Photos from my visit to Weimar in April 2022: The famous altarpiece by Cranach in the St. Peter and Paul church or Herder church and the view over Weimar from the bell tower of St. James church. In the righmost photo you can see on the left the tower of the Bastille where Bach was held prisoner for a month, and on the right the Herder church. In addition to his job at the Duke’s castle, Bach played the organ at both St. James church and Herder church.

I hope you all had a meaningful Advent season and a merry Christmas. I needed to be with friends and family this month, and craved to hear music in old churches. It all worked out and I had one of the best Christmas seasons ever in recent years. I’m sorry that because of spending my time this way, I did not get to share any thoughts or music on this blog. If you went searching in my archives on your own, please let me know in the comments what you listened to. If you ever find youtube links that no longer work, please comment under the specific post or simply send me an email.

Why the photos of Weimar at the top of this blog post?

It’s because of a video I would like to share here today.

One of the best pieces of music I heard in an old church this month was the duet “Herr, dein Mitleid, dein Erbarmen” (Lord, your compassion, your mercy) from the third cantata of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, written for today, the Third Day of Christmas. On December 10, I heard this excellently performed by soprano Agnes van Laar and bass Marc Pantus in the stunning Saint Martin’s church in Bolsward, the Netherlands.

This duet doesn’t usually appear among the “greatest hits” of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio but I just love the way the instrumental and vocal parts move together, and I am also moved by the text. I was searching for a good live video performance of this duet to share here today, and liked Gardiner’s the best, with soprano Claron McFadden and bass Dietrich Henschel. Please find that video here. Here is the text:

Herr, dein Mitleid, dein Erbarmen
Tröstet uns und macht uns frei.
Deine holde Gunst und Liebe,
Deine wundersamen Triebe
Machen deine Vatertreu
Wieder neu.

Lord, your compassion, your mercy
console us and make us free.
Your gracious favour and love,
your wondrous desires
make the love you have for us as a father
again new.

While watching this video, I realized that MacFadden and Henschel are singing at the Herder church in Weimar, directly in front of the famous Cranach altarpiece. I cannot really describe in words how thrilling it was for me to finally set foot in that church in April 2022. Watching the video and looking at the photos also inspired me to share more stories about my travels to Thuringia in April 2022 on this blog, and to hopefully visit the region again in the new year.

Further exploring:

Read my post from 2020 about all Bach’s other cantatas for the Third Day of Christmas here.

Find a very nice overview of Bach’s time in Weimar on the website of the Thuringia Bach Festival here.

Wieneke Gorter, December 27, 2023.