Bach Cantata Day Information:
Advent III or Gaudete
The 2nd Sunday before Christmas. Liturgical period : Advent.
Occurrences: December 17 2023, December 15 2024, December 14 2025, December 13 2026, December 12 2027, December 17 2028, December 16 2029, December 15 2030, December 14 2031, December 12 2032, December 11 2033, December 17 2034, December 16 2035, December 14 2036.
Music for this day
- Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht, BWV 186a
(first performance 13 December 1716, expanded in 1723 to BWV 186 for Trinity VII, Weimar period)
Advent III or Gaudete, is the second Sunday before Christmas. Again there is officially no cantata for this day because of Tempus Clausum observed in Leipzig (no music in mass), so the only possible cantatas come from Bach's Weimar period, where Tempus Clausum was not observed during Advent.
The cantata we know of, BWV 186a - Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht, was first performed in Weimar, December 13th 1716. But just like with the cantata for Advent II, that score did not survive. So we stick to BWV 186, an expansion on the original that Bach created in Leipzig for Trinitatis VII (in the middle of summer!).
Playlist
WBC03-Advent III or Gaudete
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Image of the day
A reconstruction of the Bach familiy house in Weimar as it may have looked in his lifetime (view from the east). Don't try to look for the house on a visit to the city, because it is now... a parking lot. Visualisation done by the Hummel architecture office in 2011.