Bach's predecessor
About 15 minutes of festive music as an alternative to all-too-familiar Christmas works.
The works of Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722) are still too little known and performed, despite the fact that Johann Sebastian Bach's predecessor at the Thomaskantorat Leipzig was an excellent composer. His oeuvre, which exerted a great influence on Bach, dwarfed his not exactly small compositional "output" in purely quantitative terms. Unfortunately, only around 30 works by Kuhnau have survived to this day. In order to once again pay tribute to this underestimated composer and his versatile musical language, Breitkopf & Härtel are now publishing all surviving sacred works in beautiful Urtext editions.
Currently, the Christmas cantata O holy time an ideal piece of festive music for a small ensemble. The approximately 15-minute work based on a text by Neumeister is easy to perform with four soloists (SATB) with optional participation of the choir and double string section (two violins and two violas) with continuo organ and offers a welcome musical alternative to all-too-familiar works for Christmas.
Johann Kuhnau: O heilige Zeit. Christmas cantata for soloists, (choir), orchestra, edited by David Erler; score, PB 32119, € 29.90; vocal piano reduction, EB 32119, € 13.90; Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden
