J. S. Bach: BWV 174 "I love the Most High with all my heart"
Cantata for the 2nd day of Pentecost, for soprano, alto, tenor and bass, oboe I+II, taille, corno da caccia I+II, strings and basso continuo.
For all his grandeur, Bach always remained down-to-earth and was hardly inclined to compositional hubris. However, the attempt he made in 1729 in the Sinfonia to the cantata BWV 174 to expand the already ten-part opening movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 to include a pair of obbligato horns and an oboe and string choir comes pretty close to such a bold mastery. Whether Bach wanted to express the heavenly difference between divine majesty and imperfect human striving for love, which is the theme of the cantata, remains to be seen. In any case, the recitatives and arias that follow this massive portal do not attempt any further outdoing, but instead rely entirely on subtle tonal colors and cleverly arranged unison performances.
With a reflection on the cantata text by Olivia El Sayed.
Performers:
Lia Andres, soprano
Elvira Bill, alto
Bernhard Berchtold, tenor
Sebastian Noack, bass
Orchestra of the J. S. Bach Foundation
Rudolf Lutz, conductor
Program:
5.30 p.m.
Musical-theological introduction to the work with Rudolf Lutz and Rev. Niklaus Peter
19.00 - approx. 20.30 hrs
1st concert performance
Reflection
2nd concert performance
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.
19:00 - 20:30
29 May 2026