October 27

Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80
A mighty fortress is our God

The music of Bach’s magnificent cantata on “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” first took shape in Weimar in 1715 as a Lenten cantata. He revised and expanded it in Leipzig, adding the splendid opening chorus at some point in the 1730s — a chorus that has been called “the high-point of Bach’s chorale-based choral music.” The cantata was not part of the second cycle that we are commemorating this season, but it has always been a favorite of worshipers at Bach Cantata Vespers!

3:00 p.m. Cantata Preview Lecture
Mark Peters, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights

3:45 p.m. Organ Prelude
Bruce Bengtson, Madison, Wisconsin, organist

4:00 p.m. Bach Cantata Vespers
Troy E. Medlin, Grace Lutheran Church and School, River Forest, Illinois, homilist

Ace Gangoso, tenor
David Govertsen, bass-baritone