Bach Cantata Day Information:
Appointment of Gottlieb Kortte as professor to the University of Leipzig
Occurs every December 11th. Not a liturgical day.
Occurrences:
Music for this day
- Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden Saiten, BWV 207
(first performance 11 december 1726, Leipzig period)
This day marks the appointment of Gottlieb Kortte as professor of Roman Law at Leipzig University. The celebratory cantata Bach wrote for this occasion was performed possibly the evening of the 11th of December 1726, the day of the appointment, by the Collegium Musicum under direction of their conductor, Balthasar Schott.
The cantata begins with an instrumental march, possibly used during a procession by the orchestra through the city, announcing the performance of the cantata. The openingschoir may sound familiar: Bach reused music from his first Brandenburg concerto, written in Köthen in 1721.
Bach later reused this cantata to create Auf schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten, BWV 207a in 1735 for the nameday of the Elector of Saxony, King Augustus III of Poland which was celebrated on August 3rd.
Playlist
WBCF1211-Appointment of Gottlieb Kortte as professor to the University of Leipzig
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Image of the day
The Paulinum in Leipzig, completed in 2007. It stands at the site of the former Pauliner Kirche, the Leipzig University church, which was destroyed in 1968 during the communist regime of East Germany. Bach performed many cantatas in the Pauliner Kirche.