During the creative period of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig, no figural or florid church music, such as his cantatas, was performed in Advent from the second to the fourth Sunday in Advent, and in Lent from the first Sunday in Lent (Invocavit) to Palm Sunday (Palmarum), with the exception of the feast of the Annunciation on 25 March.
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During this closed time the believers shall prepare in their personal lifestyle through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial for the solemnity days.