Motet: Victoria was a Spanish composer and contemporary of Palestrina. There is almost no Spanish color in his music, for he spent most of his adult career in Rome. The liquid and elegant lines are rather like Palestrina, but the music is more personal and does not have the icy perfection of his Roman contemporary. Today's four-voice motet is set to the reading for Palm Sunday.

Cantata: Bach Cantata BWV 182 was one of the earliest works written in Weimar and is thus one of Bach's earliest cantatas. It has a charming chamber-sized orchestration of recorder, one violin, two violas, cello and organ. The opening sinfonia has the sound of early morning about it. The recorder and solo violin trade off piquant dotted lines against the pizzicato of the other strings. The opening chorus is delightfully child-like in its portrayal of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem. The solo bass intones a line from Psalm 40 as an introduction to the stirring aria with the strings. The solo recorder returns as the obbligato to the poignant alto aria. This is the beginning of the transition of the cantata from the joyous entrance into Jerusalem to a meditation on the Passion. The continuo aria with tenor is a further passion-like piece. It would not be out of place in one of the Passion settings. We are ending today's performance of the cantata with the penultimate chorale prelude on the tune "Jesu Kreuz, Leiden und Pein." The rather light chorus that traditionally ends the cantata "So lasset uns gehen in Salem der Freuden" is inappropriate for the end of the Palm Sunday service.

©Craig Smith

Translation