#kohncantatas

...Belonging to Bach’s first cycle in Leipzig, BWV 105 was first performed on 25 July 1723.The libretto is drawn from the Sunday Gospel describing God’s judgement. Conscience, or Gewissen, is central to this message, and Bach’s music places its depiction at the core of his construction...

Programme notes: Bach the European 1 November 2020   Bach BWV 42, BWV 552, BWV 135 Royal Academy of Music Baroque Orchestra, directed by Eamonn Dougan. Royal Academy of Music, London.

Essay commissioned by the Royal Academy of Music and Kohn Foundation to celebrate the tenth and final year of the Bach cantata series.  

...With the mention of ‘Belial’ we enter the central contrasting section – or do we? Indeed the musical structure continues as expected, with the reprise of the opening material. However after only four bars into what we believe to be the da capo, the depiction of Belial returns ever the more declamatory. We realise that this is not a da capo structure as we were led to believe, but instead a ritornello movement. In other words, just as Satan deceived Eve with ‘sacred Fruit forbidd’n’, Bach tricks us, his loyal listeners...

... Here a gavotte is used to set the good wishes for the newly-wed couple, but also gestures towards the music that will take place after the cantata has finished. This playful diegesis or musical pun is extremely succinct; but then again, the real wedding party has only just begun...

...Performed on 30 August 1742, most likely preceding a lavish firework display, BWV 212 was composed to honour Carl Heinrich von Dieskau’s birthday. Picander’s text exhibits traces of an Upper Saxon dialect. However, the evocation of the ‘rustic’ is most clear in Bach’s use of dance. Despite an overall structure that alternates between aria and recitative, the cantata is very much a foray into the world of dance...

JS Bach BWV 111, BWV 94, BWV 26 Directed by Iain Ledingham, led by Madeleine Easton Royal Academy of Music