Johann Sebastian Bach, the composer, wrote the vast majority of his sacred cantatas for Sunday services and liturgical feasts after beginning his role as cantor of St. Thomas's in Leipzig in 1723.
Compositional Technique
Bach tirelessly experimented with the cantata genre, transferring his polyphonic style to vocal parts, enlarging orchestral forces, and combining new contrapuntal devices with the stile antico.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Baritone Benjamin Appl finds Bach's music to be a pillar of strength, always finding the right note in an authentic way, and serving as a credible, level-headed, and wise source of counsel.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bach's music is described by baritone Benjamin Appl as having a unique spiritual and emotional power due to its brilliant construction, breaking down inner barriers.
Interpretation
Baritone Benjamin Appl and Concerto Köln created this album's selection of recitatives, arias, and sinfonias to broadly cover Bach's cantata output, following the Lutheran liturgical calendar.
Composition History
Many of Bach's sacred cantatas originated in earlier secular works he wrote for occasions like weddings, birthdays, or funerals.
