Cantata No.140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (known in English as Sleepers Awake), is Bach's most famous and beloved cantata, whose starting point was a Lutheran hymn composed in 1599 by the pastor Philipp Nicolai. The biblical text relates the story of the wise and foolish maidens awaiting the arrival of their heavenly bridegroom.
=0D=0A=The concert also features one of JS Bach's Lutheran Masses. For this Missa Brevis in A, Bach borrows liberally from his own earlier cantatas, but refines and deepens them into a brilliant short work that balances grand choruses with intimate arias.
=0D=0A=Also on the program is GF Handel's triumphal Dettingen Te Deum. Handel, as "Composer of the Musick to the Chapel Royal," was commissioned to write a multi-part extravaganza to celebrate the victory of Britain, under King George II, over the French in the 1743 Battle of Dettingen. It features some delightful trumpet and oboe parts and a powerful fugue to close the work. Soloists are Tarane Noruzi, Grace Vermette, Adam Schmidt and Kyron Basu.
=0D=0A=Doors will open by 1.30 for this afternoon concert.
DTSTART:20261114 DTEND:20261115 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR