Wachet auf, BWV 140

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Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140
Ryan Turner, conductor
Corrine Byrne, soprano | Eric Christopher Perry, tenor | Dana Whiteside, bass
Catherine Weinfeld-Zell, oboe | Heidi Braun-Hill, Violin
The twenty-seventh Sunday after Trinity appears only every eleven years in the liturgical calendar, when Easter is celebrated very early in the season. During the 2nd Jahrgang the liturgical year only went through the 25th Sunday after Trinity. No cantata based upon a chorale melody has been found for the Twenty-sixth Sunday after Trinity. But in 1731, when the Sunday occurred, Bach wrote Cantata BWV 140, which is of the genre we have been considering here. This is the last parable considered in the liturgical year. It is a difficult one, again of a strong eschatological slant. Bach chooses to ignore that side of the parable and instead introduces passages from the Song of Songs. They are treated as love duets between Christ and the Soul. In addition the main chorale melody is set as the night watchman’s song in between the two duets, again a reference to Song of Songs.
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Seth Torres, audio engineer