September 25
Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn, BWV 119
Praise, Jerusalem, the Lord
In 1723, shortly after Bach took up the post of music director in Leipzig, he wrote a nine-movement cantata for Ratswechsel, the annual inauguration of a new town council. He surely meant to impress his employer with the cantata’s majestic opening chorus, scored for choir and a large orchestra with four trumpets, timpani, two recorders, three oboes, strings and continuo. The motet for the service is another Ratswechsel piece, this one composed in Arnstadt several decades earlier by Johann Michael Bach (1648—1694), father-in-law and first cousin to J. S. Bach. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872—1958) we will sing his festive setting of “At the Name of Jesus” and hear as prelude to the service his luscious orchestral work Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. A reception will follow the service to celebrate the beginning of the 52nd year of Bach Cantata Vespers.
3:00 p.m. Cantata Preview Lecture (in-person only)
Mark Peters, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights
3:45 p.m. Bach Cantata Vespers (in-person and online)
Bulletin for the service is here
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Johann Michael Bach: Die Furcht des Herren
John P. Trump, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church,
Columbia, South Carolina, homilist
Maura Janton Cock, soprano
Amanda Koopman, mezzo soprano
Ace Gangoso, tenor
Douglas Anderson, baritone
Bach Cantata Vespers Chorus and Orchestra
Grace Cantor Michael D. Costello, conducting