Bloomington Bach Cantata Project “Christen, ätzet diesen Tag” BWV 63

Composed for the first day of Christmas during his employment at the court of Weimar, this resplendent work is one of Bach’s earliest cantatas to make use of recitatives and arias, a new kind of text that replaced an older form restricted mainly to chorales. With festive instrumentation including four trumpets, drums, three oboes, and bassoon, along with doubled voices, “Christen, ätzet diesen Tag” is one of the composer’s most exciting–and one might even say splashiest–pieces. Join BBCP Director Daniel R. Melamed as he music directs and offers the lecture between performances.