Bach Begins the church year

Synopsis

In many denominations, the Christian calendar or liturgical year begins with the season of Advent, the four Sundays preceding Christmas. The word “advent” comes from the Latin “adventus,” which means “arrival” or “coming,” because Advent celebrates both the joyful anticipation of the arrival of the baby Jesus and the need for believers to prepare for the second coming of their Savior at the Last Judgement.

In 1724, a devout German Lutheran church musician named Johann Sebastian Bach crafted a cantata, a work for a small instrumental ensemble with solo voices and chorus, to be performed on the First Sunday of Advent, which fell on today’s date that year.

At Bach’s church, the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, there would have been readings from Luther’s translation of the Bible appropriate for the day, so Bach asked a poet friend for a text meditating on them, and took for his musical inspiration Luther’s Advent hymn, Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland, which in English means Now Come, Savior of the Heathens.

That hymn appeared as the first in the Thomaskirche’s hymnal, which meant the church year was off and running once again. Now, it was Bach’s responsibility to provide a cantata for performance each Sunday, and during his time in Leipzig he would write over 200 of them — which no doubt made him a favorite customer with anyone in Leipzig selling music manuscript paper!

Music Played in Today's Program

J.S. Bach (1685-1750): Cantata No. 62 Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland; Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor; Archiv 463 588

On This Day

Births

• 1729 - Baptism of Spanish composer and organist, Padre Antonio Soler, in Olot

• 1883 - Austrian composer Anton Webern, in Vienna

• 1914 - American composer Irving Fine, in Boston

• 1938 - Uruguayan-born American composer and conductor, José Serebrier, in Montevideo

Deaths

• 1866 - Bohemian composer Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda, 65, in Karlsruhe, Germany

• 1876 - German opera composer Hermann Goetz, 35, in Hottingen, near Zurich, Switzerland

• 1941 - Norwegian composer Christian Sinding, 85, in Oslo

• 1978 - American composer William Grant Still, 83, in Los Angeles

Premieres

• 1712 - Handel: opera Il Pastor Fido, in London (Julian date: Nov. 22)

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 62 (Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland) performed on the 1st Sunday in Advent as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25)

• 1739 - Handel: Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, in London (Julian date: Nov. 22)

• 1740 - Handel: opera Imeneo in London (Julian date: Nov. 22)

• 1908 - Elgar: Symphony No. 1, at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England, with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter

• 1913 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 (Gregorian date: Dec. 16)

• 1913 - Franz Schmidt: Symphony No. 2, in Vienna

• 1925 - Gershwin: Piano Concerto, at Carnegie Hall in New York, with the composer as soloist and the New York Symphony conducted by Walter Damrosch

• 1931 - Edward Joseph Collins: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Concert Piece), by the Chicago Symphony, Frederick Stock conducting and the composer as soloist

• 1943 - Hanson: Symphony No. 4 (Requiem), with the Boston Symphony conducted by the composer; This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1944

• 1949 - Grofé: Death Valley Suite, at Desolation Canyon, California, by the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by the composer

• 1953 - Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 4, in Moscow, by the Beethoven Quartet

• 1954 - Barber: oratorio Prayers of Kierkegaard for soloists, chorus and orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting

• 1954 - Walton: opera Troilus and Cressida, at Covent Garden in London

• 1958 - Colin McPhee: Nocturne for orchestra, by Lepold Stokowski and his orchestra

• 1963 - Copland: ballet Dance Panels, in Munich

• 1992 - John Harbison: Oboe Concerto, with soloist William Bennett and the San Francisco Symphony, Herbert Blomstedt conducting

Others

• 1721 - J.S. Bach (36) marries his second wife, Anna Magdalena Wülken (20) at Cöthen;