Title: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Content:  Christen, ätzet diesen Tag (Christians, engrave this day), BWV63, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the Christmas cantata for the First Day of Christmas, possibly in 1713 for the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle. He performed it again for his first Christmas as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, on 25 December 1723.
Title: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Content: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag BWV 63; BC A 8 / Sacred cantata (1st Christmas Day) Leipzig University ; Cantata BWV 63 Christen, ätzet diesen Tag history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, bach-cantatas website ; BWV 63 Christen, ätzet diesen Tag English translation, University of Vermont ; BWV 63 Christen, ätzet diesen Tag text, scoring, University of Alberta BWV 63 Christen, ätzet diesen Tag text, scoring, University of Alberta 
Title: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Content: 1) Chorus: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag ; 2) Recitative (alto): Oh, selger Tag! o ungemeines Heute ; 3) Aria (soprano, bass): Gott, du hast es wohl gefüget ; 4) Recitative (tenor): So kehret sich nun heut ; 5) Aria (alto, tenor): Ruft und fleht den Himmel an ; 6) Recitative (bass): Verdoppelt euch demnach ; 7) Chorus: Höchster, schau in Gnaden an The cantata in seven movements is festively scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass), a four-part choir, four trumpets, timpani, three oboes, bassoon, two violins, viola, organ in a later version, and continuo. 
Title: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Content: J. S. Bach: Cantata BWV 63, Michael Gielen, Wiener Kammerchor, Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Margit Opawsky, Hilde Rössel-Majdan, Waldemar Kmentt, Harald Hermann, Vanguard Bach Guild 1952 ; J. S. Bach: Cantata 63, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, and the Magnificat, Günther Ramin, Thomanerchor, Gewandhausorchester, Ulrike Taube, Sibylla Plate, Gert Lutze, Hannes Hans Hauptmann, Schola Antiqua 1953 ; Die Bach Kantate Vol. 61, Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Maria Friesenhausen, Julia Hamari, Adalbert Kraus, Wolfgang Schöne, Hänssler 1971 ; Bach Cantatas Vol. 1 – Advent and Christmas, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Chor, Münchener Bach-Orchester. Edith Mathis, Anna Reynolds, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Archiv Produktion 1972 ; J. S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk – Complete 
Title: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Content:  Vol. 16, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Tölzer Knabenchor, Concentus Musicus Wien, Peter Jelosits (soloist of Wiener Sängerknaben), Paul Esswood, Kurt Equiluz, Ruud van der Meer, Teldec 242565-2 1976 ; J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 3, Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Ruth Holton, Elisabeth von Magnus, Paul Agnew, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 1995 ; J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 7, Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Ingrid Schmithüsen, Yoshikazu Mera, Makoto Sakurada, Peter Kooy, BIS 1997 ; J. S. Bach: Christmas Cantatas, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Ann Monoyios, Sara Mingardo, Rufus Müller, Stephan Loges, Soli Deo Gloria 1998 ; Bach Edition Vol. 18 – Cantatas Vol. 9, Pieter 
Title: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Content:  Leusink, Holland Boys Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium, Marjon Strijk, Sytse Buwalda, Nico van der Meel, Bas Ramselaar, Brilliant Classics 2000 ; J. S. Bach: Christmas Cantatas from Leipzig, Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent, Carolyn Sampson, Ingeborg Danz, Mark Padmore, Sebastian Noack, Harmonia Mundi France 2002 ; Bach: Cantata 63; Mendelssohn: Vom Himmel hoch; Vaughan Williams: The First Nowell, Vladimir Jurowski, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Lisa Milne, Ruxandra Donose, Andrew Staples, Christopher Maltman, LPO 2009 ; Thomanerchor Leipzig – Das Kirchenjahr mit Bach, Vol. 2: Weihnachten · Christmas – Cantatas BWV 63, 110, 190, Georg Christoph Biller, Thomanerchor, Gewandhausorchester, soloist of the Thomanerchor, Christoph Genz, Matthias Weichert, Rondeau Production 2011 
Title: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Content:  timpani and three oboes on top of the strings, an unprecedented scoring in Bach's cantatas, that the work was not composed for the intimate Schloßkirche in Weimar. He dates it as 1714 or 1715. According to John Eliot Gardiner, the first performance may have taken place in Weimar in the church of St. Peter und Paul, performed by the combined musicians of the ducal Capelle and the town. The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the Epistle of Titus, "God's mercy appeared" or from Isaiah, "Unto us a child is born", and from the Gospel of Luke, the Nativity, Annunciation to the shepherds and the angels' song. The poet 
Title: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Content:  The cantata is Bach's earliest extant cantata for Christmas Day, possibly composed in Weimar as early as 1713. The text of the cantata, which echoes theologians in Halle, suggests that it was composed with Halle's Liebfrauenkirche in mind, in 1713, when Bach applied to be organist of this church, or in 1716, when he was involved in rebuilding its organ. The text is possibly by that church's Pastor primarius Johann Michael Heineccius, who also wrote the libretti for other Bach cantatas definitely written for Halle and had favoured Bach's application for organist at the church as a successor to Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow. Musicologist Christoph Wolff deduces from the "lavish forces" of four 
Title: Bach cantata
Content:  | III/2.1: 68 ; rowspan="2" | after Z 1174; text by Luther ; rowspan="2" | ; - style="background: #E3F6CE;" ; A min. ; data-sort-value="III/02 2: 097" | III/2.2: 97 ; - style="background: #E3F6CE;" ; data-sort-value="0063.000" | 63 ; data-sort-value="064.001" | 1. ; data-sort-value="1714-12-25" | 1714-12-25 1723-12-25 ; Cantata Christen, ätzet diesen Tag (Christmas; two versions) ; C maj. ; data-sort-value="satbSATB Trx4 Tmp Obx3 Bas Str Bc" | satbSATB 4Tr Tmp 3Ob Bas Str Bc ; data-sort-value="000.16: 051" | 16: 51 ; data-sort-value="I/02: 001" | I/2: 1 ; text by Heineccius? ; - style="background: #F5F6CE;" ; data-sort-value="0064.000" | 64 ; data-sort-value="065.001" 
Title: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
Content:  a text centered in symmetry around a recitative, framed by two duets, two more recitatives and two equal chorus movements. The lack of a closing chorale, which closes most of Bach's later cantatas, has raised the question if the work is based on a secular cantata. According to Gardiner, the cantata was performed again to celebrate the bicentennial of the Reformation in Halle in 1717. The musicologist Philipp Spitta assumed that the cantata was written for a 1723 premiere in Leipzig, because Bach performed it on the First day of Christmas in his first year as Thomaskantor, turning to new compositions that year only for the Second and Third of Christmas, 

Question: Who was the composer of Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63?
Answer: Johann Sebastian Bach.
Bach.
J.S. Bach.
J. S. Bach.
J S Bach.