Especially due to the early date of its composition, from the pen of the just turned 22-year-old Johann Sebastian Bach, the cantata "The Lord careth for us" BWV 196 has its charm, and through its conciseness, as well as its simple scoring, it is quite accessible for performance by ensembles with only modest means.

The cantata was composed on the occasion of a wedding in the 1797/08, the details of which cannot be exactly ascertained. The text of the libretto contains no freely written poetry...