In the second Leipzig volume of cantatas, one of which is Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 180) (first performed on October 22, 1724), Bach takes up the Leipzig tradition of the chorale cantata. The identity of the author who reworked the hymns is unknown; in the case of Cantata No. 180 the original was the Communion hymn of the same name by Johann Franck dating from 1649 and 1653. The alteration work always proceeded according to the same pattern: the chorale strophes were left unchanged for the first and last movements, while the arias and recitatives in between were freely rewritten. This method matches the musical layout: the two outer movements treat the chorale melody as it is, the first movement in a large-scale chorale movement for choir with imitatory part-writing, an independent orchestral part and alternating instrumental groups in a gigue-like rhythm, the last movement as a simple choral movement with instrumental reinforcement. The two arias, Nos. 2 & 5, are also written in a dancelike style, which in No. 2, with its similarity to a Bourrée, is emphasized by the virtuoso flute writing. One is struck by the particularly sophisticated nature of the flute part in this cantata, as compared with the other instruments. This holds true for more than a dozen other church cantatas, including Cantatas No. 181 and No. 184, that Bach composed between July and November 1724, causing Robert L. Marshall to assume the personal availability of an unusually good flautist at the time, perhaps Pierre Gabriel Buffardin, who is known to have visited Bach in Leipzig. Buffardin's speciality was playing ”fast pieces” and his style is indebted to the French school. The lively mood of the tenor aria “Ermuntre dich,” its clearly articulated phrases, and dancelike rhythms seem to have been inspired by the flute,
Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister (BWV 181) was first played on February 13, 1724 in St l\licholas's, Leipzig. Here the unknown author of the text interprets the parable of the sower as an admonition directed at the faithful: death and the Devil notwithstanding, the "Holy Word” should "comfort the heart at all times." The form of Cantata No. 181 differs from that of No. 182: Bach uses the coupling of recitative and aria that dominated the Leipzig period. This scheme is followed in individual fashion, however, rather than rigidly. The bass aria (No. 1) is thus not a three-part da capo aria, but has four parts as a result of the repetition of the A  and B sections. The introductory instrumental ritornello already contains the motif of the "leichtgesinnte Flattergerster” that runs through the whole movement. In the recitative that follows, arioso insertions lend eloquent expression to the prophecy that "in stony hearts... they stifle” (Felsenherzen... ihr eigen Heil verscherzen). The solo violin part to the tenor aria (No. 3] has heen lost, so that the aria in its present form is only a torso - albeit one that still possesses great expressive power. In the elated, contrapuntal final chorus, in contrast, Bach employs the entire ensemble; trumpet, strings and continuo, as well as flute and oboe in a later version dating from after 1735. This chorus seems to he based at least in part on an earlier version, which, however, appears here in a considerably altered form.
It is probably to Salomo Franck that we owe the basic text of Himmelskönig, sei willkommen (BWV 182) which was written for May 25, 1714 and was performed in the palace church at Weimar. Hitherto Kammermusikus  and Organist at the Weimar court, Bach was invested with the office of Konzertmeister as of March 2, 1714; it was part of his new duties to present "a piece of his own composition, under his direction” each month. Cantata No. 182 opens the cycle for the year 1714, from which a further seven cantatas have survived. 1713/14 was the period of the concerto transcriptions of works by Vivaldi and other composers for organ and harpsichord, the time of a radical process of learning that ”seems to have led to a marked change of direction in Bach’s career as a composer. The previous principle of converting intellectual breadth and large-scale composition into an extensive exploitation of musical shaping gives way to a carefully planned technique of increasingly architectural character” (Hans-Joachim Schulze). Traces of this rethinking are to be found in many features of Cantata No. 182 - whether it be in the opening sonata written in the French overture style, in which the solo violin and flute engage in concertante dialogue over a constant string pizzicato, or in the varied treatment of aria and chorus form, which creates the impression that Bach ”wanted to demonstrate all the diversity of the compositional resources at his disposal” (Alfred Dürr, or in the interaction, rich in associations, between the instrumental ritornello and the vocal part. The cantata's text portrays the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which Salomo Franck interprets with rapturous gestures as Christ’s entry into the hearts of faithful Christians. In 1724 Bach reused this cantata, once again for Palm Sunday. The text was retained unaltered, whereas the key and the scoring were changed. An ensemble made up of a recorder, one of each stringed instrurnent and continuo was entirely appropriate for the little chapel of the palace at Weimar, but the intimate chamber-music sound was hardly adequate to fill the great naves of St Nicholas’s and St Thomas’s in Leipzig. So for the 1724 performance, Bach wrote in more strings, produced further vocal parts for the choruses, and reinforced the flute part with a solo violin. For a second repeat performance in 1728, another alteration was made: the flute part was given to the solo violin, and the violin part was taken over by an oboe - Bach had obviously changed his sound ideal in the interim.
The second annual cycle of Leipzig cantatas is brought to a close by nine cantatas based on texts - altered considerably by Bach - by Christiane Mariane von Ziegler. Among these works is Sie werden euch in den Bann tun (BWV 183) written for May 13, 1725. The verse interprets the Gospel text predicting the persecution of the Apostles, as sung in the first recitative by the bass soloist, i.e, the voice ot Christ: Jesus’ "shielding arm" will ”protect” the faithful Christians, hence they should follow him willingly and happily. (Bach had already set this text to music in 1724 as Cantata No. 44, written for the Sixth Sunday of Easter.) The scoring of this cantata is unusual: four oboes, a concertante violoncello piccolo in the tenor aria (this instrument, invented by Bach himself, made its first appearance in Cantata No. 180), strings and basso continuo. The unusual instrumentation is matched by the elaborate working of the two arias (Nos. 2 & 4), by their richly ornamented vocal parts, the structural interweaving of vocal and instrumental parts, their common motivic material and the emphatically emotional expression. Even the second recitative, a "motivistic accornpagnato” (Alfred Dürr), is led instrumentally: the constantly recurring motif ”Ich bin bereit” alternates between the two pairs of oboes (da caccia and d'amore) and the alto voice. The tour-part final chorale takes as its text the fifth stanza of Paul Gerhardt’s hymn ”Zeuch ein du deinen Toren" (Enter thy gates), while the tune of the chorale "Helft mir Gottes Güte preisen” (Help me praise the goodness of God) is allocated to the Cantus firmus.
Like Cantata No. 181, Erwünschtes Freudenlicht (BWV 184), belongs to thc cantatas written in Bach’s first year in Leipzig. Cantata No. 184 was performed on May 30, 1724. The work in fact is based on a secular ”original": Cantata No. 184a, whose text has not survived. Hans-Joachim Schulze has been able to prove that this work was written in Cöthen for New Year's Day of 1721. The unknown author of the text portrays Jesus as the Good Shepherd, whose blissful herd of blessed Christians follows him joyously unto the grave. It is these same joys, then, that characterize with a distinctive flute motif (four semiquavers followed by a quaver) both the opening recitative and the recitative No. 3, which has the arioso transition to the following aria typical of the early Bach cantatas. In both arias (Nos. 2 & 4) the instrumental ritornelli correspond in many points to the vocal parts. The final chorus takes up the dancelike air one last time: the "Gentle Shepherd" gives solace in the rhythm of a gavotte.