Tag Archives: Miriam Feuersinger

Family stories and more “Vision Bach” – BWV 179 and 199 for Trinity 11

19 Wednesday Aug 2026

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Daniel Johannsen during a Vision Bach concert in 2024, © Bach Akademie Stuttgart/Holger Schneider

For this past Sunday, the 11th after Trinity, I would love to share Bach Akademie Stuttgart’s recording of Cantata 179 Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei and Cantata 199 Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut. 303 years ago, these two cantatas were performed during the same church service in Leipzig, Cantata 179 before the sermon, and Cantata 199 after the sermon. The absolute highlight of this recording for me is tenor Daniel Johannsen’s fabulous singing throughout Cantata 179, not just in his two solo movements, but also in the choruses. In addition, soprano Miriam Feuersinger’s moving rendition of solo cantata 199 on this recording is not to be missed. Keep reading to find out why this cantata is Feuersinger’s personal favorite.

Read more about the Vision Bach project and this Volume 3 album in last week’s post. You can purchase this album on Amazon or Arkiv Music if you are in the USA, or on jpc if you are in Europe. Please consider purchasing to support the artists! Also available on Spotify and YouTube.

Spotlight on tenor Daniel Johannsen

For Cantata 179 Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei, find the score here, and the German text with English translations here.

In my previous posts about this cantata, I mostly wrote about the stunning fugue in the opening chorus. Learn all about it in my posts from 2016 and 2023. But today’s spotlight is on tenor Daniel Johannsen, who illustrates the text in the tenor recitative and aria like no other.

Johannsen’s father was a Protestant pastor and his mother was a religion teacher, so from a very young age, he was familiar with the power of telling a story. He has degrees in both vocal performance and church music, and I believe this all contributes to his exceptional communication of the texts in Bach’s sacred music.

My aunt and Daniel Johannsen outside the Thomaskirche

Over the past fifteen years or so, Johannsen has recorded a great number of Bach’s hymns, cantatas, and oratorios with The Netherlands Bach Society , the J.S. Bach Foundation, and Bach Akademie Stuttgart. The Bach cantata YouTube boom came too late for my mother, who passed away in 2010, but my mother’s oldest sister, also a great Bach fan, as well as a theologian and retired minister, is an avid viewer of those performances. This past June I had the great fortune to visit Bachfest Leipzig together with her. We got to hear Daniel Johannsen sing three times in the Thomaskirche. After the first concert, with the J.S. Bach Foundation under the direction of Rudolf Lutz, my aunt said: “it doesn’t matter that we sit with our back to the performers here, because I know his voice so well from all the videos, I see him in my mind when I hear him sing.” Lutz’s concerts moved her to tears, especially because of the soloists’ communication of the texts. How lucky we were that Daniel took the time after his last Bachfest concert to pose for a photo with my aunt.

Rademann and Feuersinger on the couch with Maul and Schrammek

Miriam Feuersinger, Michael Maul, Bernhard Schrammek
Rudolf Lutz, Miriam Feuersinger, Hans-Christoph Rademann

Another reason why these two cantatas are special to me this summer is because of the Maul und Schrammek talk show I attended during Bachfest Leipzig. Miriam Feuersinger was the first guest on Michael Maul’s and Berhnard Schrammek’s couch, and when they asked her what her favorite Bach cantata is, she didn’t have to think twice: it’s Cantata 199 Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut. She explained that this cantata has been a great help to her during a difficult time in her life, and she loves the composition’s “theologische Aussagekraft” (theological expressiveness, theological meaning). 

For Cantata 199 Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, find the score here, and the German text with English translations here.

Ach, Hans-Christoph, mach wie immer: mach was Schönes!


Later, during that same talk show, when Lutz and Rademann had joined Feuersinger on the couch, Rademann told a story that made me laugh. He recounted a time he felt somewhat stuck: he no longer knew how to direct the opening chorus of Cantata 179, because of the negation in the first line of the text. He telephoned Jos van Veldhoven (artistic director of the Netherlands Bach Society from 1983 to 2018) to ask him for advice. Jos van Veldhoven’s responded with a simple solution: “Ach, Hans-Christoph, mach wie immer: mach was Schönes!” (“Oh, Hans-Christoph, just do what you always do: make it beautiful!”).

© Wieneke Gorter, August 19, 2026.

Almost Unbearable, It’s that Good: Hannes Rux-Brachtendorf and Matthias Winckhler in BWV 46 on Rademann’s Vision Bach, Volume 3.

08 Saturday Aug 2026

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Oh, how I wish I could have been there in person, in July 2023! At the Schlosskirche (Palace Church) of the Ludwigsburg Palace in Germany, looking up at this ceiling painting by Carlo Carlone, and hearing Bach’s incredible cantatas 105 and 46 performed by the Gaechinger Cantorey under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann.

Alas, that summer I had other things on my mind, and was pretty late catching on to Rademann’s Vision Bach, a project to record all Bach’s cantatas from his first year in Leipzig (1723/1724), in the order in which Bach wrote them. So I missed most of those live concerts, but I managed to attend one in February 2024, went to this ensemble’s St. Matthew Passion in Hamburg in March 2025, and became a fan. This June, I had the great fortune to hear two of their performances at Bachfest Leipzig. There, everyone’s energy, but especially the quality of the orchestra blew me away. I was not alone in this, festival director Michael Maul complimented the orchestra too the next day during the talkshow he co-hosted.

Hans-Christoph Rademann, photo by Marco Borggreve

Rademann took over the Bach Akademie Stuttgart and the Gaechinger Cantorey from Helmut Rilling in 2013, and immediately replaced the orchestra with a period instrument ensemble. During the first three years, this happened through collaborations with Freiburger Barockorchester and Akademie Alte Musik Berlin. In 2016 Rademann founded the Bach Akademie Stuttgart’s own orchestra, also under the name Gaechinger Cantorey. And I feel you can tell that this orchestra is only 10 years young.

All 10 Volumes of Vision Bach are out now. Please scroll down on this website by Bachakademie Stuttgart to order directly from the publisher if you are in the European Union. Or visit this website, with links to order from Amazon if you are in the USA, and links for YouTube. I hope to discuss more of these Vision Bach recordings over the coming weeks and months.

For this Sunday, the 10th after Trinity, Bach wrote Cantata 46, Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgendein Schmerz sei in 1723. It appears on Vision Bach, Volume 3. You can purchase this on Amazon or Arkiv Music if you are in the USA, or on jpc if you are in Europe. Please consider purchasing, to support the artists! Also available on Spotify and YouTube.

Find the score here, and the German text with English translations here.

The recording of Cantata 46 features gorgeous singing by alto Elvira Bill and tenor Benedikt Kristjánsson, and the beautiful sound of Anneke Scott’s corno da tirarsi* in the opening chorus and closing chorale. But the absolute best is the bass aria.

Hannes Rux-Brachtendorf
Matthias Winckhler

We all know Bach’s illustration of thunder and lightning from his St. Matthew Passion, but he does it very well too in this apocalyptic bass aria. And this performance by Baroque trumpet player Hannes Rux-Brachtendorf and bass Matthias Winckhler (yes, that’s really five consonants in a row in the middle of his last name) is unrivaled. Especially how together they illustrate the word “unerträglich” (unbearable) in the third line of the text, it is indeed almost unbearable, it is that good! I have never heard those harmonic crunches so well done on any other recording.

Dein Wetter zog sich auf von weiten,
Doch dessen Strahl bricht endlich ein
Und muss dir unerträglich sein,
Da überhäufte Sünden
Der Rache Blitz entzünden
Und dir den Untergang bereiten.

Your tempest brewed from afar,
Yet at long last its flash breaks forth
And must be unbearable to you,
As heaped-up sins
Set aflame the lightning of vengeance
And bring about your downfall.**

Hannes Rux-Brachtendorf plays with fabulous technique and gorgeous phrasing. His playing was impressive too during Bachfest Leipzig in Cantata 51 Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen. And Matthias Winckhler — ahhhhh, he has it all, the beautiful voice, the colors, the core in the sound. And he can do it all, sing all the notes, do the colloraturas, tell the story, AND move me. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts, because I observe a growing number of Lied and opera engagements on his calendar, so we might hear him less often in Bach cantatas.

Anneke Scott with corno da tirarasi* in the Palace church in Ludwigsburg – photo by Holger Schneider.

When listening to this Volume 3 of Vision Bach, don’t miss the cantata this album opens with: Cantata 105 Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht for the ninth Sunday after Trinity (last week). Find the text for that cantata here. The recording features gorgeous singing by the one and only Miriam Feuersinger in the soprano aria “Wie zittern und wanken;” a five star performance by horn player Anneke Scott (again on corno da tirarsi*) and tenor Benedikt Kristjánsson in “Kann ich nur Jesum mir zum Freunde machen;” and last but not least, Matthias Winckhler in the arioso “Wohl aber dem, der seinen Bürgen weiss.” This movement always makes me think of the “Am abend da es kühle war” arioso from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and it moves me to tears.

Wieneke Gorter, © 2026.

*For more information on Anneke Scott and the corno da tirarsi, please read my blog post from 2023 here.

**English translation by Michael Marissen & Daniel R. Melamed, from https://bachcantatatexts.org/

Bachfest Leipzig 2025

09 Wednesday Jul 2025

Posted by in Cantatas, Leipzig, Travel

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Romanus-Haus in Leipzig, the house where poet Christiane Mariane von Ziegler held salons in the 1720s and 1730s.

I visited Bachfest Leipzig again this year, from Tuesday evening, June 17, through Sunday, June 22, attending eight concerts in six days. Read my highlights below, and please subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss future posts. I joined a festival trip to Merseburg, took walks, caught up with friends from all over the world, and met some new fellow Bach lovers. For me, the camaraderie has almost become a more important reason to return each year than the concerts.

That said, next year’s cantata programming is not to be missed, with Herreweghe AND Lutz AND Rademann, so if you would like to attend you should probably get organized – my tips for that at the end of this post.

Summer in Leipzig

June is the perfect time of year in this city. People are out on café terraces everywhere, and walking in the streets. Then there’s the summer green: entire rose bushes for sale on the street in the middle of the center, and linden trees in bloom wherever you go. The scent of linden delights me, and I learned something new about them this year, thanks to our Bachfest tour guide Anna-Sylvia Goldammer on the organ trip to Merseburg: Leipzig has apparently always been full of linden trees! The latin word for Leipzig, Lipsi, was derived from the Slavic word for linden tree, lipa. Most of downtown, inside the ring, is car-free, with only taxis and necessary vehicles allowed in. This makes it feel safe and, dare I say it, more walkable than Amsterdam.

The free performances can be the most meaningful

Inspired by a seatmate on the trip to Köthen last year, I attended more of the free or almost-free performances this year. You can still fully enjoy the camaraderie with other Bach fans and hear beautiful music without spending a fortune. There are no assigned seats for the church services, so as long as you line up early, you can enjoy the best view for free.

This year I had missed the free performances on the market square, but on Saturday morning, June 21, I was so lucky to attend an unforgettable, absolutely exquisite rendition of the duet from Cantata 79 Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild by soprano Miriam Feuersinger and baritone Tobias Berndt during the “Mette” (morning service) in the Nikolaikirche. The Sunday morning service in the Thomaskirche was special too. The service was a reconstruction of what a church service in Bach’s time would have been like (I could write an entire blog post about that!), I got to hear Johannes Lang play the organ, Tomáš Král sing the bass arias in Cantata 20 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, and tenor Patrick Grahl sing not only the tenor aria in that cantata but also the cantor-bits in the service as well as the reading from the New Testament (yes this was sung, beautiful!). But I also happened to sit and sing (in the congregational singing) next to the 80-year-old father of choir director Maria Küstner. With great determination he had climbed all the stairs to the balcony, even though he was walking with a cane. When after the service I thanked him for his clear and confident singing, he told me that decades ago, on frequent car trips between Leipzig and Berlin, he would sing Luther’s “Wir glauben all an einen Gott” (one of the Lutheran chorales we had just sung in the service) to keep himself and the family awake. I forgot to ask him if this was still during GDR time, but it might very well have been.

Catching up with David Chin

This year I also finally had the opportunity to have lunch with David Chin, director of Bachfest Malaysia and creator of the excellent documentary Encountering Bach which I have referenced already a few times on this blog. We started conversations on Facebook during the Covid pandemic after David published his first episodes of the documentary, then met in person at the Thüringer Bachwochen in 2022, but only managed to say a few quick hellos at last year’s Bachfest. So grateful it worked out to talk this year!

Concert highlights: Alex Potter and David de Winter

Alex Potter in the Nikolaikirche on June 17. Photo courtesy of Sascha Wolff.

I had only just arrived to Leipzig on Tuesday June 17. I had not even unpacked yet, but I had a chance to hear “Missa Miniatura,” Elina Albach’s adaptation of Bach’s Mass in B Minor again, and I am a big fan of that production. So I ate a quick dinner and made it to the Nikolaikirche just in time. Alex Potter’s stunning rendition of the Agnus Dei at this concert was definitely a highlight of this Bachfest for me. In order to have a bit more acoustic, he had climbed up a few steps so he stood directly under an arch in the Nikolaikirche. Thanks to Sascha Wolff for capturing that moment on photo. After this aria I felt “we can now all die happily.” The other aria that transported me to a similar state of bliss was David de Winter’s “Der Ewigkeit saphirnes Haus” from Cantata 198 Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl with Solomon’s Knot on Friday, June 20, in the Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche. I had never heard this aria sung so beautifully.

Bach’s “50 best cantatas” by Lutz, Herrewege, and Rademann, Vox Luminis, Koopman, and Gardiner in 2026 – how to get organized

Disclaimer: I’m not getting paid to write this. Below is a reflection of my personal opinion and personal interpretation of the information that is available at the time of writing this blog post. I do not accept responsibility if your experience is different. I just thought it might be helpful to curate the information from various websites for you.

Anyone reading this who has visited Bachfest in the last few years: please feel free to add your own advice in the comments. Thank you!

Next year’s cantata programming at the festival is going to be a hit parade of the “50 best cantatas” (chosen by the audience, read more about the how and why in this interview with festival director Michael Maul by blogger Rick Fulkner) with two concerts each by Herreweghe, Lutz, Koopman, Gardiner, Rademann, and Vox Luminis. Here are my tips to get organized:

If you already know you want to attend all 12 cantata concerts (= two concerts per day, six days in a row, of two to three cantatas each, each cantata preceded by a motet by Schütz or Schein), you can purchase your “packet” here. You’ll go through two seat selection screens, one to select your seat for the Thomaskirche (the screen doesn’t specify this, but it is the seatmap that has the stage at the bottom, and “Südempore” on the right), and, once you have clicked the checkout button, another one for the Nikolaikirche (not specified either, but this is the map that has the stage at the top and 1. Empore and 2. Empore).

Please note for Thomaskirche:

  • For concerts with choir and orchestra, the performers are located on the organ loft of the Sauer-organ (the bottom of the seating map).
  • The majority of the pews downstairs, where the sound is likely best, have their backs to the performers. Many people don’t mind this, but it surprised me. Thus, if it is important for you to see the performers, choose a premium seat (yellow on the map) on one of the balconies, where the sound is wonderful too.
  • Some seats on the Empore (balconies) have partially blocked views of the performers due to large pillars, even the premium seats are not all equal, so don’t get your hopes up too much.

Please note for Nikolaikirche:

The sound is good everywhere in the church, but most seats on the balconies have limited leg space, so keep that in mind if you are tall, since these cantata concerts will be pretty long. The Bach Museum shop sells cute portable cushions for making your church pew seat more comfortable, see picture on the left, pillow folded in half. I also saw people who traveled with inflatable pillows.

If you want to pick and choose, only want to go to one concert per day, or don’t want to commit to spending a thousand euros just yet, mark your calendar:

  • November 11, 2025: Advance sales start for Patrons of the Bachfest/Bach-Archiv Leipzig and for members of the Neue Bachgesellschaft.
    • Become a patron of the Bachfest here (access to VIP seating for three concerts or more, depending on level of giving).
    • Become a member of the Neue Bachgesellschaft here (no special seating, just the earlier access to ticket sales).
  • November 25, 2025: Regular ticket sales start.

Where to stay: People I met had good experiences at Innside (hotel directly across the ring from the Thomaskirche, in a nice neighborhood), Motel One (close to the Nikolaikirche), and Adina Apartment Hotel (apartments close to the Nikolaikirche, 24-hour reception, pool, restaurant, bar). I myself stayed in Apartmenthotel Quartier M. which I loved because of the excellent organic supermarket on the ground floor of the same building, the good price, and the short walking distance to the Thomaskirche.

Copyright Wieneke Gorter, July 9, 2025.

Bach’s Gratitude Cantatas

28 Sunday Jan 2024

Posted by in Cantatas, Leipzig, Septuagesima

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The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard by Rembrandt van Rijn. 1637. Oil on panel. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.

An idea for this blog post was still sitting in my drafts folder. It’s a party in that drafts folder, so many blog posts in various stages of readiness are hanging out there! Self-imposed deadlines and self-imposed standards often lead me to decide that the post won’t be finished in time for the appropriate Sunday and that it is thus better to shelve it.

In 2020 I jotted down that it would be good to talk about gratitude in connection with Bach’s Cantata 144 Nimm was dein ist, und gehe hin! (1724) and Cantata 84 Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke (1727) for this Sunday Septuagesima, or the Third Sunday before Lent. I’m not alone in associating these cantatas with a gratitude practice. Prominent Bach scholar Michael Maul calls the soprano aria “Genügsamkeit” (Contentment) from Cantata 144 “the Buddha aria” in his Podcast about this cantata (in German).

It seems appropriate to take the draft post off the shelf today, because at the start of this weekend I went to see Wim Wenders’ movie Perfect Days. The movie celebrates living a simple life and being open to small wonders and pleasures. I loved it and it calmed me down. And it is an excellent opportunity to finally share Miriam Feuersinger’s 2022 solo album “Ich bin vergnügt …” on this blog.

For the background stories about cantatas 144 and 84, please (re)read my post from 2017.

Before I discuss Feuersinger’s recording, I should not forget to mention that the Netherlands Bach Society’s live recording of Cantata 84 was also published in 2022 and features excellent music-making by soprano Maria Keohane and oboist Martin Stadler. I love the many colors of Maria Keohane’s voice and I enjoy watching her sing because she is so obviously enjoying herself, and her singing always seems effortless.

The award-winning Solo Cantata album by Miriam Feuersinger and Capricornus Consort Basel includes a beautiful rendition of Cantata 84. Find it here on Spotify and here on YouTube. I adore Feuersinger’s clear voice and Katharina Arfken’s oboe playing. I also appreciate their decision to have the strings play the alto, tenor, and bass part in the final chorale. It is too bad there is no video recording of this, because watching Miriam Feuersinger’s energy on stage is fantastic, and enormously inspiring to me.* I have never attended a live performance of hers yet, but I am hoping to fix that on February 17 in Stuttgart and/or on April 7 in Arnstadt. And to circle back to gratitude practice, she is also an inspiring promotor of celebrating the beauty in everyday life, from quoting Albert Einstein on her concert calendar page “You can live life in two ways: As if there are no miracles at all, or as if everything you encounter is a miracle,” to her instagram account.

Wieneke Gorter, January 28, 2024.

*watch for example her performing the opening aria of Cantata 32 with the J.S. Bach Foundation here on YouTube.

About Weekly Cantata

I am a bilingual writer, publicist, choral singer, art and nature lover, foodie, happy wife, and blessed mother of two. I started this blog in 2016, inspired by my late mother’s love for Bach’s cantatas. After 23 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’m now back in the Netherlands.

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Please subscribe to this blog! Simply fill in your email address and you’ll receive an email every time I’ve published a new post. Thank you so much / Vielen Dank / Dankuwel / Merci mille fois / 감사합니다 / 谢谢 / ありがとう / Mille grazie / Muchas gracias / Muito obrigado / Tusen takk / Tack så mycket / Terima kasih / شكراً جزيلاً / תודה רבה

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Multifunctional trumpets, from 1723 to 1748

27 Sunday Aug 2023

Posted by in 1723 Trinity season special series, Bach's life, Cantatas, Leipzig, Trinity

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Old Town Hall in Leipzig

For those of you receiving this in email, please click on the post to read in a web browser, as images and table will display much better that way.

For this Sunday in 1723, the 12th after Trinity, Bach wrote Cantata 69a Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele. In my post from 2016 I remarked how unusual it was for Bach to use trumpets on such a “normal” Sunday, and imagined his father-in-law being in town for a visit. But this week I heard two better arguments. 

In his podcast, Bach scholar Michael Maul suggests that after the incredibly serious and sad music of the past three Sundays, Bach might have realized that the Leipzig churchgoers needed to hear something more upbeat. This might sound trivial, but if you look at Bach’s passions, he knew very well when a change in mood was needed and mastered that skill like a great opera composer or playwright. In addition to this good reason, I was also convinced by theologian Karl Graf in the J.S. Bach Foundation’s lecture about Cantata 69a, because he reminded me that the Bible story on which this cantata is based is that of Christ healing a deaf mute. Graf points out that in the time of the Bible, but also still in Bach’s time, a deaf mute would not only have been excluded from society, but would also have been considered a person without faith. Thus, the rejoicing by chorus and trumpets is not only an illustration of the praise the crowd gives after witnessing the miracle, but especially of this person finding faith.

A quarter century later, in 1748, Bach recycled this cantata during the same time of year, but for a completely different occasion: the installation of the new Town Council, or “Ratswahl.” The “Ratswahl” was always on the first Monday after August 24 (the feast of St. Bartholomew); which in 1748 fell on Monday, August 30. Bach must have written about 27 Ratswahl cantatas, but only six have survived.

I have listed Bach’s changes in 1748 here below, expanding on a table created by Eduard van Hengel. I’ve included links for live video recordings of both cantatas (just click on the link at the top of each column).

Cantata 69a for Trinity 12 1723

Live video recording by the J.S. Bach Foundation, Rudolf Lutz, conductor. With
Mirjam Berli, soprano; Alex Potter, alto; Raphael Höhn, tenor; Dominik Wörner, bass.
Cantata 69 for Ratswechsel 1748

Live recording by the Netherlands Bach Society, Peter Dijkstra, conductor. With
Miriam Feuersinger, soprano; Alex Potter, alto; Thomas Hobbs, tenor; Peter Kooij, bass.
Please find the German texts with English translations here, and the score herePlease find the German texts with English translations here, and the score here
Opening ChorusOpening Chorus, unchanged
Soprano recitative, 11 measures

Ach, dass ich tausend Zungen hätte!
Ach wäre doch mein Mund
Von eitlen Worten leer!
Ach, dass ich gar nichts redte,
Als was zu Gottes Lob gerichtet wär!
So machte ich des Höchsten Güte kund;
Denn er hat lebenslang so viel an mir getan,
Dass ich in Ewigkeit ihm nicht verdanken kann.
Soprano recitative, 18 measures

Wie groß ist Gottes Güte doch!
Er bracht uns an das Licht,
Und er erhält uns noch.
Wo findet man nur eine Kreatur,
Der es an Unterhalt gebricht?
Betrachte doch, mein Geist,
Der Allmacht unverdeckte Spur,
Die auch im kleinen sich recht groß erweist.
Ach! möcht es mir, o Höchster, doch gelingen,
Ein würdig Danklied dir zu bringen!
Doch, sollt es mir hierbei an Kräften fehlen,
So will ich doch, Herr, deinen Ruhm erzählen.
Tenor aria in C Major with recorder and oboe da caccia

Meine Seele,
Auf, erzähle,
Was dir Gott erwiesen hat!
Rühmet seine Wundertat,
Laßt ein gottgefällig Singen
Durch die frohen Lippen dringen!
Alto aria in G Major with violin and oboe


Meine Seele,
Auf! erzähle,
Was dir Gott erwiesen hat!
Rühme seine Wundertat,
Laß, dem Höchsten zu gefallen,
Ihm ein frohes Danklied schallen!
Alto recitative with continuo only,
18 measures

Gedenk ich nur zurück,
Was du, mein Gott, von zarter Jugend an
Bis diesen Augenblick
An mir getan,
So kann ich deine Wunder, Herr,
So wenig als die Sterne zählen.
Vor deine Huld, die du an meiner Seelen
Noch alle Stunden tust,
Indem du nur von deiner Liebe ruhst,
Vermag ich nicht vollkommnen Dank zu weihn.
Mein Mund ist schwach, die Zunge stumm
Zu deinem Preis und Ruhm.
Ach! sei mir nah
Und sprich dein kräftig Hephata,
So wird mein Mund voll Dankens sein.
Tenor recitative with strings 
26 measures

Der Herr hat große Ding an uns getan.
Denn er versorget und erhält,
Beschützet und regiert die Welt.
Er tut mehr, als man sagen kann.
Jedoch, nur eines zu gedenken:
Was könnt uns Gott wohl Bessres schenken,
Als dass er unsrer Obrigkeit
Den Geist der Weisheit gibet,
Die denn zu jeder Zeit
Das Böse straft, das Gute liebet?
Ja, die bei Tag und Nacht
Vor unsre Wohlfahrt wacht?
Laßt uns dafür den Höchsten preisen;
Auf! ruft ihn an,
Dass er sich auch noch fernerhin so gnädig woll erweisen
Was unserm Lande schaden kann,
Wirst du, o Höchster, von uns wenden
Und uns erwünschte Hilfe senden.
Ja, ja, du wirst in Kreuz und Nöten
Uns züchtigen, jedoch nicht töten.
Bass ariaBass aria, unchanged
Closing chorale with instruments doubling the vocal lines

Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan,
Darbei will ich verbleiben.
Es mag mich auf die rauhe Bahn
Not, Tod und Elend treiben:
So wird Gott mich
Ganz väterlich
In seinen Armen halten.
Drum lass ich ihn nur walten.
Closing chorale with separate parts for trumpets and timpani

Es danke, Gott, und lobe dich
Das Volk in guten Taten.
Das Land bringt Frucht und bessert sich,
Dein Wort ist wohl geraten.
Uns segne Vater und der Sohn,
Uns segne Gott, der Heilge Geist,
Dem alle Welt die Ehre tut,
Für ihm sich fürchten allermeist,
Und sprecht von Herzen: Amen!

Wieneke Gorter, August 27, 2023.

About Weekly Cantata

I am a bilingual writer, publicist, choral singer, art and nature lover, happy wife, and blessed mother of two. I started this blog in 2016, inspired by my late mother’s love for Bach’s cantatas. After 23 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’m now back in the Netherlands.

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Bach’s Music for Ascension Day

13 Thursday May 2021

Posted by in Ascension, Cantatas, Leipzig

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The Ascension, from the illuminated 15th-century manuscript Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 184r – Musée Condé, Chantilly, France.

Today was Ascension Day. In Bach’s time this was a very important holiday in the churches. Many countries in Europe have a four-day weekend starting on this Thursday. I did too as a kid growing up in the Netherlands. But we didn’t go to church on this day, and I don’t remember my mother playing the Ascension cantatas or the Ascension Oratorio on the turntable at home on this day. Instead we went for a bike ride, visit grandparents, or go camping. I didn’t know Bach’s music for Ascension Day at all until we performed BWV 11 and 43 with California Bach Society in the early 2000s. The choruses from these compositions are among the most fun I have every sung in a choir. I love the syncopated rhythms.

Here is an overview of Bach’s music for Ascension Day, as far as we know, in order of creation:

In 1724, Bach wrote Cantata 37 Wer da gläubet und getäuft wird (Whoever believes and is baptised). Listen to it here. Soloists in this recording by Ton Koopman/Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra are Sibylla Rubens, soprano; Bernhard Landauer, alto; Christoph Prégardien, tenor; and Klaus Mertens, bass.

In 1725, as part of the series of cantatas on texts by Christiane Mariane von Ziegler, Bach wrote Cantata 128 Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein (On Christ’s ascension alone). Listen to it here. Soloists on this live recording by John Eliot Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists are Lenneke Ruiten, soprano; Meg Bragle, mezzo soprano; Andrew Tortise, tenor; and Dietrich Henschel, bass. Find my blog post from 2018 about this cantata, which includes a different recording by Gardiner here.

The last Bach cantata we have for this holiday is from 1726: Cantata 43 Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen (God ascends with shouts of joy). Listen to it here. Soloists in this live recording by Rudolf Lutz/J.S. Bach Foundation are Miriam Feuersinger, soprano; Annekathrin Laabs, alto; Charles Daniels, tenor; and Wolf Matthias Friedrich, bass.

Nine years later, Bach wrote his Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11 Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Praise God in His kingdoms), incorrectly labeled as a cantata in the 19th century. Bach might have been inspired by the Christmas Oratorio he had written only five months before that.

On that Ascension Day, Thursday, May 19, 1735, this oratorio was performed in the morning service in the St. Nicholas Church, and again in the afternoon service in the St. Thomas Church. Watch the wonderful opening chorus here in a live performance by Philippe Herreweghe/Collegium Vocale Gent from 2014 from the Chapelle de la Trinité in Lyon, France. Or listen to the entire oratorio by Philippe Herreweghe/Collegium Vocale Gent on a CD recording from 1993 here. Soloists on that 1993 recording are Barbara Schlick, soprano; Catherine Patriasz, alto; Christoph Prégardien, tenor; and Peter Kooij, bass.

Wieneke Gorter, May 13, 2021.

Third Christmas Day

27 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by in Cantatas, Chorale cantatas 1724/1725, Christmas, Leipzig

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Winter on the Holterberg, the “local hill” in the region where I lived from age 6 to 16.

For me, December 27 is always the Third Christmas Day , whether it falls on that other cantata day, the Sunday after Christmas, or not. In the Netherlands, where I grew up, there are two days on which people celebrate Christmas: December 25 and 26. Special meals are eaten on both days. And because the country is so small, you can visit one part of your family on the 25th and then see the other part on the 26th. Most relatives expect you to do this. So, when I was a child, Third Christmas Day was always our first “free” day during the Christmas break, without church visits, meal prep, having to dress up (even though I liked that), or commitments to family.

We had a standing arrangement with friends for this day: if there was enough snow on the ground, and if we were in town, we would go cross-country skiing together on the only hill in our region. It was a half-joke, because the Netherlands isn’t very snowy, and it would take an extraordinary winter for there to be enough snow on the ground for cross-country skiing. When I was 16 we moved away from that region, so it maybe happened only once that we actually did this together with the other family, but just the idea was fun, and it didn’t feel like something we “had” to do to any of us.

This was a long introduction to justify why I am sharing a cantata for Third Christmas Day on this blog today, when I should be sharing cantatas for the Sunday after Christmas instead, as that day officially overrides the other.

Ever since I found out this video of Cantata 133 Ich freue mich in dir (I rejoice in you) existed, on November 1st of this year, I had been planning to share it today. It features two absolutely gorgeous tender arias by some of my favorite soloists and the wonderful ambiance Concerto Copenhagen always manages to convey in their Christmas videos. So here your are: Cantata 133 Ich freue mich in dir, written in 1724, by Concerto Copenhagen, from their 2011 Christmas concert, starring Alex Potter in the alto aria and Maria Keohane and her beautiful berry-red dress in the soprano aria. Find the video here, the text and translations here, and the score here.

Cantatas for Third Christmas Day have all been discoveries for me since I started writing this blog. None of these were cantatas my mother played on the turn table at home, probably for two reasons: 1. It was the day for the third cantata from the Christmas Oratorio (and this one was my sister’s favorite); 2. After playing the one cantata, we were usually off doing other things afterwards (see above), and my mother must have felt the “freedom” of this day too.

I will take a break for the next two weeks, and not post again until Sunday, January 17. Our first-born is flying the nest exactly two weeks from today, to go live on a college campus on the other side of the country, and we won’t see him in person again until May. So I would like to spend my time these next two weeks cooking, hiking, and laughing with the family, and helping my son get ready.

Here are some links for further reading and listening during those two weeks:

More cantatas for today:

Cantata 151 Süsser Trost, mein Jesus kömmt, written for Third Christmas Day in 1725. I recommended the performance by Maria Keohane (wearing a white and gold Christmas dress) with the Netherlands Bach Society in my post from 2019. Find it here.

Cantata Cantata 122 Das neugeborne Kindelein, written for the Sunday after Christmas in 1724. In addition to recommending the Herreweghe recording, in my blog post from 2017 I share my research as to why the word “Jubeljahr” (Jubilee) appears in this cantata.

Cantata 64 Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget, written for Third Christmas Day in 1723. I recommended the recording by Harnoncourt and Bach Collegium Japan in my post from 2016. Find that here.

Or watch the cantata for the Third Christmas Day from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio following my links in this post.

Cantatas for New Year’s Day:

Watch the fourth cantata of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio by the J.S. Bach Foundation. You can find it here. The fourth cantata is my favorite part of the Christmas Oratorio, and soprano Miriam Feuersinger is absolutely fabulous in this performance.

Read my blog post from 2017 about Cantata 41 Jesu, nun sei gepreiset. Or explore on your own: Bach wrote several other cantatas for this day which I haven’t discussed on this blog yet: BWV 190 in 1724, BWV 16 in 1726, and BWV 171 in 1729.

Cantatas for Epiphany:

Read my very first post on this blog, from 2016 (apologies if some of the links don’t work anymore), my post from 2018, Or watch the last (6th) cantata from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio following my links in this post.

Thank you for following this blog! “See” you in three weeks.

Wieneke Gorter, December 27, 2020.

The one that’s never discussed here

10 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in Cantatas, Chorale cantatas 1724/1725, Leipzig

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Cantata 93 Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten from 1724 is one of my favorite Bach cantatas, but because this one always falls in the summer vacation, I have never actually discussed it. I don’t have time to get into it this year either, but I have some interesting links for you.

In July 2017, I shared my favorite recording (Herreweghe) of this cantata along with some pictures of Greece where I was at the time. You can find that post here. Update: one day after I posted this, the J.S. Bach Foundation Made their full-length video of this cantata available on YouTube, and it’s a very good one. You can find it here: https://youtu.be/in5XDlJnrB8

Bach recycled the most splendid movement from this cantata, the soprano-alto duet, into one of his “Schübler Chorales” for organ. How exactly that works, you can read in my post from February 2018.

And if you understand a little German, watch Rudolf Lutz of the J.S. Bach Foundation explain everything about this Cantata 93 in this workshop on YouTube.

Wieneke Gorter, July 10, 2020, updated July 19, 2020.

Memorable for at least 47 days. Leave it to Alex Potter.

22 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in Cantatas, Leipzig

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Between Estomihi Sunday (or the last Sunday before Lent) and Good Friday, there were 47 days in 1729. During that entire time the Leipzig congregations would hear no music in the churches, except for chorales. So Bach’s last music had to be as memorable as possible, had to give them hope, and ideally also prepare them for the St. Matthew Passion they would get to hear on Good Friday.

Bach successfully checked all these boxes with Cantata 159 Sehet! wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem. And leave it to alto Alex Potter to bring all this out in a performance. Opera-like drama, heart-breaking emotion, the promise of hope and redemption, it is all there in his singing, and in that voice with the beautiful variety of colors.

Listen to / watch the performance by the Netherlands Bach Society here on YouTube. Soprano: Miriam Feuersinger; Alto: Alex Potter; Tenor: Thomas Hobbs; Bass: Stephan MacLeod. Read some comments by Alex Potter on this cantata here on the AllofBach website.

Find the German texts with English translations here, and the score here.

The Herreweghe recording deserves a mention here too. Dorothee Mields’ singing in the duet with Matthew White is very moving, and Peter Kooij’s interpretation of the bass aria “Es ist vollbracht” on this recording is unrivaled. Find that recording here on YouTube, but better yet, support the artists and purchase the entire album Jesu, deine Passion here on Amazon or here on iTunes. It contains all four cantatas Bach wrote for this Sunday, and they are all excellent. Read more about Cantatas 127, 22, and 23 in my blogpost from 2018 here.

Wieneke Gorter, February 22, 2020, updated February 13, 2021.