Bach’s Leipzig Reformation Celebration

Join Vox Philia for “Bach’s Leipzig Reformation Celebration. Saturday, October 24 at 7:30 pm, Atonement Lutheran Church, 5 Wyomissing Blvd., Wyomissing 19610. Tickets at:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/bachs-leipzig-reformation-celebration

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote “Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild” (God the Lord is sun and shield) for Reformation Day 1725, his third year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. The text begins with a quotation from Psalm 84 and includes two hymn stanzas, the first from Martin Rinckart’s “Nun danket alle Gott” (a hymn always used on Reformation Day in Leipzig) as the third movement, and a stanza of Ludwig Helmbold’s “Nun laßt uns Gott dem Herren” as the final movement. The cantata is scored for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and an orchestra consisting of two horns, timpani, and pairs of flutes and oboes, strings and continuo.

We pair this with Bach’s “Missa Brevis in G Major,” a large portion of which is parodied (reworked music) from the cantata. (For example, the “Gloria in excelsis” uses music from the opening chorus of the cantata, while the “Domine Deus” adapts the cantata’s fifth movement. In this way the audience gets to learn and hear Bach’s parody techniques.