Pamela Dellal, mezzo soprano
uncommon intelligence, imagination and textual
awareness... |
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Bach Cantata Notes
BWV 175
Bach Cantata BWV 175 is something of a curiosity. Most of the music
probably comes from secular sources, but only the tenor aria is known
in another version. The work begins with a gorgeous tenor recitative
with three obbligato recorders. That same instrumental texture continues
in the pastoral alto aria. Another tenor recitative follows, this time
secco. The tenor aria has a delightful bouncy cello obbligato that underpins
the anticipation of the coming of Jesus in the text. The following recitative
is curiously the only movement that calls for violins and violas. The
bass aria with brilliant obbligati for two trumpets changes the character
of the cantata from pastoral to martial. The harmonization of "Komm,
heiliger Geist" is one of the greatest chorale harmonizations in
all of the cantatas, and the doubling of the voice parts up an octave
by the recorder gives it a particularly lustrous sheen.