Sheep may safely graze

Common card · No. 449329

"Sheep may safely graze" (German: Schafe können sicher weiden) is a soprano aria by Johann Sebastian Bach to words by Salomon Franck. The piece was written in 1713 and is part of the cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 (Only the lively hunt pleases me), also known as the Hunting Cantata. Like Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", "Sheep may safely graze" is frequently played at weddings. However, the cantata BWV 208 was originally written for a birthday celebration of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. Bach was based at the nearby court of Weimar, and musicians from both courts appear to have joined in the first performance in Weißenfels. Bach is known to have used the music again for other celebrations, but it remained unpublished until after his death.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Johann Ernst Rentsch the Elder (d. 1723), Public domain