Shannon Barry, Alto Concertist
Paulina Fransisco, Music Director

Ms. Barry joins the Bloomington Cantata Project once more for the presentation of BWV 28. From Julian Mincham:

“This work provides us with an opportunity of comparison with two other cantatas written for the same day, C 152 and C 122. C 152 (vol 1, chapter 68) is a charming, relatively early work, originally written in Weimar for the Christmas period of 1714 and sharing some characteristics with the even earlier Easter cantata C 4. Both begin with an instrumental sinfonia, a practice Bach largely eschewed in the second cycle but was to return to in the third. Furthermore, C 4 has no da capo arias or recitatives and all of its movements are in the same key, E minor. C 152, unlike some of the earliest cantatas, does contain two recitatives, the inventiveness and imagery of which would indicate that Bach took to this operatic device with an enthusiasm amounting almost to gusto!

C 122 (vol 2, chapter 31) is a chorale/fantasia having the distinction of containing one of only three splendid trios in that cycle. All three cantatas begin and end with movements in minor modes although, unusually, C 152 lacks a closing chorale. Following two cantatas that make no use of the choir apart from in the simple chorale setting, C 28 contains a fine motet but it comes as the second movement rather than, as one might expect, at the beginning. Cs 28 and 122 are united in having the same scoring: three oboes, strings and continuo whereas the instrumentation for C 152 is exceedingly idiosyncratic. Although enchantingly effective, it may have been driven by either availability at the time or Bach′s continual quest for novel soundscapes.

The three works take differing views of the New Year, traditionally a time for looking back over the past year and forward to the next. C 152 is principally concerned with faith and C 122 with sin and refuge from it through the offices of the Baby Jesus. C 28 more overtly concerns itself with a review and expression of gratitude for God′s bounty over the previous year with the clear expectation that it should continue in the future.”