{"id":11025,"date":"2013-03-31T06:04:13","date_gmt":"2013-03-31T11:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=11025"},"modified":"2013-03-31T06:04:13","modified_gmt":"2013-03-31T11:04:13","slug":"a-happy-easter-courtesy-of-j-s-bach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2013\/03\/31\/a-happy-easter-courtesy-of-j-s-bach\/","title":{"rendered":"A Happy Easter, courtesy of J.S. Bach"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Collegium<\/a>
Collegium 1704<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We’re familiar with the St John<\/em> and St Matthew Passions<\/em> set by J.S. Bach but hardly ever hear the Easter Oratorio<\/em>, so I thought I’d wish everyone — believer and bunny-chaser alike — with a nice performance of this short-and-tidy work.<\/p>\n

Unlike the purpose-written music for the Passions, Bach did a quick-and-dirty adaptation of a secular, pastoral cantata about nymphs and shepherds.<\/p>\n

The text, taken from St John’s Gospel, was shoehorned into the music — so much so that the great Bach advocate (and medical philanthropist) Dr Albert Schweitzer, for whom Bach could do no wrong, suggested that the text needed improvements.<\/p>\n

The original version of the Easter Oratorio<\/em>, listed as BWV 249, was identified in the mid-20th century and given the catalogue number BWV 249a. The initial sacred version dates from 1725. Bach revised it 10 years later.<\/p>\n

Parody work or no, the Easter Oratorio<\/em> is beautiful music. Because of the nymphs and shepherds in the original version, there is a lot of gorgeous music for woodwinds here.<\/p>\n

This is a beautiful performance by Collegium 1704, a 7-year-old Prague-based period-performance ensemble led by harpsichordist V\u00e1clav Luks:<\/p>\n