Jubiliant Bach!

Bach in Baltimore concludes its 36th season with two large-scale works for choir and orchestra that celebrate joy and beauty. Cantata 31: Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret (Heaven laughs! Earth Exults!) opens brightly with festive fanfare between the winds, strings, bass, and percussion. Conductor and Bach scholar John Eliot Gardiner notes that when the choir joins in creating a five-part chorus, it evokes “celestial laughter and worldly jubilation.” Bach Orchestral Suite No. 4 overflows with some of the most exuberant music Bach ever composed. Bach may have associated this music with “laughter, joy, and rapture” because he recycled its opening as the first movement of his Cantata 110: Christmas Cantata: Unser Mund Sei voll Lachens (“Our mouths are full of laughter”). Join Bach in Baltimore as we conclude a fantastic season of music in Baltimore with some of the most joyous works in Bach’s canon.