No 150 Original versus Parody III

From 1717 to 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach was kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. His employer was a great music lover and did everything he could to support Bach and his court orchestra. Just five years after Bach left Köthen, Prince Leopold died and his funeral was held at the town church of St. Jakob (St. James). Bach’s contribution to the ceremony was a large-scale piece of funeral music in which the arias and choruses were virtually all parodies from the St. Matthew Passion and the funeral ode for the electress of Saxony. In both the old and new contexts, these funeral melodies are deeply moving, especially when performed by the British ensemble, Solomon’s Knot, with their unique vocal and instrumental expression.