Composed for the Twenty fifth Sunday after Trinity, which fell on November 14, 1723, Bach's Cantata No. 90 "Es reisset euch ein schrecklich Ende" (It ripens you for a shrieking end ) (BWV 90) sets an anonymous cantata text with a final chorale by Martin Moller's from 1584. Bach scholars agree that the text with its images of sin, punishment, and hell is one of most furious of all his cantatas. The cantata is scored for tenor, alto, and bass soloists and chorus, strings, and basso continuo with a trumpet in the third movement. "Es reisset euch ein schrecklich Ende" is relentlessly in demonic D minor with its first, second, fourth, and fifth movements in the tonic and its third movement in B flat major. The first movement is a stamping, triple-time da capo aria for tenor soloist with searing first violins, strings, and continuo. The second is a secco recitative for stunned alto soloist and continuo. The third is an aria in the form of a triple concerto for soprano soloist, brilliant solo trumpet, blistering first violins, and continuo. The fourth is a brief secco recitative for soloist and continuo. "Es reisset euch ein schrecklich Ende" concludes with a harmonization of Moller's chorale for chorus and full orchestra colla parte, but with one enormous change: at the close of the penultimate cadence, Bach substitutes D flat major for the expected D minor. This substitution resolves back to D minor, but in this context the final cadence to D major is particularly radiant.

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