Philippe Herreweghe, the conductor, founded Collegium Vocale Gent in 1970 and has amassed an extensive discography of over 150 recordings.
Composition History
Bach began a new annual cycle of cantatas in Leipzig on June 11, 1724, aiming for greater unity than his first cycle.
Composer Biography
From June 1724 to March 1725, Bach composed a new chorale cantata every week, sometimes more, a workload unparalleled in his creative life.
Interpretation
Collegium Vocale Gent was one of the first ensembles to apply new insights into Baroque performing practice to vocal music, focusing on text and rhetoric for a transparent sound.
Compositional Technique
The cantata texts for Bach's second cycle followed a specific pattern: the first and last stanzas of a hymn were preserved verbatim, framing recitatives and arias based on the middle verses.
Compositional Technique
For his second cantata cycle, Bach chose the Lutheran chorale, with its rich melodies, as the central focus of his project.
Composition History
The cantata cycle abruptly stopped at Easter 1725, for reasons unknown, but Bach found a new librettist, Christiane Mariane von Ziegler, for the remainder of the year.
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J.S. Bach: Ich bin ein guter Hirt, BWV 85
Bach, W.F.: Cantatas, Vol. 1 - Lasset Uns Ablegen / Es Ist Eine Stimme Eines Predigers
