Bach - Cantata O ewiges Feuer... BWV 34 - Van Veldhoven | Netherlands Bach Society

Until recently, it was thought that this Whitsun cantata ’O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe’, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society for All of Bach, was one of the last cantatas in Bach’s oeuvre. The manuscript of the score, largely in Bach’s own handwriting, dates from a few years before his death. However, a libretto discovered recently in St Petersburg shows that the cantata is much older and was performed for the first time on 1 June 1727. The work was presented in Leipzig on Whit Sunday, at the Nikolaikirche during the morning service and at the Thomaskirche during vespers. Even then, the work was not totally new. The chorus sections and the alto aria, the most essential parts, reuse material originating from a wedding cantata of the same name but much more extensive (BWV 34a), which Bach had composed at an earlier stage. Recorded for the project All of Bach on May 13th 2017 at the Walloon Church, Amsterdam. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our