Vergnügte Pleißenstadt (Contented Pleisse-town^[1]),BWV 216.1 (formerlyBWV 216),^[2] is asecular cantata composed byJohann Sebastian Bach, which survives in an incomplete state.

Bach composed this cantata for the wedding of Johann Heinrich Wolff and Susanna Regina Hempel. Susanna was the daughter of a customs official,^[3] and came fromZittau; her husband came fromLeipzig, where the work was first performed on 5 February 1728. The text was written byPicander, who published it in his collectionErnst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte.^[4] Picander refers to the bride and groom by the rivers of their respective cities (the "Pleißenstadt" of the title is Leipzig, the city on the riverPleiße).

There was a related workErwählte Pleißenstadt: Apollo et Mercurius, BWV 216.2, the music of which is lost. This was written for Leipzig Town Council, and the text does not relate to Zittau.^[5]

The surviving music consists of parts forsoprano andalto voices, representing the characters ofNeiße and Pleiße respectively.^[6] The instrumental forces are unknown,^[4] but for two numbers Bach drew on music he had composed for earlier cantatas, which may suggest a range of instrumental colour was called for. Oneparody source is a duet for alto and tenor fromZerreißet, zersprenget, zertrümmert die Gruft, BWV 205, a festively scored work premiered in 1725. The parody source of movement 3 wasIch bin in mir vergnügt, BWV 204, scored forsoprano soloist,flauto traverso, twooboes, twoviolins,viola, andbasso continuo and also premiered in the 1720s.

It includes seven movements:

1. Duet aria:Vergnügte Pleißenstadt
2. Duet recitative:So angenehm auch mein Revier
3. Aria (soprano):Angenehme Hempelin
4. Recitative (alto):Erspare den Verdruss
5. Aria (alto):Mit Lachen und Scherzen
6. Duet recitative:Wie lieblich wird sie nun
7. Duet aria:Heil und Segen

• Bach Concertino Osaka,Joshua Rifkin.J.S. Bach: Hochzeitkantaten. Mainich Classics, 2005.

• Vergnügte Pleißenstadt: Scores at theInternational Music Score Library Project

• Secular cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach
• 1728 compositions
• Wedding music by Johann Sebastian Bach

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing German-language text
• Works with IMSLP links
• Articles with International Music Score Library Project links