'WACHET AUF, RUFT UNS DIE STIMME'
('Sleepers, wake, for night is flying')
Relayed from THE GUILDHALL SCHOOL or MUSIC
Singers:
ELSIE SUDDABY (Soprano)
TOM PURVIS (Tenor)
KEITH FALKNER (Bass)
THE WIRELESS CHORUS
Players:
S. KNEALE KELLEY (Solo Violin)
JOHN FIELD (Oboe)
LESLIE WOODGATE (Organ)
THE WIRELESS ORCHESTRA (Oboes, Cor Anglais, Trumpet and Strings)
Conducted by PERCY PITT
(For the words of the Cantata see below.)
ONE of the few Bach Cantatas which we in this country can claim to know at all well, this is certainly among the finest of the 190 which we possess. It is based on a fine old hymn by Philipp Nicolai , with whose deeply reverent spirit Bach was in the sincerest sympathy. And the hymn was clearly one for which Bach had a special affection ; he uses it as the basis of one of his finest chorale preludes.
It deals with the parable of the Ten Virgins, the gospel for the 27th Sunday after Trinity - one which occurs only when Easter falls very early in the year.
The first chorus sets forth the idea of the awakening, with great animation and power. The coming of the Bridegroom, and the awakening, one after another, of the Virgins, is as fine an example of picturesque music as even the great Bach ever wrote. The idea of awaking dominates the first chorus, though the line which tells of the watchman on the tower is accompanied by a simple, almost dancelike, tune, with an effect of rustic simplicity, into which the cry of the watchman breaks with striking effect.
That second verse of the chorale comes between two duets in which dialogues between the Saviour and a pleading soul are set forth very beautifully and solemnly, and the Cantata is rounded off by a splendidly dignified and simple form of the chorale itself.