Werk BWV 68

Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt (God so loved the world),[1] BWV 68, is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, a church cantata for the second day of Pentecost. Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig and first performed it on 21 May 1725. It is one of nine cantatas on texts by Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, which Bach composed at the end of his second annual cycle of cantatas in Leipzig. In a unique structure among Bach's church cantatas, it begins with a chorale and ends with a complex choral movement on a quotation from the Gospel of John. Bach derived the two arias from his Hunting Cantata. He scored the cantata for two soloists, soprano and bass, a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of a horn, cornett, three trombones, two oboes, taille (tenor oboe), strings and basso continuo.