Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd

The instrumental lineup of Bach’s Cantata 208 couldn’t be more explicit. Included are two corni da caccia (hunting horns), plus an oboe da caccia. And since the countryside supplies the backdrop, there’s a pair of recorders for bucolic good measure. Written as a birthday tribute to Christian Duke of Sachsen-Weißenfels, an enthusiastic huntsman and neighbour of Bach's Weimar employer, it marries mythology (loosely) and “many happy returns” with unblushing sycophancy and aplomb. Lining up to praise Christian are Diana, goddess of hunting, her frustrated lover Endymion, Pan, and the deity Pales whose responsibility for shepherds and their flocks occasions the cantata’s most famous number: “Schafe können sicher weiden” (“Sheep May Safely Graze”). Throughout the Hunt Cantata is a breezy out-of-doors rusticity, adding buoyancy to music full of youthful vitality. Little wonder Bach returned to the score several times over the next three decades. The scoring is artful, and only in the final chorus does Bach bring all his sizeable forces together, ensuring that the birthday festivities end with a great aural fireworks display.