An Advent Concert

Tintoretto, The Visitation (1549)

For the third Sunday in Advent, enjoy this performance of the Cantata “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben,” BWV 147, in a performance at the Benedictine Monastery of Melk by Concentus Musicus Vienna and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. This is one of the most wondrous of the Bach cantatas, prepared for performance on any advent Sunday to a text prepared by Bach’s friend Salomo Franck. Read about the history of the work here and English translation of the text is here and Franck’s German original is here.