A Cantor bearing gifts

To cap off a busy and productive holiday season, his first one in Leipzig, Bach presented yet another new piece to his Leipzig congregations for the feast of Epiphany (January 6th) in 1724. Epiphany is the holiday that commemorates the visit of the Three Wise Men (or Magi) to the newborn Jesus in the manger, […]

Goldberg Variations V

To continue our journey of the Goldberg Variations, we’re going back to the wonderful recording by Céline Frisch with which we started the cycle. It was made in the year 2000 in Paris, on a copy of a German harpsichord built by Anthony Sidey and Frédéric Bal. The set of variations that we’ll review today […]

Some rest for the weary

Cantata 153 was composed during Bach’s first year in Leipzig, for the first Sunday after New Year in 1724. As he had done several times in this period, Bach continues to experiment with the use of multiple chorales in his cantatas. In this case, the unknown librettist unusually chose to open the work with a […]