Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Komm, du süße Todesstunde (Come, you sweet hour of death),[1] BWV 161, in Weimar for the 16th Sunday after Trinity, probably first performed on 27 September 1716.

The text of Komm, du süße Todesstunde, and of most other cantatas written in Weimar, was provided by court poet Salomon Franck.

The text includes as a closing chorale the fourth stanza of the hymn "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" by Christoph Knoll.

The chorale tune, known as "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden", appears in the first movement, played by the organ, and musical motifs of the arias are derived from it, providing an overall formal unity to the composition.

Bach scored the work for two vocal parts (alto and tenor), a four-part choir, and a Baroque chamber ensemble of recorders, strings and continuo.

In the alto recitative (movement 4), accompanied by all instruments, Bach creates the images of sleep, of waking up, and of funeral bells, the latter in the recorders and pizzicato of the strings.

While the libretto was published in a collection in 1715, Bach probably did not perform it until 27 September 1716, due to a period of public mourning of six months in the Duchy of Weimar from August 1715.

He had already begun to compose cantatas at his previous posts at Arnstadt and Mühlhausen, and his reasons for moving included disappointment with the standard of singing at the churches where he had worked.

[10] Franck wrote a libretto full of biblical references, including (in the first movement) "feeding on honey from the lion's mouth", based on Judges 14:5–9.

Dürr concluded initially (in the first edition of his book Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach of 1971) that the cantata was first performed on 6 October 1715,[10] but this date fell in a period of public mourning in Weimar.

[14] Now, the first performance of the work is generally accepted as the same occasion the following year, when the 16th Sunday after Trinity fell on 27 September 1716,[15] by Wolff, the publisher Carus-Verlag,[16] and Dürr in the revised and translated edition of 2006.

[11] Richard D. P. Jones notes in his book The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach that "technical novelties" also suggest that the cantata was composed in 1716, according to a recent study.

[12] In 1723, his first year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, Bach composed a new cantata for the 16th Sunday after Trinity, Christus, der ist mein Leben, BWV 95.

[18] The prescribed readings for the Purification included Simeon's canticle Nunc dimittis (Luke 2:22–32), which with its line "now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace" has a similar theme.

He later used the juxtaposition of a chorale cantus firmus against vocal music on a grand scale in his St Matthew Passion, in both the opening chorus and the movement concluding Part I.

Herzlich tut mich verlangen Nach einem selgen End, Weil ich hie bin umfangen Mit Trübsal und Elend.

Ich hab Lust abzuscheiden Von dieser bösen Welt, Sehn mich nach himml'schen Freuden, O Jesu, komm nur bald!

[23] Jones points out that the cantus firmus of the organ seems "objective",[12] in contrast to the subjective "display of personal feeling"[12] of the voice and the complexity of the other parts.

[23] Dürr notes that the development from secco to arioso is frequent in Bach's early cantatas, and is here especially motivated to highlight the biblical paraphrase.

[25] The aria for tenor, "Mein Verlangen ist, den Heiland zu umfangen" (My longing is, to embrace my Savior),[23] is the first movement with the strings, adding depth to the emotional expression.

[27] Choirs with one voice per part (OVPP) and ensembles playing on period instruments in historically informed performances are marked by green background.