Who today can imagine historically informed performance of early music without the indelible imprint of musicians such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner? A landmark moment in his career was the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage 2000: the monumental revival, within the span of a single year and in various sacred venues across Europe, of the complete series of Bach’s church cantatas. With the newly founded choral and instrumental ensemble Constellation—established in his birthplace, Springhead in Dorset—Gardiner continues his mission, this time making a stop at the Spring Festival.
All three works on the programme evoke the contemplative atmosphere of Holy Week and the Resurrection. The cantata The heavens laugh! The earth rejoices, BWV 31, was written for Easter Sunday in 1715. Ten years later, the cantata Stay with us, for evening falls, BWV 6, was first performed on Easter Monday 1725—just one day after the première, also in cantata form, of the Easter Oratorio, before it was revised in 1738 into the celebrated oratorio we know today. A few days before Orthodox Easter, the sacred music of Lutheran composer Johann Sebastian Bach offers us an opportunity for a special moment of spiritual uplift.
