Erschallet, ihr Lieder is an early work in a genre to which he later contributed complete cantata cycles for all occasions of the liturgical year.

The librettist included a quotation from the day's prescribed Gospel reading in the only recitative, and for the closing chorale he used a stanza from Philipp Nicolai's hymn "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" (1599).

The work is in six movements, and scored for four vocal soloists, four-part choir, three trumpets, timpani, oboe, bassoon and a string orchestra of two violins, two violas, and basso continuo.

The cantata opens with a chorus, followed by the recitative, in which words spoken by Jesus are sung by the bass as the vox Christi (voice of Christ).

This is followed by an intimate duet of the Soul (soprano) and the Spirit (alto), to which an oboe plays the ornamented melody of Martin Luther's hymn "Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott" and a solo cello provides the bass line.

While Bach served as Thomaskantor – director of church music – in Leipzig from 1723, he performed the cantata several times, sometimes in a different key and with changes in the scoring.

It contains features that he used again in later compositions of cantatas, oratorios and his masses, for example movements with three trumpets and timpani in a triple meter for festive occasions, and duets as a symbol of God and man.

Christoph Wolff suggests that Bach may have studied musical material belonging to the Hofkapelle, ("court capelle" or court orchestra), and that he copied and studied works by Johann Philipp Krieger, Christoph Graupner, Georg Philipp Telemann, Marco Giuseppe Peranda and Johann David Heinichen in the period from 1711 to 1713.

[8] Zachow had taught the young George Frideric Handel, and composed many church cantatas in the new style, adopting recitatives and arias from the Italian opera.

Bach was promoted to Konzertmeister on 2 March 1714, an honour that entailed performing a church cantata monthly in the Schlosskirche:[11] With the appointment, he received the title Konzertmeister and new privileges: "das praedicat eines Concert-Meisters mit angezeigtem Rang nach dem Vice-Capellmeister ... dargegen Er Monatlich neüe Stücke ufführen, und zu solchen Proben die Capell Musici uf sein Verlangen zu erscheinen schuldig ... gehalten seyn sollen" (the title of a concert master, next in rank to the vice chapel master ... for which he is to perform new pieces each month, and the chapel musicians shall be under a duty to attend such rehearsals as he may require).

He was inspired by a collaboration with the court poet Salomon Franck, who provided the texts for most of his church cantatas, capturing a "pure, straightforward theological message" in "elegant poetic language".

[16] One month after Erschallet, ihr Lieder, Bach performed Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21, on the third Sunday after Trinity, again on a text by Franck.

[27] With Bach's appointment to concert master and his regular monthly cantata compositions, he achieved permission to hold rehearsals in the church, to ensure high performance standards: "the rehearsing of the pieces at the home [of the capellmeister] has been changed, and it is ordered that it must always take place at the Kirchen-Capelle [the music gallery in the palace church], and this is also to be observed by the Capellmeister".

[34][35] In the Weimar version, Bach scored the cantata four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir, and an orchestra of three trumpets (Tr), timpani (Ti), recorder (Fl) or flauto traverso (Ft), oboe d'amore (Oa), two violins (Vl), two violas (Va), bassoon (Fg), cello (Vc), and basso continuo (Bc).

He described Pentecost as "the culmination of those 'great fifty days' which follow the Resurrection, a watershed marking the completion of Jesus' work on earth and the coming of the Holy Spirit", and commented that Bach "comes up with music of unalloyed optimism and exuberance in celebration of ... the miraculous ignition of the divine Pentecostal spark which allows human beings to communicate across the language barrier".

Regarding Erschallet, ihr Lieder, the first cantata written for the occasion, he observed that Bach reflects the "stages in the evolving relationship of God with man", both by scoring and by his choice of keys.

A printing of Franck's works contains a cantata for New Year's Day, Erschallet nun wieder, glückwünschende Lieder (Sound again, congratulating songs) that may have served as a model.

[43] As a culmination, the first syllable of "seligste Zeiten" (most blessed times) is held on a seventh chord (first in measure 53),[2] during which the instruments play their motifs.

[42][48] Bach used a festive scoring with three trumpets in triple meter in his 1733 Missa for the court in Dresden, in the Gloria,[49] in contrast to the preceding Kyrie.

The musicologist Julian Mincham describes the vocal line: The initial bars of melody are warm and quietly authoritative, but at the mention of dwelling with Him the movement takes on a very different character.

The bass aria Quoniam tu solus sanctus, reflecting God's holiness and majesty, is set for corno da caccia, two bassoons and basso continuo.

[56] The second aria,[57] for tenor, "O Seelenparadies" (O paradise of the soul[25]), also contains three sections and a triple meter,[45] but in contrast to the previous movement, describes in continuous waves of the unison strings[58] the Spirit that was present at the Creation, worded O Seelenparadies, das Gottes Geist durchwehet, der bei der Schöpfung blies (O paradise of the soul, fanned by the Spirit of God, which blew at creation[25]).

[54][59] The last solo movement, a duet aria,[60] "Komm, laß mich nicht länger warten" (Come, do not keep me waiting longer[25]), consists of a dialogue between the Soul and the Holy Spirit, and takes a form close to a love lyric.

[63] The oboe d'amore plays the richly ornamented melody of the Pentecost hymn "Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott"[64] ("Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God, fill with the goodness of Your grace the hearts, wills, and minds of Your faithful.

[65] When he compiled the Mass in B minor, he chose another duet Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum for the Credo, scored for soprano and alto,[66] as in Erschallet, ihr Lieder.

The text of the concluding chorale is taken from Nicolai's "Geistlich Brautlied" (Spiritual bridal song) "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern", continuing the theme of unity between Soul and Spirit.

[27] "Von Gott kömmt mir ein Freudenschein" (A joyful radiance reaches me from God[25]) is illustrated by a violin part added to the four-part choir.

[67] The text ends with the words:Nimm mich freundlich In dein' Arme, daß ich warme Werd' von Gnaden!

Gardiner describes the cantata as "evidently ... a work which he particularly valued", adding: "he comes up with music of unalloyed optimism and exuberance in celebration of the first gifts of newly-awakened nature, as well as the miraculous ignition of the divine Pentecostal spark which allows human beings to communicate across the language barrier.

"[2] Dürr comments: All the various changes he made show how much trouble Bach took over a work which – as the number of documented performances (at least four) suggests – he seems to have particularly loved.