Bach & Co
mon 28 sep 2026 02:00 hrs
Podcast on Bach, Episode 101 (Repeat)
Although Johann Sebastian faces considerable opposition from the Leipzig city council, and at one point, starts asking around to see whether there might be a position for him elsewhere. Fortunately, he has the backing of the Elector of Saxony in Dresden.
Bach has enough cantatas ready to perform, allowing him to devote himself to other musical projects. He writes the first part of the Mass in B minor, revises passages from the St Matthew Passion, and composes cantatas for special occasions at the Dresden court.
Bach has also developed a taste for the narrative form found in the Mass in B minor and, for example, the St Matthew Passion. He now turns his attention to the Christmas Oratorio, a monumental work consisting of six separate cantatas whose closely related keys bind them together as a single whole.
Excerpts from:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Tune Bach & Co:
From Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord No. 4 in C minor, BWV 1017: Siciliano (Largo)
Janine Jansen & Friends
From Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001 in G minor: Adagio
Brodsky Quartet
(CD Homage to Bach – The Solo Violin Sonatas Arranged for String Quartet)
From The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2: Prelude No. 16 in G minor, BWV 885
Phantasm
(CD Bach – The Well-Tempered Consort II)
From the cantata ‘Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht’, BWV 211, ‘Coffee Cantata’:
– Aria ‘Heute noch, lieber Vater, tut es doch!’
Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki
(CD Bach Secular Cantatas, BWV 210 & 211)
From Köthener Trauermusik, BWV 244a: ‘Geh, Leopold, zu deiner Ruhe’ (Aria a 2 Cori)
Sabine Devieilhe, soprano; Ensemble Pygmalion, conducted by Raphaël Pichon
(CD Köthener Trauermusik, BWV 244a)
From the cantata ‘Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden’, BWV 1083: ‘Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden’
Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki
(CD Bach Trauerode)
From Christmas Oratorio, Part 3: ‘Herr, dein Mitleid, dein Erbarmen’
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Bavarian Radio Chorus, conducted by Peter Dijkstra
(CD Bach – Weihnachtsoratorium)
Pictured: the score of the opening of the Christmas Oratorio.
