Our next Bach Vespers performance is on Advent Sunday, 30 November, at 6.30pm at St Mary-at-Hill in the City of London, hosted by St Anne’s Lutheran Church. We perform Bach’s powerful Advent cantata from 1724, BWV 62, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland. 

Advent Sunday was significant in Bach’s Leipzig church as the final day before Christmas when music was permitted in services, in addition to marking both the approach of Christmas and the start of the new church year.

Bach’s masterpiece BWV 62 is rooted in history, being based on Martin Luther’s famous German hymn of the same name, itself derived from a Latin Advent hymn composed by Ambrose of Milan in the fourth century. This hymn tune underpins BWV 62’s splendid opening chorale fantasia, which joyfully anticipates the events of Christmas. A dancing tenor aria continues the same jubilant optimism. A particular high point is the fiery battle aria ‘Streite, siege, starker Held’, a virtuosic showpiece which will give our bass singer a thorough workout. The poignant prayer-like arioso for soprano and alto which follows forms an almost shocking contrast, before the cantata finishes with a majestic final chorale setting of Luther’s hymn.

The City Bach Collective last performed this mighty work nine years ago, in 2016, so we are hugely looking forward to revisiting it. In addition to the cantata, the service will include other music by Bach’s contemporaries performed by our specialist team of voices and period instruments.

Everyone is welcome, so do come along and bring a friend. You don’t need to be religious, you can just come to enjoy the music. Entrance is free (with a voluntary collection). We look forward to seeing you and sharing Bach’s wonderful music.

Don’t miss us on 26 October as we perform Bach’s magnificent and ever popular Reformation cantata, BWV 80, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. This Bach Vespers service takes place at 6.30pm at the church of St Mary at Hill in the City of London, hosted by St Anne’s Lutheran Church. This cantata features a team of three oboes of different sizes and bassoon, playing with and in contrast to the strings to create fabulous textural colours. There will also be lots of other music too, performed on period instruments.

Everyone is welcome (you don’t have to be religious), and attendance is free. Do come along and bring your friends. We look forward to seeing you there to share Bach’s wonderful music!

Following Bach Vespers: 30 November (BWV 62).

The new season of Bach Vespers begins on 28 September, with a 6.30pm cantata service at St Mary-at-Hill in the City of London, hosted by St Anne’s Lutheran Church. City Bach Collective presents Bach’s beautiful and uplifting cantata BWV 27, Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende?, which dates from 1726, Bach’s fourth year in Leipzig. The poetic text paints death in a positive light, something to be welcomed, not feared, a release from worldly burdens and path to eternal bliss.

A highpoint of the cantata is the jaunty alto aria, with a nod to Vivaldi’s Spring (published just one year earlier) in it’s opening theme, accompanied, unusually, by both oboe da caccia and a sparkling keyboard obbligato. Other notable moments include the recitative interpellations within the opening chorus movement, and the contrast between the lullaby-like melody and agitated concitato string semiquavers (representing turbulence of life) in the bass aria. The cantata ends with a magnificent chorale setting, not by Bach, but by Rosenmüller. Composed in 1649, its archaic harmonisation and imitations are in earlier madrigal style. The last-minute swing into triple time at the end symbolises Heaven.

The service will also include other music from the German Baroque performed by our specialist team of voices and period instruments.

Everyone is welcome, so do come along and bring a friend. You don’t need to be religious, you can just come to enjoy the music. Entrance is free (with a voluntary collection). We look forward to seeing you and sharing Bach’s wonderful music.

Following Bach Vespers: 26 October (BWV 80)

A stunning performance of the brilliantly dramatic BWV 45 to a large and appreciative congregation formed a magnificent end to the season on 27 July.

We’re taking a break in August, but will be back for Bach Vespers in September.

Here are the autumn dates for your diary:

28 September: BWV 27

26 October: BWV 80

30 November: BWV 62

Meanwhile, we wish all our friends and supporters a wonderful summer!

Come and join us for our next Bach Vespers on 27 July at 6.30pm! It takes place at St Mary at Hill in the City of London, hosted by St Anne’s Lutheran Church. We’ll be performing Bach’s little-known cantata BWV 45, Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist, which was written in 1726. This powerful declamatory work exhorts the listener to lead a good and humble life in order to gain redemption. It is in two parts, intended to be performed on either side of the sermon. Two flutes are included in the scoring, which combine with the usual strings and oboes to create a special colour. The magnificent opening chorale fantasia represents a merging of the old motet vocal style and the new instrumental concertante style, to create a movement of epic proportions, including a majestic fugue. The second part of the cantata opens with a virtuosic bass aria in which evil-doers are condemned with operatic aplomb, to the accompaniment of energetic strings. The mellow sound of the flute in the following alto aria provides a stark contrast, before a simple final chorale. The service will include other music from the German Baroque performed by our specialist team of voices and period instruments.

Everyone is welcome, so do come along and bring a friend. You don’t need to be religious, you can just come to enjoy the music. Entrance is free (with a voluntary collection). We look forward to seeing you and sharing Bach’s wonderful music.