Seattle Bach Choir presents Wachet Auf!
$20 ($18 youth/senior)
Johann Sebastian Bach — Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227
Felix Mendelssohn — Selected works
Heinrich Schütz — Selected works
Seattle Bach Choir, under the artistic direction of Dr. Anne Lyman presents music by Bach, Schütz, and Mendelssohn. Our 2017-2018 season begins featuring two of J. S. Bach’s most beloved and important choral works: the motet Jesu, meine Freude, and the celebrated Cantata No. 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. Shorter works by Heinrich Schütz and Felix Mendelssohn round out the program.
Bach’s Cantata 140, beloved and oft-performed today, was little known in Bach’s own time. Composed for the 17th Sunday after Trinity, generally late November just before the Advent season, it is based on the parable of the Ten Virgins, focusing on themes of steadfastness and faith. The music is some of the most memorable that Bach composed for voices and instruments and has been called a “cantata without weakness, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order.”
Bach’s motet, Jesu, meine, Freude, often performed a cappella, will be performed as it was likely in its day, with an orchestra of strings and oboes. As many of Bach’s motets, it was composed for a funeral. Despite its minor key and dramatic, edgy effect, as a whole it is a statement of faith and confidence. The overall structure is one of symmetry and balance in which the chorale tune is woven into the various movements in a variety of textures and rhythmic treatments. It is a monumental work that pairs beautifully with Cantata 140, both musically and spiritually.
These works will be performed on period Baroque instruments by some of Seattle’s best professional Baroque musicians who frequently perform with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Pacific MusicWorks, and by soloists from within the choir. Dr. Lyman will give a preconcert lecture at 2:30 pm.