PROGRAMME NOTES

Thursday 22 September 2011, 7.30pm AT St Martin-in-the-Fields

Bach Choral Masterpieces Concert I

London Bach Singers: Faye Newton Soprano William Purefoy Countertenor Nicholas Hurndall Smith Tenor Ben Davies Bass Feinstein Ensemble: Martin Feinstein Director Cantata 82a - Ich habe genug

Three versions of this cantata exist and autograph material for each version has survived The second

incarnation of cantata 82 is scored for soprano with obligato flute and was first performed in Leipzig

in 1731. This wonderful cantata explores one of Bach’s favourite themes: the welcoming of death, both

as a release from the sufferings of life and as a bridge to heaven and immortality.

Cantata 107 - Was willst du dich betrüben

In 1723 Bach took up the post of Cantor and Director of Music in Leipzig. Almost immediately he

began to fulfil his dream of writing an annual cycle of cantatas: 60 works, one for every Sunday and

feast day of the year. In the first few years of his work in Leipzig he wrote five such cycles. This

massive output, and its uniformly transcendent quality, appears almost superhuman. For his second

annual cycle (known as the Chorale Cantata Cycle) Bach chose to write a series of Cantatas based on

church hymns. Cantata 107 is one of these and its opening chorus remains one of the crowning jewels

of Bach’s liturgical works.

Cantata 198 - Laß, Fürstin, lass noch einen Strahl (Trauer Ode)

The “Trauer Ode” was written at the request of the University of Leipzig as a funeral cantata for

Christiane Eberhardine, Electress of Saxony and Queen of Poland. It was first performed on 17

October 1727 in the Leipzig university church, with the funeral oration given by Hans Carl von

Kirchbach, a student from a noble Saxon family. Although the subject matter appears liturgical, the

text is actually secular and was written by Johann Christoph Gottsched, professor of philosophy and

poetry at the university. This mighty cantata contains some of Bach’s most uplifting choral writing and

exquisitely coloured instrumentation. It is written in two parts and at its original performance

Kirchbach’s oration would have been read at the end of part one, as specified in Bach’s autograph

score.

Don’t miss: Bach Choral Masterpieces Concert II on Thursday 27 October, 7.30pm.