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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Cantata No. 51, “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!” BWV 51 Born: March 21, 1685, in Eisenach Died: July 28, 1750, in Leipzig Works composed: 1730 Bach’s 200-plus surviving cantatas give ample proof of his comprehensive knowledge and fluency in writing for the human voice. The popular cantata, “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!” (“Praise God in Every Nation!”) is a showpiece for solo soprano, and a veritable concerto for equally capable trumpeter (not unlike “And the trumpet shall sound” from Part III of Handel’s Messiah). Dating from relatively early in his long tenure at the Thomas Church in Leipzig (from 1723 to his death in 1750), this is an irresistibly catchy and festive work. Since opera was off limits to a Lutheran, church-affiliated composer of the first half of the 18th century, Bach invested this and other cantatas with a level of shining virtuosity that would have been equally at home on the operatic stage. Albert Schweitzer described this work as a “brilliant coloratura piece for soprano and trumpet, full of stirring life, as the instrumental theme in the first aria at once makes clear.” An unstoppably energetic opening movement leads, after a palette-cleansing recitative, to a lovely aria one commentator likened to “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music! In the fourth section, the soprano sings the chorale melody “Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren” (“Glory, and praise with honor”) and sails without a break into the concluding “Alleluia,” an exuberant paean of praise and a fittingly virtuosic display piece capped by a ringing high “C” at the movement’s climactic point. Program Notes © 2015 Steven Lowe