Town Council Election Cantatas by Ton Koopman / Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir

Johann Sebastian Bach

Ton Koopman / Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir

Town Council Election Cantatas

Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917228724
Catnr: CC 72287
Release date: 27 February 2009
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917228724

Catalogue number
CC 72287

Release date
27 February 2009

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Town Council Election Cantatas
Bach’s duties as town organist in Mühlhausen and later as cantor and music director in Leipzig included the composition and performance of ceremonial music for the annual church service celebrating the inauguration of the newly elected town council. Six works Bach wrote for this occasion have survived: the Mühlhausen cantata “Gott ist mein König” BWV 71 of 1708 and several Leipzig cantatas: “Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn” BWV 119, “Ihr Tore zu Zion” BWV 193 (incomplete), “Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille” BWV 120, “Wir danken dir, Gott” BWV 29, and “Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele” BWV 69. Two Mühlhausen cantatas for 1709 and 1710 Bach had been commissioned to write after he had left for Weimar are completely lost; not even their printed texts have survived. Of the Leipzig repertoire, three librettos for additional town council election cantatas are extant, but their music is lost without a trace. Hence, the overall picture of Bach’s activities regarding major works for political ceremonies remains fragmentary.

The present album contains three representative town council election cantatas from Bach’s Leipzig years. It includes the first and last works prepared for this occasion. The last town council election cantata performed by Bach in 1749 was actually a repeat performance of cantata BWV 29, an older work originating from 1731.

The service to celebrate the annual town council election always took place on the Monday after St. Bartholomew’s Day (August 24). This means that for all 27 years in Leipzig Bach had to perform two different cantatas on two consecutive days in late August, of which the work for the town council election required a particularly festive character and large orchestra suitable for the stately event. Bach knew, of course, that this political event occurred annually and he planned his schedule accordingly. Nevertheless, the official written commission was delivered by a town messenger to Bach’s house invariably only a week or so before the performance was due.

The cantata “Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn” BWV 119 is the first work composed by Bach in Leipzig for the annual town council election. Originally performed on August 30, 1723, the cantata was mentioned in contemporary newspaper reports and specifically described as “excellent music”- repeat performances in later years are likely. The unknown author of the text took Psalm 65: 2 for the first movement and part of Martin Luther’s German Tedeum (1529) for the concluding ninth movement. This final chorale anticipated the Tedeum that was traditionally performed as a processional at the very end of the festive service, sung by the choir in Latin and accompanied by trumpets and timpani. The musical forces of the cantata with an orchestra of 4 trumpets, 2 recorders, 3 oboes, strings, and continuo were the biggest Bach had assembled in Leipzig to date. The mention of “Violoncelli, Bassoni è Violoni” suggests a particularly opulent continuo group. In a manner that matches the ceremonial nature of the event, Bach set the opening chorus as a French overture, possibly recycling here an existing movement from a separate orchestral work proposed for a special occasion when he previously served as capellmeister to the prince of Cöthen.

The cantata “Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille” BWV 120 was performed on August 29, 1729 at the latest, but could possibly date from an earlier year. In the first movement the anonymous poet uses again Psalm 65: 2, but a different phrase, and as the final movement also Luther’s German paraphrase of the Latin Tedeum, “Herr Gott dich loben wir” (1529). Despite these similarities BWV 120 is designed in way very different from BWV 119. The unusual formal choice of opening the cantata with an aria and following it with a chorus is determined by the choice of text. The opening movement in tranquil praise of God (aria for alto with two oboi d’amore, strings, and continuo) is succeeded by the shouting of the crowd (choir with full orchestra). This particularly effective movement was later included as a borrowed movement in the B-Minor Mass as the ”Et expecto” at the end of the Credo section.

The cantata “Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele” BWV 69 was in all likelihood first performed on August 26, 1748 - Bach’s penultimate composition in this work category. It was however not newly created but represented a revised version of BWV 69a, a cantata originally written for the 12th Sunday after Trinity in 1723. The recitatives no. 2 and 4 were newly composed for the occasion in the late 1740s and set to a text by an unknown poet. Of these two movements, the second is a particularly fine example of Bach’s late style. Also newly is the final chorale, a setting of a strophe from Luther’s 1524 hymn “Es woll uns Gott genädig sein”. With its obbligato trumpets it neatly rounds off the work’s musical architecture.

Christoph Wolff

Representatieve Bachcantates voor de verkiezing van stadsraad van Leipzig
Bachs plichten als stadsorganist in Mühlhausen, en later als cantor en muzikaal leider in Leipzig, omvatten ook de compositie en uitvoering van ceremoniële muziek voor de jaarlijkse kerkdienst ter gelegenheid van de inwijding van de nieuw gekozen stadsraad. Zes van de werken die Bach voor deze gebeurtenis componeerde zijn overgeleverd.

Het huidige album bevat drie cantates voor de vierkiezing van de stadsraad uit Bachs periode in Leipzig, waaronder de eerste en laatste nieuwe werken die hij voor deze gelegenheid componeerde.

Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn BWV 119 is de eerste cantate die Bach voor de jaarlijkse verkiezingen van de stadsraad in Leipzig componeerde. Het werk, uitgevoerd op 30 augustus 1723, werd door de verslagen in de kranten beschreven als “uitstekende muziek”. De omvangrijke orkestbezetting en het openingskoor in de vorm van een Franse ouverture sloten aan bij de feestelijke en ceremoniële aard van de gebeurtenis.

Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille BWV 120 werd voor het eerst uitgevoerd op 29 augustus 1729. De vormgeving verschilt van die van BWV 119. De ongebruikelijke opening in de vorm van een aria gevolgd door een koor werd vastgesteld door de keuze van de tekst.

Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele BWV 69, Bachs voorlaatste cantate in deze categorie, was geen volledig nieuw werk maar een herziende versie van BWV 69a met twee nieuw gecomponeerde recitatieven en een nieuw slotkoraal. Het vierde recitatief vormt een voortreffelijk voorbeeld van Bachs late stijl.

Diese CD - die letzte aus der 12 CD umfassenden Einzel-Edition bei Challenge Classics - enthält drei repräsentative Ratswahlkantaten aus Bachs Leipziger Zeit. Die letzte Ratswahlkantate, die Bach 1749 noch selbst dirigiert hat, war eine Wiederaufnahme der Kantate BWV 29 von 1731. // Inhalt: Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn BWV 119 / Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille BWV 120 / Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele BWV 69

Artist(s)

Ton Koopman (conductor)

Ton Koopman is a leading figure in Early Music and historically informed performance practice. As organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman has performed all over the world and played the most beautiful historical instruments of Europe. His Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir has gained worldwide fame as one of the best ensembles on period instruments. Between 1994 and 2004 Ton Koopman and ABO&C have recorded all sacred and secular cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, an extraordinary project that earned international acclaim. After that Koopman recorded the complete works by Bach’s predecessor, Dieterich Buxtehude. Besides performing as a soloist and with his ABO&C, Ton Koopman is very active as a guest conductor for modern orchestras and also devotes part of his time...

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Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir

Ton Koopman founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979. The group consists of internationally renowned baroque specialists who meet up several times a year and work together to prepare and perform new exciting programmes. For the musicians each concert is a new experience and Koopman's boundless energy and enthusiasm are a sure guarantee of the highest quality.
The Amsterdam Baroque Choir was founded in 1992 and it made its debut during the Holland Festival of Early Music in Utrecht performing the world première of the Requiem (for 15 voices) and Vespers (for 32 voices) by H.I.F. Biber. The recording of both of these works won the Cannes Classical Award for the best performance of 17th/18th century choral music. For its rare combination of textural clarity and interpretative flexibility, the Amsterdam Baroque Choir is considered among today’s most outstanding choirs. In 1994 Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir embarked upon the most ambitious recording project of the last decades: the integral recording of Bach’s secular and sacred cantatas. For this extraordinary project Koopman and his ensemble received the Deutsche Schallplatten-Preis Echo Klassik. Next to the CD recordings three books have been edited and published by Ton Koopman and the musicologist Christoph Wolff and a series of six documentaries was produced and broadcasted by various TV stations.
Alongside Bach’s music the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir has recorded all major baroque and classical works. Major recognitions include the Gramophone Award, Diapason d'Or, 10-Repertoire, Stern des Monats-Fono Forum, the Prix Hector Berlioz and two Edison Awards. In 2008 the ensemble and Ton Koopman have been honoured with the prestigious BBC Award. Since March 2003 “Antoine Marchand”, a new sub-label of Challenge Classics, took over the release of Koopman’s new recordings and among many others has published 22 CD boxes of the Bach Cantatas, a new recording of the St. Matthew Passion (on CD and DVD) and St. Markus Passion of J.S. Bach (DVD), live recorded in Milan, as well as the first seven volumes of the Buxtehude Opera-Omnia Edition. Ton Koopman and the ABO & ABC are regular guests at the major concert halls of Europe, the USA and Japan. In the 2008/09 season they will tour extensively in Europe (Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Milan, Cologne, Dresden, Düsseldorf etc) and in Far East with concerts in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo.

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Klaus Mertens

Bass-baritone Klaus Mertens is celebrated by critics as an “excellent master of his craft” for his “unique power of expression, his congenial timbre, his keen intuition for text, as well as his convincing manner of making music”. He has recorded more than 200 CDs, including the entire works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Dietrich Buxtehude. These testify eloquently to his art of singing, which spans a great arch from Monteverdi to his contemporaries. Characterized as “the most significant Telemann interpreter of our time”, Mertens received the Telemann prize of the city of Magdeburg in 2016. In 2019, he was honored with the renowned Bach medal of the city of Leipzig as the “ideal interpreter of Bach’s cantatas and passion texts”.

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James Gilchrist

James Gilchrist began his working life as a doctor, turning to a full-time career in music in 1996. His musical interest was fired at a young age, singing first as a chorister in the choir of New College, Oxford, and later as a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge.
James’ extensive concert repertoire has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, Bernard Labadie, Harry Christophers, Harry Bicket and the late Richard Hickox. In J.S. Bach’s great Passions of St John and St Matthew, James works consistently at the highest level and is recognised as the finest Evangelist of his generation; as one recent BBC Proms reviewer noted, "he hasn’t become a one-man Evangelist industry by chance".
A prolific and versatile recitalist, James enjoys imaginative and varied programming in collaborations with pianists Anna Tilbrook and Julius Drake, and harpist Alison Nicholls. James returned to the Wigmore Hall to begin his project with Anna Tilbrook, Schumann and the English Romantics, pairing Schumann song cycles with new commissions from leading composers, Sally Beamish, Julian Philips and Jonathan Dove, setting English poetry of the Romantic period.
James’ impressive discography includes the title role in Albert Herring and Vaughan Williams’ A Poisoned Kiss, St John Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Finzi song cycle Oh Fair To See, When Laura Smiles with Matthew Wadsworth, Leighton Earth Sweet Earth, Vaughan Williams On Wenlock Edge, Finzi songs, Britten’s Winter Words and the critically-acclaimed recordings of Schubert’s song cycles.

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Michael Chance

Ruth Ziesak

Numerous competition successes quickly paved the way for an international career for German soprano Ruth Ziesak. Meanwhile she has also been appointed a Professor of Singing at the Saar Academy of Music. After early appearances at the Theater Heidelberg and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg, she went on to sing on the international stages in Munich, Milan, Berlin, Florence, Vienna, Paris, London and New York, where she made a name for himself in her signature roles of as Pamina, Ännchen, Marzelline, Ilia and Sophie. She has since broadened her repertoire, and has appeared as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro in Glyndebourne and Zürich, and in 2010 at the Stuttgart Opera under Manfred Honeck. The multifaceted artist is also much in...

After early appearances at the Theater Heidelberg and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg, she went on to sing on the international stages in Munich, Milan, Berlin, Florence, Vienna, Paris, London and New York, where she made a name for himself in her signature roles of as Pamina, Ännchen, Marzelline, Ilia and Sophie. She has since broadened her repertoire, and has appeared as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro in Glyndebourne and Zürich, and in 2010 at the Stuttgart Opera under Manfred Honeck.

The multifaceted artist is also much in demand as a concert singer, and enjoys working with such Baroque orchestras as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin or the Freiburger Barockorchester. She makes frequent guest appearances at the Salzburg Festival and the Lucerne Festival. Her work with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Daniele Gatti, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Lothar Zagrosek, Riccardo Chailly, Jukka Pekka Saraste and Ivor Bolton has taken her to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Mozarteum-Orchester in Salzburg.

As a lieder singer she is regularly accompanied by the pianist Gerold Huber, with whom she appeared in Vienna, Berlin, London, at the Heidelberger Frühling and the Kissinger Sommer. Ruth Ziesak is among Sir András Schiff's regular lieder partners. They appeared together at London's Wigmore Hall, at the Salzburg Festival and at the Philharmonie in Berlin. In the field of chamber music, she works together with the Merel Quartet, the Vienna Piano Trio, the Auryn Quartet and the Trio Wanderer.

Alongside her concert recordings with Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Chailly and Herbert Blomstedt, Ruth Ziesak has recorded The Magic Flute, Fidelio, La Clemenza di Tito, Der Freischütz, Hansel and Gretel and Robert Schumann's Genoveva with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Among her solo recordings are operatic arias with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Marcus Creed and lieder by Mahler, as well as a series of lieder recitals with Ulrich Eisenlohr.

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Paul Agnew

The Scottish tenor, Paul Agnew, read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. After earning his degree, he became associated with the Consort of Musicke, and remained a member of this wonderful early music ensemble for many productive years. At these early stages of his career, he has also made numerous appearances with The Tallis Scholars (Director: Peter Phillips), The Sixteen (Director: Harry Christophers) and the Gothic Voices, before finally striking out on his own as a soloist in the early 1990's.

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Bogna Bartosz

The Polish mezzo-soprano and contralto, Bogna Bartosz, after leaving school, first studied singing at the Academy of Music in Gdansk (and/or Danzig Music Academy). After graduating with distinction, she continued her studies at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin (Berlin Academy of Arts) under Professor Ingrid Figur, and took part in master-classes with Aribert Reimann, Adele Stolte and Anna Reynolds. At the 9th International J.S. Bach Competition in Leipzig in 1992, Bogna Bartosz won first prize, as well as the special prize awarded by the MDR broadcasting organization in Leipzig.
Since then Bogna Bartosz has sung with well-known orchestras (including Berliner Barock Orchester, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Musica Antiqua Köln, Kammersolisten der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester-Berlin, Gewandhaus- orchester Leipzig, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Dresdner Philharmoniker and Württembergisches Kammerorchester, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra Tel Aviv, Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra) and leading conductors (including Horia Andrescu, Moche Atzmon, Marcus Creed, Philippe Entremont, Jörg Faerber, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Philippe Herreweghe, Marek Janowski, Ton Koopman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Helmuth Rilling, Jeffrey Tate, Marcello Viotti, Lothar Zagrosek, Udo Zimmermann), in all the major concert halls in Germany (such as Berliner Philharmonie, Berliner Konzerthaus, Leipziger Gewandhaus, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Kölner Philharmonie, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Glocke Bremen, Hamburger Musikhalle, Liederhalle Stuttgart), as well as in Europe, the USA and Israel, and at numerous major festivals.

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Sandrine Piau

Composer(s)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth. Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

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