Composed for Michaelmas, 1724, Bach's cantata "Herr Gott dich loben alle wir" belongs to the cycle of chorale cantatas which uses a hymn, as perhaps various preachers also did, to interptet the ideas of the Biblical texts.  The hymn used here, composed by Paul Eber in 1554, has twelve stanzas.  Texts for two recitatives and two arias were written to go with each of stanzas 2 to 10.  Bach used the first stanza as a processional, and the last two stanzas were made into a concluding chorale with the original text.<br>