Ratswechsel 1727
25 August 2023 – In Bach's Leipzig, on the Monday after the feast of St. Bartholomew (August 24), the newly elected town council for that year was inaugurated (this is called Ratswechsel in German). This festive occasion called for a cantata, and Bach has written many of which only five are left.
Today's cantata is the one he wrote for Ratswechsel 1727, first performed on August 25th of that year.
This cantata was not fully intact, as the parts for tenor, bass, basso continuo and other instruments (probably trumpets and timpani, maybe also flutes) for all of the music are missing. A reconstruction was first done by Helmut Rilling in 1983, and subsequently in 1999 by Ton Koopman, which is the recording I have selected.
Music for today
- Ihr Tore zu Zion, BWV 193
(first performance 25 August 1727?, Leipzig period)
Playlist
WBCF0825-Ratswechsel 1727
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Image of the day
The oldest known depiction of Leipzig's Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) from 1547, before the modifications begun by Hieronymus Lotter around 1556, which have given the building its current dimensions and aspect, and which was also the building Bach was familiar with.