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Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantatas
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In 1749, though, lacking such expert care, Bach recovered -- much to the disappointment, it seems, of Leipzig's city council. While Bach lay on his supposed deathbed, a musician, Gottlob Harrer, gave the council a ''trial performance'' as a candidate for Bach's job. And with barbed programmatic purpose, Harrer may have taken aim at the reputation of the ailing, demanding and proud composer with a cantata: ''The Rich Man Died and Was Buried.''
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In 1723 Bach went to Leipzig as music director of the Thomas-schule. During his stay at Leipzig, he wrote many of his church cantatas and oratorios. Among these is his famous Christmas Oratorio. In 1749 Bach became totally blind; and in the following year, 1750, he died.
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Ironically, in this setting Bach wrote his most enduring music. For a time he wrote a cantata each week (today, a composer who writes a cantata a year is highly praised), 202 of which survive. Most conclude with a chorale based on a simple Lutheran hymn, and the music is at all times closely bound to biblical texts. Among these works are the
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Bach’s large choral-orchestral works include the famous St Matthew Passion and St John Passion, both written for Holy Week services at the St Thomas’s Church, the Christmas Oratorio (a set of six cantatas for use in the Liturgical season of Christmas). The Magnificat in two versions (one in E-flat major, with extra movements interpolated among the movements of the Magnificat text, and the later and better-known version in D major) and the Easter Oratorio compare to large, elaborated cantatas, of a lesser extent than the Passions and the Christmas Oratorio.
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For this newly revised edition, 9 CDs of this set have been replaced with new recordings by prominent Bach performers such as The Sixteen, La Stravaganza Köln with Andrew Manze, cellist Jaap ter Linden and Musica Amphion. These performers are featured on the Christmas Oratorio, Orchestral Suites, Suites for Solo Cello, Brandenburg Concertos and the Concertos for 2 and 3 Harpsichords. Updates ... include new recordings exclusively made for Brilliant Classics of all 200 sacred cantatas with period instruments and sung by a boys' choir.
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In addition, Bach wrote a number of secular cantatas, usually for civic events such as council inaugurations. These ... include wedding cantatas, the Wedding Quodlibet, the Peasant Cantata and the Coffee Cantata, which concerns a girl whose father will not let her marry until she gives up her addiction to that extremely popular drink.
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