1. Religious Music of the Reformation
Handel & Bach

2. Cantata (Bach) A work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra
Performed without action or costumes
Usually part of the church service on Sunday and based on that week’s Bible reading
Protestant

3. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)
Two wives and twenty kids
Excelled in both secular and sacred music.
Appointed Kapellmeister (Music Director) of St. Thomas church in Leipzig
Composed new music every week for the Sunday mass

4. Bach’s Cantata No. 120 “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme”
One of Bach’s 195 surviving cantatas
Movement 7 – Chorale
Chorus needs to harmonize with keyboard
Bach is considered a master of harmony

5. Bach’s Cantata No. 120 “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme”
Movement 1 – Ritornello
Melodic idea that returns periodically (refrain)
What instruments do you hear?
Movement 4 – Nocturne
This part of the story takes place at night
Tenors sing about Mary awakening and her “joyful union” with Jesus

6. Oratorio (Handel) An extended work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra
Text is typically drawn from scripture
Performed without action or costumes
Not part of a church service
Catholic and Protestant

7. George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759)
Born in Germany
Traveled and studied in Italy
Became Kapellmeister of Hanover, Germany
Moved to London in 1712
Considered England’s greatest composer

8. Handel’s Messiah Presented in Dublin, Ireland in 1742
It has been performed every year since
Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection
King George II of Britain stood up when he first heard the “Hallelujah Chorus” in 1743, starting a tradition that lives on today

9. “Hallelujah Chorus” of Handel’s Messiah
What to listen for:
The chorus gradually intensifies through voices rising to ever higher pitches
The sharp shouts of “hallelujah”
Imitative Polyphony during the phrase “and he shall reign forever and ever.”
Building tension through a series of rising phrases (“King of Kings, and Lord of Lords”)
Regal tone

10. 360 singers