Johann Sebastian Bach's life was largely peripatetic. For years, he worked as an organist in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen and Weimar, and was also kapellmeister in Köthen. Under the baton of maestro Andrzej Kosendiak, the works of the Baroque master – will be performed by Wrocław Baroque Ensemble. The soloists will be: Giovanni Antonini, so well-known to our audience from his concerts with Il Giardino Armonico, and Sheng-Fang Chiu. Soprano parts will be sung by the choristers of the NFM Boys’ Choir. 

The evening will begin with the cantata Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, which was written in the early period of the composer’s work, when he was active in Mühlhausen. Its textual layer is rich in numerous references to words taken from the Old and New Testaments and enriched with quotes from Martin Luther. Bach composed it probably on the occasion of his uncle Tobias Lämmerhirt’s passing in early August 1707. The piece is scored for soloists, choir, two recorders, two violas da gamba and basso continuo, and introduces a mournful atmosphere. Despite its having been written by a mere twenty-two-year-old artist, it is an example of a perfectly thought-out formal structure. It will precede the cantata Himmelskönig, sei willkommen intended for Palm Sunday, which was first performed on 25 March 1714. Its title words – “Hail, King of Heaven” – refer directly to a fragment of the Gospel of St Matthew describing Jesus’ triumphant arrival in Jerusalem. It was probably the first composition of this type created by Bach after he was appointed concertmaster at the royal court in Weimar.

In a similar period, less than three years later, the hymn Komm süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh! was composed, to be first published in the collection Musicalisches Gesangbuch – Georg Christian Schemelli’s songbook. The text, by an unknown author, is in fact a supplicatory prayer: “Come, sweet death, come, blessed rest!”. This is one of Bach’s most popular works, which we also know in the settings of other distinguished composers, including Max Reger, Leopold Stokowski, and Benjamin Britten. The concert will end with the cantata Komm, du süße Todesstunde dated 1716, also written during Bach’s Weimar years. Its libretto was written by Salomon Franck, as were most of Bach’s Weimar cantatas. Although it is in C major, it contains numerous changes to minor key that give it a funeral character.