The Bach Cantatas 's-Hertogenbosch Foundation was established in 2006 as a continuation of the Bach Cantatas Working Group 's-Hertogenbosch and ensures that, in principle, six performances of cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) are realised each year.

The cantatas are performed by the Bach Collegium 's-Hertogenbosch an instrumental and vocal ensemble under the artistic direction of Jeroen Felix and with the collaboration of soloists from the International Vocal Competition.

The Magnificat, the hymn of Mary according to the Gospel of Luke (1:46-55), was still sung weekly in Bach's Leipzig at the conclusion of vespers, but in German: Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, and in unison. On church holidays, however, including the three Marian feasts, the Latin Magnificat was performed in concert versions: with choir, soloists and instruments.

For Marian Visitation, 2 July 1723, barely a month after he took office as Thomas Cantor in Leipzig, Bach wrote the most large-scale version of the Magnificat set by many composers: five vocal parts, three trumpets, timpani, two oboes and recorders, strings and continuo. For Christmas 1723, according to local custom, he also added here four arrangements of popular carols. He revised this original version in E-flat major (BWV 243a) into the final version (in D major, BWV 243) in the 1730s, replacing the recorders with traversos and removing the carols again.

The Magnificat is extremely compactly composed; yet, with its 11 movements, it does not last much longer than a modal six-part cantata. This is possible because the arias with their prose text do not allow for a da capo structure; because of the lyrical nature of those texts, recitatives may also be missing. The most striking difference, however, is the five-voice (split sopranos) structure that the Magnificat shares with that other great work on Latin text, the Hohe Messe.