Weeping, wailing, fretting, fearing

BWV 12 also has its origins during Bach’s early days of composing for the court at Weimar in 1714. It opens with a ravishingly intense symphonia. The second movement, a plaintive, anguished chorus of weeping and wailing, would eventually become the Crucifixus of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. The arias in this Easter season cantata keep Jesus and his redemptive death on the cross at the center of the Christian story, while still anticipating future joy in both text and music. Even as we celebrate Christ’s triumph over sin and death on Easter, we also recall Jesus’ sacrificial love for us.

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

3:45 p.m. Orchestral Prelude
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 30 in C Major (“Alleluia”)

4:00 p.m. Bach Cantata Vespers
Michael D. Costello, Grace Lutheran Church and School, River Forest, Illinois, homilist

Heinrich Schütz: Ich weiß, daß mein Erlöser lebt

Kapelle, Concordia University Chicago, guest choir
Charles P. Brown, conductor
Sarah Ponder, mezzo soprano
Ryan Townsend Strand, tenor
David Govertsen, bass