From sorrow to joy

This cantata was composed for a first performance in 1725, as part of the second annual cycle of Leipzig cantatas. It belongs to a small sub-cycle of 9 cantatas that Bach composed with librettos by Mariane von Ziegler, a Leipzig poet born in 1695. Ziegler was a lover of the arts, and in addition to […]

A model for the next generation

The sonata for violin and basso continuo in G major, BWV 1021, is one of the few pieces for this configuration composed by Bach. It’s considered the “sister” sonata of BWV 1023 in C major which we listened to a couple of sessions ago. It survives in a fair copy by Bach’s wife, Anna Magdalena. […]

Singing delightful songs

This cantata is another example of Bach repurposing a secular piece from his Cöthen years, adapting it for use as a church cantata in Leipzig. The original, catalogued as BWV 134a, was a New Year’s Day Serenata composed in 1719 for the Royal House of Anhalt-Köthen, with text by Christian Friedrich Hunold. Bach reused some […]