A secular cantata by BACH
BBC Chorus
Chorus-Master, Leslie Woodgate
Kalmar Chamber Orchestra Led by Carl Pini
Conducted by GEORGE MALCOLM
In 1729 Bach rejected after an audition for the organist's position at St. Thomas's, Leipzig, one Scheibe, who became a critic notorious for his attacks on Bach's ' learned style.' In Phoebus and Pan Picander provided Bach with a medium to reply to these criticisms. Pan is a kind of Beckmesser, challenging Phoebus to a contest of song; Midas, who declares for Pan, is given donkey's cars by Apollo who represents Bach's own ' art of charm.' The cantata reveals Bach among his contemporaries producing at a local music society a work both exemplifying and defending his art against his youthful detractor.
Two Christmas Cantatas: Dec. 24