February 25
Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin, BWV 144
Take what is yours and go away
Bach’s cantata for Septuagesima (the 3rd to last Sunday before Lent) on February 6, 1724, was BWV 144. It is a cantata based on the gospel reading from Matthew 20, the parable of laborers in the vineyard. Bach uses a variety of forms in this cantata to elaborate on the simple theme of being content and entrusting our lives to God. There’s a fugue with a play on the words gehe hin (go your way), then a minuet that gracefully silences the underlying murmurs and complaints in the accompaniment. The cantata includes two familiar chorales about trusting that God’s will is indeed best.
3:00 p.m. Cantata Preview Lecture
Mark Peters, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights
3:45 p.m. Orchestral Prelude
Florence Price: Andante Moderato for Strings
Vivian Fung: Pizzicato for String Orchestra
Richard Hillert: Prelude to Evening Prayer
4:00 p.m. Bach Cantata Vespers
Ole Schenk, United Lutheran Church, Oak Park, Illinois, homilist
Max Reger: Dein Wort, Herr, bleibet ewig
Bach Cantata Vespers Chorus and Orchestra
Grace Cantor Michael D. Costello, conducting
Carolyne DalMonte, soprano
Thomas Aláan, countertenor
Ryan Townsend Strand, tenor