Bach: Cantata 'They will all come forth out of Sheba' | Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Musicale Gent

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata ‘Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen‘ (They will all come forth out of Sheba), BWV 65 is also known as the “Gold Cantata“. And there’s a good reason for that, because gold plays a major role in this cantata for Epiphany. Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Musicale Gent performed the cantata on 11 June 2023 at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig as part of the Bachfest Leipzig

(00:00) Chorus: Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen
(03:41) Chorale: Die Kön’ge aus Saba kamen dar
(04:28) Recitative (Bass): Was dort Jesaias vorhergesehn
(06:16) Aria (Bass, Oboen da caccia): Gold aus Ophir ist zu schlecht
(08:29) Recitative (Tenor): Verschmähe nicht, du, meiner Seele Licht
(09:53) Aria (Tenor, alle Instrumente): Nimm mich dir zu eigen hin
(13:28) Chorale: Ei nun, mein Gott, so fall ich dir

Aisling Kenny | SOPRANO
Alex Potter | ALTUS
Benedict Hymas | TENOR
Peter Kooij | BASS

COLLEGIUM VOCALE GENT
Annelies Brants, Anna-Sophie Brosig, Magdalena Podkościelna | SOPRANO
Daniel Folqué, Cécile Pilorger, Bart Uvyn | ALTUS
Graham Cooper, Peter Di-Toro, Patrik Hornak | TENOR
Philipp Kaven, Robert van der Vinne, Bart Vandewege | BASS

Philippe Herreweghe | DIRECTOR

When the wise men came from the East to see the newborn baby Jesus in Bethlehem with their own eyes, they bore precious gifts such as frankincense, myrrh and gold. This explains why Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata ‘They will all come forth out of Sheba’ (They will all come forth out of Sheba), BWV 65, is also known as the "Gold Cantata". Bach (1685–1750) composed the work for his first Epiphany as the new Thomaskantor in Leipzig, on 6 January 1724.

Epiphany is the feast celebrating the revelation of Jesus to the world. In the Christian faith, this day marks the end of the Christmas season and accordingly, Bach set out to create something musically very special to celebrate it. The instrumentation alone is unusual, with two horns, two recorders, two oboes da caccia (also known as hunting oboes), strings and basso continuo.

The introduction sounds suitably festive. Bach experts see in the instrumentation certain clues as to what Bach wanted to express: The high register recorders paired with the horns give the music an oriental feel, or at least a reflection of what people imagined oriental sounds to be at the time. The historical place "Saba", where the wise men were traveling from, is now located in the Middle East, in Yemen.

The horns that sound immediately in the opening chorus are intended to call the faithful together. This is also the message of the opening choral fugue. The voices are closely interwoven and begin their parts in rapid succession, giving the impression of a gathering crowd making its way to the manger, where the infant Jesus is lying on a bed of straw.

The travelers from the East bring precious gifts, but what should the ordinary faithful give to Jesus? A question asked by the first-person narrator in the first Bach recitative who offers his heart as a gift. That Jesus doesn’t require treasures of an earthly nature is also made clear in the tenor recitative, which states: “The gold of faith, the incense of prayer, the myrrh of patience are my gifts, which you will have, Jesus, forever, as your property and gift.”

The internationally renowned conductor and Bach expert Philippe Herreweghe founded the Collegium Vocale Gent in 1970. Together they perform early music as a kind of historical performance practice. In 1989, the vocal ensemble was expanded to include an orchestra made up of first-class international performers of Baroque music. With the Collegium Vocale Gent choir and orchestra, Herreweghe has since produced landmark early music recordings, including the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach.

© 2023 Deutsche Welle/Bachfest Leipzig

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