Bach Cantatas
Sundays at 12:03pm
During the 18th century, the musical centerpiece of Lutheran worship services was the cantata, a multi-movement piece featuring chorus, orchestra, and vocal soloists. Johann Sebastian Bach composed over 200 cantatas during his long career as a Lutheran church musician. Listen to a complete Bach cantata every Sunday afternoon on Discover Classical.
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2/22
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The penitential season of Lent in 18th-century Leipzig was a time when large-scale musical works were banned, so for the next several weeks we'll hear other choral works by Bach. This week is his motet on a popular chorale by Johann Crüger, written by Bach as early as 1723, or perhaps as late as 1735.
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3/1
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This week we'll hear a motet written by Bach in 1731. While written for a funeral, it is the only one of his motets that does not quote scripture.
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3/8
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Another funeral motet by Bach, scholars debate whether this work was written in the mid-1720s during his time at Leipzig, or during his period composing for the court at Weimar. A meditation on bravery in the face of death, Bach quotes from the book of Isaiah, as well as a hymn by Paul Gerhardt, Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen (Why should I then grieve?).