Le Tombeau de la Reine
For a change, there is a lot we do know about the funeral ode “Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl”, BWV 198. We know it was composed in honor of Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Electress of Saxony, who never converted to Catholicism despite political pressure and was revered by protestants as a result, who called […]
WTC II – D sharp minor & E major
Today we’re listening to the next two sets of Preludes and Fugues in the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2. The keys are D sharp minor and E major, and the version is by the eminent Gustav Leonhardt, a pioneer and reference in the world of historically informed performance practice. Leonhardt recorded the WTC in 1967, at […]
Sabbath in Heaven
This is a cantata for the 17th Sunday after Trinity, and there is quite a bit of controversy as to its first year of performance. Some scholars lean towards 1723 while others point to 1725, the year of publication of its libretto, which is by Picander (Christian Friedrich Henrici). A performance before 1725 would have […]