Five times Pentecost

Cantata 172 must have been one that Bach was especially fond of, since there are records of at least 5 performances during his lifetime, as well as several minor revisions along the way. It dates back to 1714 in Weimar, where it was one the first ones he wrote after being promoted to Konzertmeister and […]

WTC II – B flat minor & B Major

We’re getting closer to the end of our journey through the second book of the Well-Tempered Clavier! Today, let’s examine the sets in B flat minor and B major, in the version by Christine Schornsheim, whom we’ve heard a couple of times already in this cycle, playing the beautiful Johannes Ruckers harpsichord built in 1624. […]

The prophecy of the horn

This cantata was composed for the feast of St. John the Baptist, which fell on June 24, 1723, just a few months after Bach’s inauguration as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, and we don’t have records of any subsequent performances of it during his lifetime. The libretto is anonymous, except for the closing chorale which is a […]