cd
KANTATEN · CANTATAS
WILHELM FRIEDEMANN BACH (1710 – 1784)
CD 1: Lasset uns ablegen die Werke der Finsternis / Let us cast off the works of darkness · Es ist eine Stimme eines Predigers in der Wüste / The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness
CD 2: Dies ist der Tag / This is the day · Erzittert und fallet / Tremble and fall
Johann Sebastian Bach’s eldest son was organist and musical director in Halle from 1746-64. The music directorate in Halle was similar in many respects to J.S. Bach’s position in Leipzig. In signing the certificate of appointment in Halle, Friedemann Bach undertook to perform a cantata every three weeks and additionally on all festival Sundays. Apparently it was not expected that a composition from his own pen should be performed every time, for Bach’s predecessor Gottfried Kirchhoff had already availed himself mainly of the works of Telemann. Friedemann too seems to have made use of this practice, but evidently had the ambition to appear on festival Sunday with his own especially carefully prepared works. The technical difficulties that his cantatas demanded of singers and instrumentalists, at all events, lie far beyond the average.
