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Bach premiered his Easter Oratorio at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig on Easter Sunday 1725, presenting the first version of a work he would revise multiple times over the following decade. The oratorio, which dramatizes the discovery of Christ's empty tomb, was originally structured as a cantata before Bach reworked it into its final oratorio form. The first performance drew on the resources of the Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche musical establishments, with singers and instrumentalists drawn from Bach's choir of St. Thomas School students and the city's professional Stadtpfeifer musicians. The work opens with a festive orchestral sinfonia featuring trumpets, timpani, oboes, and strings that establishes the celebratory character of the Easter narrative. The vocal movements feature four named characters from the Gospel account, performed by soloists representing Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Peter, and John. This dramatized approach was unusual for Bach's Leipzig cantatas and reflected the work's evolution toward oratorio form. The Leipzig audience of 1725 heard a version that differed substantially from the final text published in Bach's later years, as he continued to revise the recitatives and reassign vocal parts through multiple performances. The Easter Oratorio stands alongside the St. Matthew Passion and the Christmas Oratorio as one of Bach's major contributions to the liturgical dramatic form, though it is considerably shorter and more compact than either of those monumental works.