Birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
23 February 2023 – In 1713 Bach was court organist in Weimar, and he went with his employer, William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, to the 31st birthday celebrations of the neighbouring ruler, Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, who was a keen hunter.
After an extended hunting party, Bach performed this cantata on the evening of that day as a birthday gift by his employer. It is Bach's oldest known secular cantata.
That same Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels visited Leipzig many years later, on January 12, 1729, and Bach wrote as a homage the cantata O angenehme Melodei, BWV 210a.
Cantatas
- Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!, BWV 208
(first performance 23 February 1713, Weimar period)
Playlist
WBCF0223-Birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
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Image of the day
Hotel Jaegerhof in Weissenfels originally was the hunting lodge of the Dukes of Saxe-Weissenfels, and the location for the first performance of Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!, BWV 208 in 1713.