Michaelmas of 1724 – the 29th of September, now the feast of all the Archangels – saw the first performance of J.S. Bach’s cantata, Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir, (Lord God, we all praise thee), honouring the great Saint Michael, ‘he who is like God’. The text of the cantata was Paul Eber, Lutheran theologian and hymnodist. Early Lutherans kept many of the same feasts as Catholics, and Bach was no exception, with a great devotion to the saints and angels.
Here is a performance by the Bach Netherlands Society: