In March 1714, Bach was promoted form his position as organist at the Weimar court to that of concertmaster. Among his new duties was the preparation and performance of a cantata once a month, and it is to this responsibility that we owe most of the cantatas he composed in Weimar. The large scale of BWV 63 ("Christians, engrave this day"), the first cantata Bach composed for Christmas Day, has led many authorities to believe that it may not only have been composed for performance elsewhere, but that it may also have been originally intended as a cantata for the feast of the Reformation, an important date in the Lutheran calendar. The text, all but certainly written by J. M. Heinicius, a pastor in Halle, in fact makes few direct references to Christmas, and it could easily have been an adaptation. Composed in either 1714 or 1715, the work is unusual in several respects. There are no arias, no chorale, no direct biblical quotation, and, rare in Bach, the scoring calls for no less than four trumpets in addition to timpani, two oboes, bassoon, strings, and continuo. The cantata is framed by extensive da capo choruses, the opening one being a brilliantly joyful piece bearing comparison with the first chorus of the Christmas Oratorio. The concluding chorus is in perfect symmetry, being another festive movement that opens with a vibrant orchestral introduction before the homophony of the choral entry gives way to an energetic double fugue. Between these two celebratory choruses comes an alternation of recitatives and two duets, one for the soprano and bass soloists, the other allotted to the alto and tenor. The first is a particularly beautiful A minor adagio in which the singers call upon the trust in God "which will delight us eternally." The lively dance rhythms of the duet for alto and tenor underline the call to Christians to rejoice in what God has done for them in sending his son to earth in human form. Whatever its origination, Bach obviously thought sufficiently highly of the cantata to revive it for his first Christmas in Leipzig (1723), and on several subsequent occasions.

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