Title: Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18
Content: Gleich wie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt (early version) BWV 18; BC A 44a / Sacred cantata (Sexagesima) Bach Digital ; Gleich wie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt BWV 18; BC A 44b / Sacred cantata (Sexagesima) Bach Digital ; BWV 18 Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt English translation, University of Vermont ; Luke Dahn: BWV 18.5 bach-chorales.com Luke Dahn: BWV 18.5 bach-chorales.com 
Title: Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18
Content:  Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt (Just as the rain and snow fall from heaven), BWV18, is an early church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Weimar for the Sunday Sexagesimae, the second Sunday before Lent, likely by 1713. The cantata is based on a text by Erdmann Neumeister published in 1711. While at Weimar Bach set at least one other cantata text by this librettist; he also set others by the court poet Salomon Franck. The text cites Isaiah, related to the gospel, the parable of the Sower. The third movement is in the style of a sermon, combined with a litany by Martin Luther. The closing chorale is the eighth stanza of Lazarus Spengler's hymn "Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt". The cantata falls relatively early in Bach's chronology 
Title: Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18
Content:  (Sacred singing and playing), which had been set to music by Georg Philipp Telemann. It is one of few texts set to music in Weimar which were not written not by the court poet Salomon Franck. The text cites Isaiah in the second movement, "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, … So shall my word be ..." , related to the Gospel about God's word compared to seed. In the third movement, the poet combines warnings of the dangers to God's word in the style of a sermon with four lines of prayer from a litany by Martin Luther. 
Title: Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18
Content:  The cantata opens with a sinfonia in G minor, which illustrates falling rain and snow in descending phrases. In da capo form, it is reminiscent both of a chaconne and a concerto. The four violas and continuo, with bassoon and cello parts specified, create an unusual sound, termed "magically dark-hued sonority" by Gardiner.
Title: Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18
Content:  The quotation from Isaiah, "Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt und nicht wieder dahin kommet" (Just as the rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return again to it), is sung by the bass, the vox Christi (voice of Christ), in a secco recitative. This is Bach's first adaptation of recitative in a church cantata, not following operatic patterns, but "a lucid presentation of the text in a dignified, highly personal style".
Title: Bach cantata
Content:  225" | 2: 225 ; data-sort-value="III/02 2: 004" | III/2.2: 4 ; after Z 8244; text by Gramann ; - style="background: #E3F6CE;" ; data-sort-value="0018.200" | 18.2 ; data-sort-value="016.002" rowspan="2" | 1. ; rowspan="2" | 1724-02-13 ; Cantata Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt (Sexagesima) ; rowspan="2" | A min. ; data-sort-value="stbSATB Flx2 Bas Vax4 Vc Bc" | stbSATB 2Fl Bas 4Va Vc Bc ; data-sort-value="000.02: 227" | 2: 227 Cantata Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt (Sexagesima) ; rowspan="2" | A min. ; data-sort-value="stbSATB Flx2 Bas Vax4 Vc Bc" | stbSATB 2Fl Bas 4Va Vc Bc 
Title: Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18
Content:  cantata compositions. It was possibly composed for performance on 24 February 1715, but more likely for a year or even two earlier. Sexagesima always falls within January or February, so the title's reference to snowfall would have been relevant to the weather at the time. Bach structured the work in five movements, a sinfonia, a recitative, a recitative with chorale, an aria and a closing chorale. He scored it for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir only in the chorale, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble which is unusual in having violas but no violins. The instruments originally specified were four violas, cello, bassoon and basso continuo. When he performed the work again as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, he added two recorders to double viola I and II an octave higher, thus creating a lighter sound overall.
Title: Bach cantata
Content:  zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" ; rowspan="2" | G min. ; data-sort-value="III/02 2: 056" | III/2.2: 56 ; after Z 7549; text by Agricola ; - style="background: #E3F6CE;" ; data-sort-value="0018.001" | 18.1 ; Cantata Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt (Sexagesima) ; data-sort-value="stbSATB Bas Vax4 Vc Bc" | stbSATB Bas 4Va Vc Bc ; data-sort-value="I/07: 081" | I/7: 81 ; after Z 7549 (/5); text by Neumeister, after Is 55:10–11 (/2), Luther (/3), by Spengler (/5); → BWV 18.2 ; - style="background: #E3F6CE;" ; data-sort-value="0019.000" | 19 ; data-sort-value="017.003" rowspan="3" | 1. ; rowspan="3" | 1726-09-29 ; Cantata 
Title: Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18
Content:  The keys in this section refer to the Weimar version, although the recording by Masaaki Suzuki, with commentary by Klaus Hofmann, uses the Leipzig keys. Hofmann notes the work's "Lutheran character", quoting Luther's litany inserted in the third movement, and sees it as a "recitative study", exploring the secco recitative of the Italian opera, introduced by Erdmann Neumeister, and also the accompagnato with rich instrumental accompaniment. Gardiner finds all three cantatas for the occasion, dealing with God's word, "characterised by his vivid pictorial imagination, an arresting sense of drama, and by music of freshness and power that lodges in the memory".
Title: Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18
Content:  The only aria, "Mein Seelenschatz ist Gottes Wort" (My soul’s treasure is God’s word), is set for soprano, accompanied by the four violas in unison.

Question: Who was the composer of Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18?
Answer: Johann Sebastian Bach.
Bach.
J.S. Bach.
J. S. Bach.
J S Bach.