As the magnificent Bach cantata series by the Bach Collegium Japan and director Masaaki Suzuki winds toward its end, it is exposing some fairly obscure works, and some of those are turning out to be well worth a revival. Both of the large, festive secular cantatas here qualify; one is even termed a dramma per musica , and although Bach never wrote an opera, this is surely the next best thing. Both cantatas are dedicated to Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, and his family, and both are related to his fragile role as King of ...
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As the magnificent Bach cantata series by the Bach Collegium Japan and director Masaaki Suzuki winds toward its end, it is exposing some fairly obscure works, and some of those are turning out to be well worth a revival. Both of the large, festive secular cantatas here qualify; one is even termed a dramma per musica , and although Bach never wrote an opera, this is surely the next best thing. Both cantatas are dedicated to Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, and his family, and both are related to his fragile role as King of Poland (which was not to the liking of the Poles). Sample and take a look at the texts of Schleicht, spielende Wellen, BWV 206 (Glide, playful waves). The librettist of this work is unidentified, but whoever it was constructed a rather elaborate conceit involving four rivers (the Vistula, Elbe, Danube, and Pleiße) that each have a kind of claim on the Elector. Bach trots out a variety of musical water imagery to match, which makes a delightful contrast with the brass-and-chorus...
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