Bach 1725

Tickets £40, £32, £25, £15.  £10 Students & Under 25s  

Manuscript viewing and pre-concert talk are free to all concert ticket holders.  

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, directed by John Butt and The Choir of New College Oxford.

A unique celebration marking 300 years since the composition and first performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 1725 Ascension Day Cantata Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein.

This momentous occasion also marks the arrival of Bach’s rare original manuscript of the cantata, bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, one of only four of the composer’s manuscripts in the UK. This colourful cantata for orchestra, chorus, and soloists was written for its first performance on Ascension Day in May 1725.   Three hundred years later, it is the centre-piece of a celebratory concert exploring Bach’s compositions from this post-Easter period in 1725, alongside a newly commissioned piece by British composer Judith Weir inspired by Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein.

World-leading Bach scholar and performer John Butt directs the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Choir of New College Oxford, whose director Robert Quinney has used his extensive knowledge of the manuscript to prepare the choir for this performance.

The manuscript, a tangible link to the past, will be on display in the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries.

Performers

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with members of the Bate Collective

Choir and soloists of New College Oxford

John Butt (director/harpsichord)

Programme

J. S. Bach Sinfonia to Cantata BWV42 Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats

Daniel Reynolds Smears (premiere)

J.S. Bach Cantata BWV103 Ihr werdet weinen und heulen

Nicholas Samuel The Four Neomartyrs of Rethymnon (premiere)

J.S. Bach Motet: Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, BWV226

Judith Weir Upwards (premiere)

J.S. Bach Cantata BWV128 Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein