On Ascension Day, Thursday, May 9th, we will play Ascension cantatas by baroque composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Telemann and Kuhnau in three programmes.
Ascension Day was often celebrated in the Baroque with grand musical compositions. Composers such as J. S. Bach, Handel, Telemann and Vivaldi wrote pieces especially for Ascension services. Bach composed the festive and colourful cantata BWV 128 towards the end of his second year in Leipzig. And he wrote his Ascension Oratorio BWV 11 for a large ensemble which ends with a triumphant choir. More than thirty cantatas by Georg Philipp Telemann have been preserved for Ascension Day alone. The cantata “Ich fahre auf zu meinem Vater” was composed in 1721 and has its world premiere on the recently released CD ‘Himmelfahrt’.
Large parts of this new CD by Vox Luminis together with the Freiburger Baroque Orchestra can be heard in No Day Without Bach and L’Esprit Baroque. We hear Bach’s Ascension Oratorio and other Ascension Cantatas by Bach and Telemann.
In Missa etcetera we hear two works for Ascension Day: a cantata by Johann Kuhnau and an oratorio by Georg Friedrich Kauffmann. Kuhnau is best known as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. The cantata for Ascension Day was probably composed around 1720 and has a remarkable part for oboe d’amore in one of the arias. Georg Friedrich Kauffmann was Kapellmeister in Merseburg and wrote the oratorio “Auf Christi Himmelfahrt: Rüstet euch, ihr Himmelschöre”, which we are about to hear.
Broadcasts:
No day without Bach: Thursday, May 9, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
L’Esprit Baroque: Thursday May 9, 2024, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
Missa etcetera: Thursday May 9, 2024, 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM.
