What are the three high holidays?
Erschallet, ihr Lieder is the third of the Weimar cantatas. It was the first composed for a feast day, Pentecost Sunday (Whit Sunday), Pentecost being a high holiday along with Christmas and Easter. The prescribed readings for the feast day are taken from the Acts of the Apostles, on the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1–13), and from the Gospel of John, in which Jesus announces the Spirit who will teach, in his Farewell discourse (John 14:23–31). As in many Bach cantatas, the libretto is compiled from Bible text, contemporary poetry and chorale. The poetry is attributed to Salomon Franck, although the verses are not included in his printed editions. Several of Bach's early stylistic mannerisms appear here, such as a biblical quotation in a recitative second movement rather than in a first choral movement, arias following each other without a recitative in between, and dialogue in a duet.Franck's text shows elements of early Pietism: the expression of extreme feelings, for example "O seligste Zeiten!" (O most blessed times) in the opening chorus, and a "mystical demeanour", for example in the duet of the Soul and the Spirit united. In the middle section of the first movement, Franck paraphrases the Gospel text, which says in verse 23 that God wants to dwell with man, to "Gott will sich die Seelen zu Tempeln bereiten" (God Himself shall prepare our souls for His  temple, more literally: "God wants to prepare [our] souls to become his temples"). The words for the recitative are the quotation of verse 23 from the Gospel of John, "Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten" (Whoever loves Me will keep My Word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him). Movement 3 addresses the Trinity and movement 4 the Spirit that was present at the Creation. Movement 5 is a duet of the Soul and the Spirit, underlined by an instrumental quote from Martin Luther's Pentecost hymn "Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott", which is based on the Latin hymn "Veni Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium". Movement 6 is a chorale, verse four of Philipp Nicolai's hymn "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern". Nicolai's "Geistlich Brautlied" (Spiritual bridal song) continues the theme of unity between Soul and Spirit.
Pentecost Christmas Easter