Saturday, October 28 at 17:00 in the Grote Kerk in Den Bosch
Information:
This cantata, intended for the celebration of Reformation Day (Oct. 31) in the late 1930s, is based on the well-known chorale with the opening line 'Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott'. Text and music were written by Martin Luther as a - Christianized - paraphrase of the Old Testament (Jewish) psalm 46.
The original nucleus of the now eight-part cantata, movements 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 is formed by the cantata 'Alles was von Gott geboren' (BWV 80a), composed in Weimar (15/3/1715) to texts by Bach's lyricist Salomon Franck, who was common there; because this cantata, following the Gospel reading prescribed for Sunday Oculi (Luc.11:14-28, an exorcism of the devil) deals with the struggle against and victory of evil, it was also suitable for the Reformation cantata. In the late 1920s, Bach adapted BWV 80a into BWV 80b.
Cantata 80 was published as Bach's first vocal composition in 1821 (even before the Bachrenaissance), and remained the face of his cantata work throughout the nineteenth century; it is still - also in the Netherlands - one of Bach's most popular cantatas.
Organ: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 720
Motet: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, Georg Philipp Telemann TWV 8:7
Introduction: Peter Nissen, Emeritus Professor of Ecumenics, Radboud University Nijmegen
Cantata: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80
Organ: Präludium und Fuge, BWV 545
Soloists:
Judith Weusten, soprano
Leonie van Rheden, mezzo-soprano
Koen Masteling, tenor
Alexander de Jong, baritone
Bätzorgel:
Jamie de Goei
Overall direction:
Jeroen Felix
More information and tickets at: Bach Cantatas 's Hertogenbosch Foundation