FESTIVE CANTATAS: BACH & ZELENKA

Early Music Vancouver’s Festive Cantatas returns with a pairing of the Gloria in excelsis Deo cantata BWV 191 by J.S. Bach with the Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Missa Nativitatis Domini (ZWV 8) of 1726.

The only Bach church cantata set to a Latin text, BWV 191’s opening lines will immediately strike listeners. It is based entirely on the “Gloria” from the B minor Mass (BWV 232), with an unusual premiere in Leipzig on Christmas Day to celebrate the Peace of Dresden (1745).

J.D. Zelenka (1679-1745), whose output consisted mainly of sacred music for the Catholic court at Dresden, was the most important Bohemian composer before Gluck. His Missa Nativitatis Domini was found in Carl Philipp Emannuel Bach’s personal effects, giving us a clue that the piece was known to J.S. Bach.

Pre-Concert Chat: 2:15pm with Alexander Weimann, Benjamin Raymond, and James Reese hosted by Christina Hutten

Runtime: approximately 100 min + 15 min intermission