Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685 ? 28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.[1] Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and motivic organisation in composition for diverse instrumentation, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France.
Revered for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the Brandenburg concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the Magnificat, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue, the English Suites, the French Suites, the Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo, the Cello Suites, more than 200 surviving cantatas, and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
While Bach's abilities as an organist were recognized and highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, he was not particularly well-known as a composer. His adherence to Baroque forms and contrapuntal style was considered "old-fashioned" by his contemporaries, especially late in his career when the musical fashion tended towards Rococo and later Classical styles. A revival of interest and performances of his music began early in the 19th century, and he is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition. (Collapse)...(Read more)
Du Hirte Israel, höre (You Shepherd of Israel, hear), BWV 104, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it for the second Sunday aft...
Du Hirte Israel, höre (You Shepherd of Israel, hear), BWV 104, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it for the second Sunday after Easter in Leipzig and first performed it on 23 April 1724.
Bach composed the cantata in his first annual cycle in Leipzig for the second Sunday after Easter, called Misericordias Domini, and first performed it on 23 April 1724.
The prescribed readings for that Sunday were from the First Epistle of Peter, Christ as a model (1 Peter 2:21–25), and from the Gospel of John, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11–16). The unknown poet begins with Psalms 80:2 and ends with Cornelius Becker's hymn "Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt", a paraphrase of Psalm 23 (1598). The poet refers in his work to more Bible context, such as Lamentations 3:23–25 and 1 Corinthians 10:13 for the first recitative, reflecting that God as the Good Shepherd will take care. In the second recitative, he concludes: "Only gather, o good Shepherd, us poor and erring ones; ah, let our journey soon reach an end and lead us into your sheepfold!" The last aria hopes "for faith's reward after a gentle sleep of death" (John 10:11–16, des Glaubens Lohn nach einem sanften Todesschlafe), combining the Baroque ideas of pastoral peace and longing for death.
Bach referred to the Pastorale aspect of the text in his music. In the opening chorus three oboes on the firm ground of extended pedal point create pastoral sounds, in triplets which are frequently associated with shepherds, such as in the Sinfonia opening Part II of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The choir sings alternating homophonic calls, "höre!" (listen!) and "erscheine!" (appear!), and two fugues on the image of Joseph leading his flocks. The fugue subject is the same in both fugues, but the second time the voices enter from the lowest voice to the highest, culminating in an ultimate third section of the calls. Different from the normal setting, the instrumental introduction is not repeated after this climax.
The first recitative leads to an arioso part on the final Bible quotation "Gott ist getreu" (God is faithful). The tenor aria is accompanied by two oboes d'amore. In the bass aria, instrumentation, triplets and extended pedal points are reminiscent of the opening chorus. The closing choral is a four-part setting on the tune of "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr".
Although originally scored for tenor and bass soloists, a four-part choir, two oboes d'amore, taille (tenor oboe), two violins, viola and basso continuo, I created this arrangement for Cello & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
GUITAR
KEYBOARD
STUDIO
PA
LIGHT
DEEJAY
MIC
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