The idea is God’s. The leading role is Christ’s. The supporting cast is all of humanity. The text is Martin Luther’s. The music is Bach’s. The epistle is 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is […]
Hendrik Slegtenhorst On the Cantatas of J.S. Bach – Advent Christmas New Year
J.S. Bach: Cantata 182, at Palm Sunday – Hope Returns to Rejoice
Cantata 182, composed in 1713, is for Palm Sunday, which is the first day of Holy Week and the Sunday before Easter, and commemorates Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As the day is associated in several ecclesiastical rites with the blessing and procession of palms, processional characteristics feature strongly in the music. The Gospel for […]
J.S. Bach, Christmas Oratorio BWV 248-I, at Christmas Day
The opening chorus is an ecstatic celebration of God having sent His Son to humankind. The scoring includes trumpets, timpani, flutes, oboes, strings, choir, and continuo. The first four bars are set in motion by a solo for the timpani; and then the rushing scales of the woodwinds and the strings and the fanfares in […]
J.S. Bach, Cantata BWV 132, at Advent IV – Aspects and Validity of the Concept of Salvation
Bach’s cantata 132, Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn, (Prepare the way, prepare the road) was written in Weimar in 1715. The text is by Salomo Franck (1715, from his cantata libretti of Evangelisches Andachts-Opfer)), except the concluding sixth verse by Elisabeth Kreuziger (1524). The epistle is Philippians 4: 4-7, the gospel John 1: 19-28. […]