Coronation of August III as King of Poland

Coronation of August III as King of Poland

19 February 2024 – On January 17 1734 the Elector of Saxony, Friedrich August II, was crowned King of Poland as August III. Bach created the cantata Blast Lärmen, ihr Feinde, BWV 205a, for this occasion. For reason unknown it was not performed in January on the day itself, but saw its first performance on February 11th 1734 at the Café Zimmermann in Leipzig.

The cantata itself is lost unfortunately, but it is a parody of Zerreißet, zersprenget, zertrümmert die Gruft, BWV 205, a cantata he wrote 9 years earlier for the name day of Dr. August Friedrich Müller of the University of Leipzig. The libretto is probably by Picander.

Again we need to thank Alexander Grychtolik for the reconstruction of this lost parody cantata, starting from that original.

Music for today

• Blast Lärmen, ihr Feinde, BWV 205a
  (first performance 19 February 1734, Leipzig period)