Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 180

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (Adorn yourself, O dear soul), BWV 180, in Leipzig for the 20th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 22 October 1724.

The chorale cantata is based upon Johann Franck's hymn "Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele", with a melody by Johann Crüger, a hymn for the Eucharist. It matches the Sunday's prescribed reading, the Parable of the Great Banquet from the Gospel of Matthew. The first and last stanza are retained unchanged in both text and tune: the former is treated as a chorale fantasia, the latter as a four-part closing chorale. An unknown librettist paraphrased the inner stanzas as recitatives and arias, quoting one stanza of the hymn within a recitative.

Bach scored the cantata for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of different flutes and oboes, strings and continuo. All movements are set in the major mode, in keeping with the festive text, and several movements resemble dances.