Which work is an Easter text-based cantata and among the earliest surviving cantatas?

• A. Christ lag in Todesbanden
• B. Well-Tempered Clavier
• C. St. Matthew's Passion
• D. Brandenburg Concertos

Answer: (A)

In Baroque sacred music, a cantata often centers a liturgical narrative around a chorale or hymn text, reworking it into a dramatic sequence of recitatives, arias, and chorale movements for a church service. Christ lag in Todes Banden fits this pattern exactly: it uses the Easter hymn Christ lag in Todes Banden as its thematic basis and presents a compact, Easter-themed dramatic structure. Composed in Bach’s early period, it’s one of the earliest surviving cantatas and shows how the cantata form developed from liturgical hymn settings into fuller vocal-instrumental works for worship.

The other works don’t fit this category. The Well-Tempered Clavier is a keyboard collection without vocal text. St. Matthew’s Passion is a large-scale sacred work on the Passion narrative rather than an Easter cantata, and the Brandenburg Concertos are entirely instrumental concertos.