Seattle Bach Choir: Bach Cantatas BWV 72 & 186
Free (Free)
Johann Sebastian Bach — Cantat No. 186 "Ärgre dich o Seele nicht"
The Seattle Bach Choir, conducted by Dr. Anne Lyman, is pleased to present our third annual Mother’s Day free performance of two cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach in Trinity Episcopal Church’s beautiful Parish Hall. Bach composed hundreds of cantatas during his lifetime, and they have over time become some of the composer’s most celebrated works.
BWV 72, Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, and BWV 186, Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht were both likely composed when Bach was in Weimar. Both are based on texts by Salomon Franck, a lawyer and poet who was a great friend to Bach during his early years in the city. BWV 72 opens with a fiery virtuosic chorus that gives way to sublimity and serenity as the cantata continues. Of particular note is the chorale, whose text was written by Albert, a mid-sixteenth Duke of Prussia, and based on a tune by the great Renaissance composer of French chansons Claudin de Sermisy. BWV 186 is a cantata originally composed for Advent and later revised for the seventh Sunday after Trinity. It was composed in two parts and whose first part ends with a concerted chorale rather than the standard four-part setting.
The Seattle Bach Choir is pleased to be able to perform these cantatas as they would have been originally performed, on period Baroque instruments with a professional orchestra consisting of players who frequently perform with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Pacific MusicWorks. This concert is free and open to the public.