The Divine Artistry of Johann Sebastian Bach 10 of His Greatest Choruses

by Georg Predota

Johann Sebastian Bach’s music stands as a towering monument in Western music. While countless composers have written exceptional choral music, Bach’s greatest choruses intertwine technical perfection and profound emotional resonance to create moments of transcendent beauty.

Portrait of J.S. Bach

Christmas Oratorio   

Bach’s choruses are not merely perfect technical exercises but living expressions of human devotion, of joy and sorrow, and of awe. Every chorus pulses with intricate counterpoint, vibrant harmonies, and a transcendent ability to connect with something much greater.

To commemorate Bach’s death on 28 July 1750, let us celebrate his life by featuring 10 of his greatest choruses, starting with the opening chorus from the Christmas Oratorio. It bursts forth with an exultant energy that feels like the heavens themselves are rejoicing.

The vibrant timpani rolls and blazing trumpets create a majestic, almost overwhelming wave of sound, as if heralding the arrival of divine light. The choir’s jubilant voices weave through Bach’s intricate counterpoint, each line soaring with unbridled joy and reverence, inviting the listener into a sacred celebration that transcends time.

It’s a moment of awe, where the grandeur of music and spiritual depth converge to proclaim eternal hope.

Reformation Glory

A postcard featuring Johann Sebastian Bach

Composed for Reformation Day, “A might fortress is our God” is one of Bach’s most powerful and intricately constructed choral works. The cantata draws on Martin Luther’s iconic hymn, a cornerstone of the Lutheran tradition that celebrates God’s unyielding strength and protection against spiritual and worldly adversaries.

The opening chorus burst forth with an electrifying energy. The choir enters with a commanding declaration before breaking into intricate counterpoint. This creates a sense of unity and strength, with the unshakable foundation of the hymn melody surrounded by layers of complexity symbolising the multifaceted nature of faith.

The emotional resonance of this chorus lies in its ability to balance grandeur with intimacy. While the intensity of the music evokes the image of a cosmic battle, Bach also projects moments of exquisite tenderness, creating a fleeting sense of warmth and reassurance. This chorus is a spiritual journey with all of humanity united in a final, triumphant cadence.

Plea for Peace   

The “Dona nobis pacem” chorus, which closes Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor, is a profound and awe-inspiring culmination of one of the greatest works in Western music. It emerges as a fervent plea for peace, its majestic simplicity and emotional resonance encapsulating an unbelievable spiritual and musical journey.

Bach employs a double fugue that weaves together two distinct themes. A broad and soaring melody is combined with a more intricate and rhythmic idea, making the tapestry of sound feel both universal and deeply personal.

This fugue structure, with its intricate interplay of voices, showcases Bach’s unparalleled technical skill. Yet, the technical complexity never overshadows the heartfelt supplication of the text. The repeated phrase “Grant us peace” is delivered with a rhythmic insistence that actually feels like a heartbeat, grounding the music in a deeply human appeal.

Jubilant Proclamation

J.S. Bach featured on a stamp design

The opening chorus of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata BWV 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life), is a radiant and jubilant proclamation of faith, composed in 1723 during Bach’s first year in Leipzig. The chorus bursts forth with an infectious vitality that perfectly embodies the cantata’s theme of wholehearted devotion.

Bach’s masterful interplay of voices and instruments creates a soundscape that feels both majestic and intimate, inviting the listener into a profound expression of spiritual commitment. Structurally, the chorus is a choral fantasia, built around a chorale tune placed in the soprano as long and sustained notes.

The other voices engage in intricate, imitative counterpoint, weaving a web of motivic interplay that reflects the text’s call to every aspect of life to testify to faith. The emotional resonance of the chorus lies in its balance of exuberance and sincerity. The text’s emphasis on holistic devotion is mirrored in the music’s all-encompassing energy, with each vocal and instrumental line contributing to a unified expression of faith.

Splendour and Sorrow    

Composed in 1724 for Good Friday services in Leipzig, the opening chorus of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion “Lord our Ruler,” erupts with tempestuous energy. One of Bach’s most dramatic and emotionally charged works, its swirling orchestral textures and urgent vocal lines beautifully capture the profound reverence of the Passion narrative.

Bach’s music masterfully balances awe for Christ’s divine majesty with an undercurrent of sorrow for the impending crucifixion, creating a soundscape that is both regal and deeply human. The orchestra, with its driving strings, plaintive oboes, and pulsing continuo, sets a restless, almost turbulent tone, while the choir’s powerful entrance amplifies the sense of cosmic significance, drawing the listener into the sacred drama.

Bach constructs this chorus as a complex, quasi-fugal edifice, with the voices entering in waves of imitative counterpoint that mirror the text’s invocation of Christ’s eternal glory. He uses dark and expressive minor tonalities with chromatic inflexions and dissonant suspensions to heighten the emotional impact. It all culminates in a radiant cadence, however, as Bach assures us of divine triumph.

Triumphant Awakening  

The Triumphant Awakening of Bach’s opening chorus from the cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, is a radiant and exhilarating call to spiritual vigilance. Inspired by the parable of the wise virgins awaiting the bridegroom, the chorus bursts forth with a sense of urgency and joy.

The majestic orchestral introduction is driven by a lively dotted rhythm, and the soaring melodic lines evoke a divine summons. The orchestra, featuring strings, oboes, and a prominent horn, creates a festive, almost ceremonial atmosphere, with syncopated rhythms and fanfare-like figures that pulse with expectancy.

Here, as elsewhere, Bach seamlessly blends grandeur and intimacy, with the cosmic significance of Christ’s arrival balanced by lyrical moments that evoke personal devotion. As voices and instruments unite in a triumphant close, the music becomes a stirring summons to spiritual awakening, its exuberance and craftsmanship leaving listeners uplifted by Bach’s vision of divine anticipation.

Defiant Joy

Bach’s statue in Leipzig

The opening chorus of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata BWV 4, Christ Lay in Death’s Bonds, is a gripping and jubilant proclamation of Christ’s victory over death. Based on the Easter hymn by Martin Luther, the stark yet radiant orchestration establishes a tone of both solemnity and exultation.

The text celebrates the Resurrection, and Bach’s music captures this duality with a masterful blend of archaic severity and vibrant optimism. Luther’s hymn melody is woven through the texture in long, sustained notes, serving as an anchor of faith amidst the intricate polyphony of the other voices.

The minor tonality lends a sombre, almost austere quality, reflecting the gravity of Christ’s sacrifice, but Bach infuses it with bright, major-key inflexions at key moments, particularly when the text symbolises the light of resurrection. It is a cosmic affirmation of life over death.

Celestial Joy   

The opening chorus of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata BWV 1, How Brightly Shines the Morning Star is a jubilant celebration of Christ, who brings divine light to humanity. This chorus bursts forth with an effervescent energy, its orchestral introduction featuring a sparkling interplay that evokes the shimmering brilliance of a starlit dawn.

The text, based on Philipp Nicolai’s 1599 hymn, exudes joy and hope, and Bach’s music amplifies this with a festive, almost dance-like vitality. The choir’s proclamation radiates warmth and devotion, drawing us into a moment of spiritual awe and exultation.

As in his other choral fantasias, Bach presents the hymn melody in long and sustained notes in the soprano, while the lower voice weaves intricate counterpoint that pulses with energy and delight. The festive scale of the music conveys the cosmic significance, while tender vocal interplay evokes personal devotion. It is a radiant testament to Bach’s ability to translate theological joy into sounds of transcendent beauty.

Heavenly Exultation  

The opening chorus of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata BWV 191, Gloria in excelsis Deo, is a resplendent and jubilant outburst of praise. This chorus radiates with a festive brilliance, its orchestral texture ablaze with trumpets, timpani, flutes, oboes, and strings that create a sonic tapestry of divine celebration.

Bach captures the text drawn from the Latin Mass with an irrepressible energy that feels like a heavenly fanfare. From the opening measures, the orchestra establishes a mood of unrestrained joy, while the entrance of the choir as a unifying and exultant force draws us into a moment of awe-inspired worship.

This masterful choral fugue showcases Bach’s unparalleled skill in blending technical complexity with emotional accessibility. The interplay of voices and instruments is seamless, and the balance between grandeur and heartfelt devotion culminates in a radiant and triumphant universal hymn of praise. What an unbelievable vision of divine glory!

Divine Innocence    

The opening chorus of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, is a monumental and deeply moving introduction to one of the most profound works in Western music. Set in the minor key, this chorus immediately immerses the listener in the Passion’s dramatic and emotional landscape, blending heart-wrenching sorrow with awe-inspiring grandeur.

The orchestral introduction, with its pulsating, syncopated rhythms and mournful string lines, evokes the weight of impending tragedy, with the entrance of the choir imploring the daughters of Zion to join in lamentation.

It’s pure genius, as Bach actually employs two choirs engaging in a dialogic interplay, their voices weaving together in a dense, imitative texture that reflects the communal mourning of Christ’s sacrifice. The emotional power lies in Bach’s ability to balance raw sorrow with transcendent majesty, setting the stage for the Passions’ profound exploration of sacrifice and salvation.

Bonus Chorus

It’s impossible to design a playlist of Bach’s 10 greatest Choruses without the serene devotion of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” Part of Cantata BWV 147, it is one of Bach’s most beloved and enduring works as it exquisitely balances simplicity with sophistication.

The choir’s straightforward presentation of the chorale melody, with its clear, hymn-like phrasing, anchors the movement in a direct expression of faith, while the orchestra’s continuous, lilting triplet figures add a layer of delicate complexity, symbolising the constant presence of divine grace.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s 10 greatest choruses stand as towering testaments to his unparalleled genius, blending technical virtuosity with profound emotional and spiritual resonance. His mastery of counterpoint, innovative orchestration, and expressive harmonies creates a timeless dialogue between faith and artistry, affirming Bach as one of history’s greatest musical architects.

Mozart - Piano Concerto No.21, K.467 / Yeol Eum Son

26,147,536 views Dec 18, 2014

2011 Tchaikovsky Competition - Piano Round II, Phase II Mozart - Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 21 in C major, K.467 Yeol Eum Son (South Korea)

what your favorite composer says about you! (complete version)

379,998 views  Oct 7, 2024  STOCKHOLM

0:00 - Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

0:09 - Barber - Adagio for Strings

0:19 - Bartók - String Quartet No. 4

0:32 - Beethoven - Symphony No. 4

0:41 - Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique 

0:47 - Bizet - Carmen - Overture 

0:55 - Brahms - Hungarian Dance No. 5

01:01 - Bruckner - Symphony No. 7

01:13 - Chopin - Ballade No. 1

01:20 - Debussy - Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

01:29 - Dvorák - Symphony No. 9 

01:40 - Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations Op. 36

01:49 - Fauré - Pavane, Op. 50

01:59 - Grieg - Peer Gynt - Death of Åse

02:08 - Khachaturian - Masquerade Suite 

02:19 - Händel - Sarabande 

02:27 - Holst - The Planets 

02:38 - Liszt - La Campanella 

02:49 - Mahler - Symphony No. 3

02:59 - Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 1

03:07 - Mozart - Lacrimosa 

03:14 - Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain 

03:20 - Offenbach - Can Can

03:28 - Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet (Suite No. 2)

03:39 - Puccini - Turandot - Nessun Dorma 

03:49 - Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances 

03:58 - Ravel - Daphnis et Chloé 

04:11 - Respighi - Pini di Roma 

04:24 - R. Strauss - Ein Heldenleben 

04:31 - Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade 

04:42 - Royer - Le Vertigo 

04:53 - Saint-Saëns - Aquarium

05:01 - Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No. 1 

05:09 - Schönberg - Verklärte Nacht 

05:17 - Haydn - Deutsche Nationalhymne 

05:29 - Schubert - Serenade 

05:40 - Schumann - Symphony No. 4

05:50 - Scriabin - Étude Op. 8 No. 12

06:00 - Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5

06:12 - Sibelius - Symphony No. 2

06:25 - Strauss II - The Blue Danube Waltz 

06:33 - Stravinsky - Le Sacre du Printemps 

06:44 - Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake

06:58 - Verdi - Requiem - Dies Irae

07:11 - Wagner - Rienzi - Overture

07:26 - Vivaldi - Winter

Übersetzerdienste - Translation Services

 Übersetzerdienste - Translation Services

Even after retiring as German Consul, I am still accredited as a German translator and interpreter for the German, Swiss and Austrian Embassy as well as for Regional Trial Court Davao City and all courts nationwide. Please pm for via doringklaus@gmail.com further information. I'll be answering your messages as soon as possible. Please be patient. Auch nach meiner Pensionierung als deutscher Konsul bin ich weiterhin als deutscher Übersetzer und Dolmetscher für die deutsche, schweizerische und österreichische Botschaft sowie für das Regional Trial Court Davao City landesweit akkreditiert. Für weitere Informationen senden Sie bitte eine PN an doringklaus@gmail.com. Ich werde Ihre Nachrichten so schnell wie möglich beantworten.

Music for wellness

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How Conductors Explain Conducting

by Janet Horvath, Interlude

When audiences are transported by a concert, they imagine that a kind of magic happens onstage attributed to the conductor. Sometimes that is true. But many other attendees wonder: what does a conductor actually do?

We’re in luck. Several conductors have shared their theories about how to conduct. Richard Strauss for example, who was not only a wonderful composer but also an exacting conductor, published these instructive Ten Golden Rules for the Album of a Young Conductor in 1927. We published them in 2015 but many of them bear repeating here:

• Remember that you are making music not to amuse yourself, but to delight your audience.

• You should not perspire when conducting. Only the audience should get warm.

(My teacher Janos Starker used to say, “Don’t be so moved. Move your audiences.”)

• Never look encouragingly at the brass except with a brief glance to give an important cue.

(Richard Wagner quipped, “Never look at the trombones…It only encourages them.” This quote is also attributed to Strauss!)

• But never let the horns and woodwinds out of your sight. If you can hear them at all, they are still too strong.

• It is not enough that you yourself should hear every word the soloist sings. You should know it by heart anyway. The audience must be able to follow without effort. If they do not understand the words, they will go to sleep.

• When you think you have reached the limits of prestissimo, double the pace.

Some conductors do accelerate to unplayable tempos. I’ve experienced it! Strauss later, in 1948, changed his mind: Today I should like to amend this. Take the tempo half as fast.

Conductor and legendary pianist Daniel Barenboim seconds that notion:

“The tempo is the suitcase. If the suitcase is too small, everything is completely wrinkled. If the tempo is too fast, everything becomes so scrambled you can’t understand it.”

Herbert von Karajan, the famed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic added, “Quick music sounds dull unless every note is articulated.”

Renowned composer and conductor Gustav Mahler agreed, “If you think you’re boring your audience go slower not faster.”

Gustav Mahler

There are a lot of opinions on how to interpret music and there are often differences in timing and tempo. Take Beethoven’s famous opening to his Symphony No. 5. I think you’ll be surprised by the versions of the first four bars from Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Herbert von Karajan, Pierre Boulez, Bruno Walter, and John Eliot Gardiner. Carlos Kleiber with Vienna plays in a refined style, while Pierre Boulez leads a diabolically slow opening to the 5th.

Comparing 5 conductors VERY different openings of Beethoven 5th Symphony (& why they chose that) 

Aside from being a timekeeper, what more does a conductor do? During an interview when asked this question, Sir Simon Rattle responded, “It’s one of the great fake professions…We are nothing without the orchestra…”

Sir Simon Rattle

Simon Rattle | What Does A Conductor Actually Do?

South Korean pianist and conductor Myung Whun Chung recently elaborated,

“A conductor almost by definition is a strange animal; he is the only musician on stage that makes no sound, yet he is responsible for everyone else’s. I often would like to think of myself as just a colleague or collaborator with the other musicians, but ultimately, we must come together to be the truthful messengers of the composer we play – and make their music come alive!”

Like other professions, sometimes there’s a domineering and controlling boss. We orchestral players have been subject to heavy-handed conductors, ones we disagree with, or even incapable ones we must ignore.

We’re surprised that Herbert von Karajan, the maestro with a legendary sound, who was an autocrat, once said, “The art of conducting consists in knowing when to stop conducting to let the orchestra play.”

And this is fascinating. Simon Rattle on Karajan:

Simon Rattle on Herbert von Karajan 

Leonard Bernstein, who was the music director of the New York Philharmonic from 1957-1970 and recorded with them until the end of his life, puts it in a nutshell,

“Conducting is like making love to a hundred people at the same time.”

The wonderful thing about music-making is that each orchestra has a personality and will sound different depending on the maestro in front of them. And we can tell from the first upbeat in the music whether the leader is any good. One conductor will inspire a refined, polished sound while another will coax a more robust and aggressive quality, and everything is reflected through the different people onstage.

Conducting gestures vary. The stick or hand technique is essential, but every gesture, facial expression, and overall body language matters.

Here’s an illustration:

Breaking down orchestra conducting gestures to show you what they mean 

Many conductors have an affinity to certain music and a predilection for conducting those works. Our former music director Osmo Vänskä, for example, was terrific with the works of Jean Sibelius but not comfortable with French music. The Minnesota Orchestra’s complete recordings of all the Beethoven Symphonies are considered one of the best, especially of the 4th and 5th symphonies. Other wonderful interpreters include Otto Klemperer, Riccardo Chailly, with Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, and Carlos Kleiber. Wilhelm Furtwängler’s Beethoven No. 9 performance at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus live in 1951 is notable, and Karajan of course.

Watch this rare live video of excerpts of Beethoven Symphony No. 9 being rehearsed and performed by Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker. It’s their New Year’s Eve concert of 1977 and was the first ever to be broadcast live.

Excerpts of Beethoven’s 9 rehearsal and performance by Herbert von Karajan (1977) 

Some composers inspire controversy, and Maher was certainly one of them. Gustav Mahler, the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna Opera conductor from 1898-1901 and beyond, is quoted as saying, “A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything.” Admired Mahler interpreters include Leonard Bernstein, who was critical in reviving Mahler’s music.

Claudio Abbado, Klaus Tennstedt, Rafael Kubelik, and Sir Simon Rattle, who says, “The Mahler virus is incurable,” are also noted Mahler interpreters. But here’s a caveat from von Karajan.

“Mahler’s music is full of dangers and traps, and one of them, which many fall into, is over sensualizing the thing until it becomes sort of …kitsch.” (‘Kitsch’— when art is considered in poor taste due to garishness or sentimentality.)

From Maestro: Encounters With Conductors of Today
Helena Matheopoulos book “Maestro” consisting of interviews with the world’s twenty-three top orchestral conductors.

Conductors tend to disagree on this subject too. One’s tasteless interpretation is another’s deep revelation.

Strauss even said so, “Must one become seventy years old to recognize that one’s greatest strength lies in creating musical kitsch?”

You might ask, can an orchestra play without a conductor? Of course we can.

I recently came across an outstanding orchestra that plays without a conductor. Now don’t get me wrong. There is a long tradition of smaller ensembles, chamber orchestras, that play without a conductor. In fact, we have one here in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul—the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Their stellar performances often lead me to say, “they must be psychic!” as they do not only relegate themselves to so-called classical repertoire of Haydn and Mozart, but they play challenging contemporary works such as Bartók Divertimento, with aplomb and brilliance.

The Going Home Project Orchestra based in Korea plays large-scale works without a conductor including, Stravinsky Rite of Spring, an exceedingly complex work with difficult rhythms and tempo changes. Uncanny. I was flabbergasted at their brilliance as well as their impeccable ensemble. The famous bassoon opening is gorgeous, and the playing of the orchestra throughout is virtuosic.

Self-conducted Live Performance of “Le Sacre du Printemps” 

But the maestro can make magic happen onstage and then it’s inexplicable even to us. Whatever the interpretation we agree with von Karajan,

“To be involved professionally in a thing as creative as music is a great privilege and we have a duty to make in such a way that we can help bring pleasure and a sense of fulfillment to those who are not so fortunate {to be able to play music}.” From Osborne’s Conversations.

I hope this explains conducting. But if you’d like to know more, here is a delightful interview with Simon Rattle, who speaks candidly about his art.

Morissette - LOVE THE PHILIPPINES (Official Music Video)

21,002 views Feb 14, 2025 #LoveThePhilippines

Love echoes across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines. From the gentle hums of everyday life to the shared laughter over a warm, indulgent meal. From the rhythmic crash of waves against our shores to the rustling of leaves in our forests. From the quiet moments of gratitude to the thunderous cheers of triumph—big and small. Wherever you are in the world, whatever love means to you, we invite you to listen to the melodies of love that take you home to the Philippines. Our heartfelt gratitude to Asia's Phoenix, Morissette, for gracing us with her incredible talent and genuine love for the Philippines! #LoveThePhilippines

Transcript

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Always keep singing your own song

 

COURTESY CALL

 COURTESY CALL

LOOK: Actresses Janella Salvador, RK Bagatsing, and the production team paid a courtesy call to Mayor Michelle Nakpil Rabat at Mati City Hall today, January 27, 2025.

Learned that their team is now in Mati City for the filming of the upcoming movie which is one of the official entries of the 2025 Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival.

According to Mayor Rabat the film will be of great help to promote tourism in their city.

#ShowbizNews

#RKBagatsing

#JanellaSalvador

#MatiCity

#DavaoUpdates

City of Mati LGU

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