Charles Daniels (tenor), Menno van Delft (harpsichord), Mieneke van der Velden (viola da gamba), and Fred Jacobs (theorbo) perform “Dir, dir Jehova, will ich singen” BWV 452 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). This comes from the absolutely amazing Netherlands Bach Society and their YouTube from their project All of Bach (You can even search via BWV number). Constantly posting fantastic Bach performances, it’s one of my most watched YouTube channels.
In a world of entreaties and yearnings, always directed towards our end on earth, songs that were simply cheerful were a rarity. This sacred song about singing, with parallels in the psalms, is probably even unique. Six verses address the relationship between father-teacher and child-believer, which this time is not purely a relationship of sin, penance and redemption, but one of beauty of sound and sincere music, straight from the heart. Maybe it was precisely this theme that prompted Bach to copy a version of this song into Anna Magdalena’s second ‘Notenbüchlein’.
Recorded for the project All of Bach on May 12th 2018 at Bartolotti House, Amsterdam. This recording was made possible by the support of Stichting Elise Mathilde Fonds. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel and consider donating.
Netherlands Bach Society on YouTube
They didn’t skim on strings in those days did they!
I would have liked an instrumental section. With all of the work those folks put into their playing it would have been nice hearing them with each taking the lead for a while.
Anyway nicely done, thank you all.
Nederlands Bach Society have i follow meny years. They are always on the high quality side! Have now bougth sig of your books, even if i had to by them from GB! Directly from Canada is stop! Best regards Barbro EvanderLindquist Sweden
Thanks for sharing!! It opens up a whole new world of Bach in its glory
Yes, listening to Bach’s ensemble music, especially those with vocals, is enlightening to his style.