To celebrate the JS Bach 330th anniversary falling on 21 March the NFM Choir has prepared a programme of six Bach cantatas – works unravelling the wonderful harmony of voices of unfading beauty. On 22 March four beautiful motets will be sung, and among them Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf from 1729, written for the funeral of Johann Heinrich Ernesti, philosopher, Lutheran theologian and poet in one; rector of St Thomas School whose faculty boasted Bach’s name for years.
The framing of this concert are two works based on texts of laudatory psalms. The extreme parts of Motet BWV 225 are sheer exultation, where Bach piles up polyphonies and lengthens the key words in numerous melismatic ornamentations cumulating into an echo effect. This is how Bach’s own ardent religiosity manifests itself, according to his motto: ad maiorem Dei gloriam.
