While a fair number of monumental works written by J. S. Bach are among the typical Baroque canon, at least among the reach of the enthusiastic readers of this blog, specific works among the catalog of cantatas tend to be lesser known and subsequently not as frequently programmed. Most attentive audience members are at least familiar with the larger pieces such as the Mass in B Minor, Magnificat, and Christmas Oratorio, which, of course, are outstanding works of art that also happen to have wonderful (and delightfully challenging!) trumpet parts. But the cantatas, perhaps because Bach wrote around 300 during his lifetime, are sometimes overlooked.…
Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen”/“Shout for Joy to God in all lands”, (also known as Cantata 51 or by the catalog number BWV 51, with the initials BWV signifying Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, or translated as “Bach Works Catalog”) is an example of one of Bach’s cantatas for a solo voice, in this case soprano, which includes an obbligato trumpet along with the usual complement of strings and continuo. Interestingly enough, this is the only cantata for soprano and trumpet within Bach’s extensive catalog, instead preferring to include trumpet for the bass voice cantatas since he tended to use the bass as the voice of God — and what better instrument to help set the stage for such heavenly royalty than the trumpet?…
The above excerpt comes courtesy of Portland Baroque Orchestra where she will be performing Cantata BWV 51 with Arwen Myers. See the full post here.