"Sicut Moses" is the only Gospel setting from Schütz's first book of Latin motets. The musical portrayal of the serpent with the winding lines becomes transformed in this marvelous work to the stretching hand of God.

Bach Cantata BWV 17 is from the incomplete third cycle of Leipzig Cantatas. Here the backdrop of a motoric orchestral sequence repeated over and over almost like a mantra becomes the accompaniment to a fugue of enormous gusto and energy. This is perhaps the most clear and superb example of how Bach writes a choral fugue. All of the sequences and stretti are in high relief. After a recitative the soprano sings a delightful and child-like aria accompanied by two solo violins. The following tenor aria is accompanied by the full string section. Its melody is in two parts, an upwardly thrusting line illustrating the goodness of God, and a gently falling figure showing the gift from heaven. The final chorale is an harmonization of the melody, "Nun lob mein Seel.'"

©Craig Smith

Translation for this Cantata