Bach: Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62 | Philippe Herreweghe and the Collegium Vocale Gent

A festive start to Advent: Bach’s cantata “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland” (BWV 62) performed by the Collegium Vocale Gent conducted by Philippe Herreweghe. The concert took place in 2016 in the Saint-Roch church in Paris. Starring: Grace Davidson | SOPRANO Damien Guillon | ALTUS Thomas Hobbs | TENOR Peter Kooij | BASS Collegium Vocale Gent Philippe Herreweghe | CONDUCTOR The cantata “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland” (BWV 62) was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) for the 1st Sunday of Advent in 1724. Its text is based on the Advent hymn of the same name by Martin Luther (1483 - 1546), which in turn goes back to the early church Latin hymn “Veni redemptor gentium”. Of Luther’s eight-verse “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,” stanzas 1 and 8 are used as brackets in the Bach cantata, so that the opening chorale corresponds in wording to Luther’s stanza 1, and the closing chorale to stanza 8. The intervening two arias and recitatives can only be referred to Luther’s hymn text i