April 27, 2025

Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats

Bach’s project of writing weekly cantatas based on chorales began on Trinity Sunday in 1724 and ended on Palm Sunday in 1725 — not quite a full year. Instead of a chorale-based chorus, this cantata, composed for the First Sunday after Easter in 1725, opens with a cheery sinfonia. A recitative follows, quoting from the day’s Gospel about Jesus bringing peace and comfort as he appears to his disciples gathered in a locked room on Easter evening.

3:00 p.m. Cantata Preview Lecture
Mark Peters, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights

3:45 p.m. Orchestral Prelude
Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048
Hennig Kraggerud: Victimae paschali

4:00 p.m. Bach Cantata Vespers
Ian A. McFarland, Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia, homilist

Also in the service:
William Byrd: Haec dies

Bach Cantata Vespers Chorus and Orchestra
Grace Cantor Michael D. Costello, conducting

Maura Janton Cock, soprano
Amanda Koopman, mezzo-soprano
Ryan Townsend Strand, tenor
Peter Wesoloski, baritone