Composed for the first Sunday after Epiphany which fell on January 9, 1724, Bach's Cantata No. 154 "Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren" (My loving Jesus is lost) (BWV 154) sets an anonymous text. The chorale in its third movement is taken from Martin Jahn (1661), the chorale in its fifth movement is based on the Gospel According to Luke 2:49, and the chorale in its final movement is taken from Christian Keymann (1658). The cantata is scored for tenor, alto, and bass soloists and chorus, a pair of oboe d'amore, strings, and basso continuo. "Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren" starts in blackest, bleakest B minor with its first movement in the tonic; its second movement starts in F sharp minor, but ends on A major, the tonality of the third and fourth movements; its fifth and sixth movements are in F sharp minor; and its seventh and eighth movements are in D major. Thus, the cantata can be heard as moving from B minor through its minor dominant, which becomes the relative minor of the dominant of the bright D major in which the work closes. The first movement is in a sighing triple-time aria for tenor soloist, strings, and quasi-passacaglia continuo. The second movement is a secco recitative for tenor soloist and continuo. The third is strict harmonization of Jahn's chorale for chorus and full orchestra colla parte. The fourth is a gracious 12/8 aria for alto soloist, swirling oboe d'amore, strings in unison, and continuo. The fifth is an arioso for bass soloist and organ continuo and the sixth is an expansive secco recitative for soloist and continuo. The seventh is an even, more-spacious duet aria for alto and tenor soloists, full orchestra, and continuo, with an interpolated triple-time canon for the soloists above the continuo while the orchestra is silent. "Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren" concludes with a massive harmonization of the chorale for chorus and full orchestra colla parte.

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