Composed for the First Sunday after Epiphany, which fell on January 7, 1725, Bach's Cantata No. 124 "Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht" (My Jesus, let me not) (BWV 124) sets two chorales by Christian Keymann in the outer choruses with the inner movements setting an anonymous text based on the

Gospel According to Luke 2, 41-52. The text repudiates the empty and evil world for a life with God and Bach's music typically seems more comfortable depicting pain and suffering than belief and faith. The cantata is scored for tenor, bass, soprano and alto soloists, chorus, concertante oboe d'amore, strings, and basso continuo with a coronet doubling the choral sopranos in the outer movements. "Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht" opens and closes in E major, with its second movement starting the subdominant of A major and modulating to the relative minor of C sharp minor. The third is in F sharp minor and its fourth starts in G sharp minor and modulates to A major at the close, the same tonality of its fifth movement. The first movement is essentially a concerto for oboe d'amore and strings with the chorus intoning a harmonized version of Keymann's chorale. The second movement is a very dry secco recitative for tenor and continuo and the third is, in effect, a double concerto for oboe d'amore and tenor soloist accompanied by stabbing strings above a steadfast continuo. The fourth movement is another secco recitative, this time for bass soloist and continuo. The fifth is an aria duetto for soprano and alto soloists above a confidently striding continuo. "Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht" concludes with a harmonization of Martin Luther's second chorale for chorus and full orchestra colla parte.

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