derived summary

Songs and arias by Johann Sebastian Bach are compositions listed in Chapter 6 of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV 439–524), which also includes the Quodlibet. Most of the songs and arias included in this list are set for voice and continuo. Most of them are also spiritual, i.e. hymn settings, although a few have a worldly theme. The best known of these, "Bist du bei mir", was however not composed by Bach.

An aria by Bach was rediscovered in the 21st century, and was assigned the number BWV 1127. Further hymn settings and arias by Bach are included in his cantatas, motets, masses, passions, oratorios and chorale harmonisations (BWV 1–438 and later additions). The second Anhang of the BWV catalogue also lists a few songs of doubtful authenticity.

Songs, arias and Quodlibet, BWV 439–524

Sacred songs and arias from Schemelli's Songbook (BWV 439–507)

The hymnal or song book known as Schemellis Gesangbuch, published 1736 in Leipzig by Georg Christian Schemelli, contained 954 hymns; 69 of these, listed here, were accompanied by a melody and a figured bass.

BWV 439 – Ach, dass nicht die letzte Stunde

BWV 440 – Auf, auf!

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “List of songs and arias by Johann Sebastian Bach” is wikimedia list of musical works by composer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through List, songs and arias, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1127, 1736—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, List, songs and arias is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “wikimedia list of musical works by composer” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2916335. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1127 and 1736.

Critical limits

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from List of songs and arias by Johann Sebastian Bach” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.