Der Friede sei mit dir (Peace be with you), BWV 158, is one of the shortest of the cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach and features a bass soloist.
[2] The surviving source is a copy by Penzel, identified on the title page as being for the Purification (the Lutheran feast Mariae Reinigung), which was celebrated on 2 February, but with an alternate designation for Easter Tuesday in the parts.
[3] Because of the references to the "Nunc dimittis" in Der Friede sei mit dir and because of the alternate title page designation, it is widely assumed that at least the two central movements were originally part of a longer cantata for the Purification, with a different introductory recitative not evoking Christ's Easter reappearance to the disciples.
The obbligato writing in the aria, which appears better suited to flute than the "violino" specified in Penzel's copy, is cited in support of the hypothesis that it was originally written for a different occasion.
The second movement is "a fusion of a dulcet aria in the form of a trio sonata" for bass, violin, and continuo, with interspersed lines from the chorale performed by soprano and oboe.