What is the text about in Wachet auf by Bach?
Philipp Nicolai wrote the hymn in 1598, a time when the plague had hit Unna where he lived for six months as a preacher after studies in theology at the University of Wittenberg. The text is based on the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13).
What is the BWV number for the Cantata Gott ist mein König?
BWV 71
Gott ist mein König (God is my King), BWV 71, is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach written in Mühlhausen when the composer was 22 years old. Unusually for an early cantata by Bach, the date of first performance is known: at the inauguration of a new town council on 4 February 1708.
What is the meaning of Wachet auf?
Sleepers Awake
The opening words of this cantata, Wachet auf, which translates as ‘Sleepers Awake’, contains a tune written by a Lutheran pastor called Philipp Nicolai. It caught Bach’s attention during his golden Leipzig period.
What are sleepers in the Bible?
In the Islamic and Christian traditions, the Seven Sleepers, otherwise known as the Sleepers of Ephesus and Companions of the Cave, is a medieval legend about a group of youths who hid inside a cave outside the city of Ephesus around AD 250 to escape one of the Roman persecutions of Christians and emerged some 300 …
Are cantatas religious?
A cantata is a work for voice or voices and instruments of the baroque era. From its beginnings in 17th-century Italy, both secular and religious cantatas were written. The earliest cantatas were generally for solo voice with minimal instrumental accompaniment.
How many cantatas are there?
[To Juozas Rimas] According most of the sources J.S. Bach composed about 300 cantatas, of which 209 are extant.
What is the meaning of the word cantata?
Definition of cantata : a composition for one or more voices usually comprising solos, duets, recitatives, and choruses and sung to an instrumental accompaniment.
Who are the seven sleepers in the Bible?
Western tradition calls the Seven Sleepers Maximian, Malchus, Marcian, John, Denis, Serapion, and Constantine.