Seasons > 2006-07 Season > Concerts >

Bach and Death

Friday March 23, 2007, 8:00 pm

Co-production with the singers of Les Voix Baroques. Cantatas BWV 78 and 198 by Johann Sebastian Bach. Dorothee Mields, soprano; Matthew White, countertenor; Colin Balzer, tenor; Sumner Thompson, bass; Eric Milnes, director

The idea of death is omnipresent in the works of Bach. Still, it is surprising that we don’t find, among his compositions, the aspect of tragedy whereby the end of life is associated with irrational terror. On the contrary, the anguish of dying gives way to a spirit of calm joy, of sweetness and comfort. In Lutheran theology, in fact, death is considered to be an awaited liberation from the vicissitudes of our time on earth, full of the hope of meeting Christ in eternal life; death should, therefore, frighten only those who die in a state of sin. Among the most beautiful of Bach’s cantatas that have death as a theme is the Funeral Ode BWV 198, composed in 1727 in homage to Christiane Eberhardine, Electress of Saxony and Queen of Poland. (FF)