​Chôros  is the title of a series of compositions by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, between 1920 and 1929. The word chôro (Portuguese pronunciation; nowadays spelled simply choro) is Portuguese for "weeping" and came to be the name used for music played by an ensemble of Brazilian street musicians (called chorões) using both African and European instruments, who improvise in a free and often dissonant kind of counterpoint called contracanto. Villa-Lobos described the basic concept of his Chôros as a "brasilofonia"—an extension of the popular street-musicians' chôro to a pan-Brazilian synthesis of native folklore, both Indian and popular.
 
The Chôros series:

• Introdução aos Chôros: Abertura (Introduction aux chôros: Ouverture), for guitar and orchestra (1929) [2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, prato, celesta, xylophone, piano, 2 harps, guitar (with microphone), violins I, violins II, viola, cellos, double basses] or [piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, xylophone, celesta, 2 harps, piano, strings] 
• No. 1 for guitar (1920)
• No. 2 for flute and clarinet (1924)
• No. 3 for male chorus or seven wind instruments, or both together (1925) "Pica-páo" (Woodpecker) [Male chorus (2 tenor, baritone, bass), clarinet, alto saxophone, bassoon, 3 horns, trombone]
• No. 4 for 3 horns and trombone (1926)
• No. 5 for piano (1925) "Alma brasileira" (Brazilian Soul)
• No. 6 for orchestra (1926) [piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, saxophone, xylophone, bells, cymbals, bass, drum, celesta, 2 harps, strings, and other percussion instruments]
• No. 7 for winds, violin, and cello (1924) "Settimino" (Septet) [flute, oboe, clarinet, alto saxophone, bassoon, tam-tam (ad lib.), violin, cello]
• No. 8 for large orchestra and 2 pianos (1925) "Dance Chôro" [piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 4 clarinets. bass clarinet, saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, xylophone, triangle, other percussion instruments, cymbals, celesta, 2 harps, strings]
• No. 9 for orchestra (1929) [Piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, bombo, tambor, tambor surdo, camisao (large and small), pio, triangle, reco, tartaruga, cax, cho (metal and wood), xylophone, vibraphone, celesta, 2 harps and strings]
• No. 10 for chorus and orchestra (1925) "Rasga o coração" (It Tears Your Heart) [piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 2 timpani, tam-tam, tambourine, tambor, caxambu, 2 puitas, surdo, drums, reco-reco (large and small), chocalhos de metal e de madeira, piano, harp, strings]
• No. 11 for piano and orchestra (1928) [piccolo, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, requinta, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, reco-reco, chocalhos, xylophone, bells, tambor, bombo, cymbals, tambourine, celesta, 2 harps, strings, piano]
• No. 12 for orchestra (1929) [2 piccolos, 3 flutes, 3 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 saxophones, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 8 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, cymbals, cuica, bombo, xylophone, tambor, celesta, 2 harps, piano, strings]
• No. 13 for band and 2 orchestras (1929) – score lost, except for a short-score fragment consisting of the first page of a piano reduction, held by the Museu Villa-Lobos. 
• No. 14 for orchestra, band, and chorus (1928) – score lost
• Chôros bis, for violin and cello (1928–29)

 
Here are four Albums:
 
Villa-Lobos: Chôros Volume I. John Neschling with Cristina Ortiz (piano), and São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Release Date: 3 Mar 2008. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISCD1440. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
Diapason d’Or de l’Annee, 2009.
 
Villa-Lobos: Chôros Volume 2. John Neschling with Fabio Zanon (guitar), Dante Yenque, Ozéas Arantes & Samuel Hamzem (horn) & Darrin Coleman Milling (bass trombone), Linda Bustani and Ilan Rechtman (piano), and São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Release date: 30 Jun 2008. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISCD1450. Hi-Res FLAC ( Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). 
Awards:
Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2009.
Gramophone Magazine, October 2008, Editor's Choice.
 
Villa-Lobos: Chôros Volume 3. John Neschling with Fabio Zanon (guitar), Cláudio Cruz (violin), Johannes Gramsch (cello), Elizabeth Plunk (flute) & Ovanir Buosi (clarinet), and São Paulo Symphony Orchestra & Choir of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Release Date: 5 Jan 2009. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISCD1520. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
Diapason d’Or de l’Année, 2009.
 
Villa-Lobos: Complete Choros & Bachianas Brasileiras. John Neschling with Fabio Zanon (guitar), Cristina Ortiz (piano), Jean Louis Steuerman (piano), Donna Brown (soprano), Nigel Shore (cor anglais) & Anders Miolin (guitar), and São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Choir of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra & Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. Release date: 27 Jul 2009. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISCD183032. FLAC ( CD Quality, 44.1kHz, 16 bit).
Award:
Diapason d’Or de l’Annee, 2009.

​Reference:
Chôros (2024, August 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chôros

Note: ​Peter Wollny (Director of the Bach Archive), Michael Maul (Director of BachFest), and Sir Eliot Gardiner (President of the Bach Archive) have selected the most famous sacred cantatas composed by J.S. Bach in December 2018. I shall highlight all 33 of them by their consecutive BWV numbering in the following months. The fourth series of four cantatas are listed today. 
 
BWV 39: Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot

Johann Sebastian Bach composed Break with hungry men thy bread  in Leipzig and first performed on 23 June 1726, the first Sunday after Trinity that year. The text of the cantata is taken from a 1704 collection of librettos from Meiningen, many of which had been set to music in the cantatas of Bach's distant cousin Johann Ludwig Bach, Kapellmeister at Meiningen. The librettos have been attributed to his employer Duke Ernst Ludwig von Sachsen-Meiningen. The symmetrical structure of seven movements is typical for this collection: the opening quotation from the Old Testament, followed by a recitative and an aria; then the central quotation from the New Testament, followed by an aria and a recitative, leading into the final chorale. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Old Testament passage taken from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 58:7–8) and the New Testament passage from the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 13:16) and the First Epistle of John, (the "God is Love" verses, 1 John 4:16–21), and from the Gospel of Luke (the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16:19–31). The final section of the libretto is the sixth verse of David Denicke's 1648 hymn "Kommt, laßt euch den Herren lehren," which involves the same themes. This hymn was sung to the same melody as the hymn "Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele." The melody was first published by Louis Bourgeois as Psalm 42 in his collection of Psaumes octante trios de David (Geneva, 1551). The psalm melody itself was probably derived from the secular song "Ne l'oseray je dire" in the Manuscrit de Bayeux published around 1510.
 
Bach scored the cantata for three vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A) and bass (B)), a four-part choir SATB, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two alto recorders, two oboes, first and second violins, violas and basso continuo. There are two sets of continuo parts from 1726: one is a score transposed for positive organ with figuration added by Bach in the first three movements; the other has annotations by the copyist for violoncello and double bass.
 
The cantata BWV 39 is in two parts, conforming to the structure of the Meiningen series. The first part begins with a long choral movement for four-part chorus and full orchestra. It is followed by a recitative for bass and an aria for alto, with obbligato violin and oboe. The second part begins with the central movement based on the New Testament text, a solo for bass, as vox Christi, accompanied by an obbligato violoncello. It is followed by an aria for soprano with obbligato recorders in unison. The second recitative for alto and strings leads into the concluding four-part chorale in which the choir doubled by the full orchestra. The complex scoring of the monumental opening movement, employing full orchestra and chorus, contrasts with that of the succeeding non-choral movements, which are accompanied by smaller more intimate groups of instruments.
 
The cantata is written in seven movements, with a symmetrical form: the first and last movements are for chorus and orchestra; the second and sixth movements are recitatives; the third and fifth movements are arias in two parts with da capo repeats only for the instrumental ritornello; and the central fourth movement is an accompanied solo. The metrical English translations below of the texts of the first six movements are by Henry Sandwith Drinker; and that of the seventh movement (chorale) is from the 1722 Psalmodica Germanica of John Christian Jacobi and Isaac Watts.
 
BWV 56: Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen
'I will gladly carry the cross-staff'  was composed for the 19th Sunday after Trinity and was first performed in Leipzig on 27 October 1726. The text was written by Christoph Birkmann, a student of mathematics and theology in Leipzig who collaborated with Bach. He describes in the first person a Christian willing to "carry the cross" as a follower of Jesus. The poet compares life to a voyage towards a harbour, referring indirectly to the prescribed Gospel reading which says that Jesus travelled by boat. The person, at the end, yearns for death as the ultimate destination, to be united with Jesus. This yearning is reinforced by the closing chorale: the stanza "Komm, o Tod, du Schlafes Bruder" ('Come, o death, you brother of sleep') from Johann Franck's 1653 hymn "Du, o schönes Weltgebäude" which uses the imagery of a sea voyage. Bach structured it in five  movements, alternating arias and recitatives for a bass soloist, and closing with a four-part chorale. He scored the work for a Baroque instrumental ensemble of three woodwind instruments, three string instrument parts and continuo. An obbligato cello features in the first recitative and an obbligato oboe in the second aria, resulting in different timbres in the four movements for the same voice part. 
 
The prescribed readings for that Sunday were from Paul's epistle to the Ephesians—"Put on the new man, which after God is created" (Ephesians 4:22–28)—and the Gospel of Matthew: healing the paralytic at Capernaum (Matthew 9:1–8). For the occasion, Bach had composed in 1723 Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen, BWV 48 (Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?), and in 1724 the chorale cantata Wo soll ich fliehen hin, BWV 5 (Where shall I flee), based on Johann Heermann’s penitential hymn of the same name.
 
The librettist built on Erdmann Neumeister's text from "Ich will den Kreuzweg gerne gehen", which was published in 1711. Kreuzweg, the Way of the Cross, refers to the Stations of the Cross and more generally to the "cross as the burden of any Christian." Here Kreuzweg is replaced with Kreuzstab, which can refer to both a pilgrim's staff (or bishop's crosier) and a navigational instrument known as a cross staff or Jacob's staff. Birkmann had an interest in astronomy and knew the second meaning from his studies. In the cantata's text, life is compared to a pilgrimage and a sea voyage. Birkmann's text alludes to Matthew's gospel; although there is no explicit reference to the sick man, he speaks in the first person as a follower of Christ who bears his cross and suffers until the end, when (in the words of Revelation 7:17) "God shall wipe away the tears from their eyes." The cantata takes as its starting point the torments that the faithful must endure. The text is also rich in other biblical references. The metaphor of life as a sea voyage in the first recitative comes from the beginning of that Sunday's Gospel reading: "There He went on board a ship and passed over and came into His own city" (Matthew 9:1). Affirmations that God will not forsake the faithful on this journey and will lead them out of tribulation were taken from Hebrews 13:5 and Revelation 7:14. The third movement expresses joy at being united with the saviour, and its text refers to Isaiah 40:31: "Those that wait upon the Lord shall gain new strength so that they mount up with wings like an eagle, so that they run and do not grow weary." The theme of joy, coupled with a yearning for death, runs through the cantata. The final lines of the opening aria ("There my Saviour himself will wipe away my tears") are repeated just before the closing chorale. This uncommon stylistic device appears several times in Bach's third cantata cycle. 
On the title page, Bach replaced the word "Kreuz" with the Greek letter χ, a rebus he used to symbolize the paradox of the cross. The final chorale is a setting of the sixth stanza of Johann Franck's "Du, o schönes Weltgebäude" which contains ship imagery: "Löse meines Schiffleins Ruder, bringe mich an sichern Port" ("Release the rudder of my little ship, bring me to the secure harbour"). The hymn was published in 1653 with a 1649 melody by Johann Crüger. Its text describes (in the first person) renouncing the beautiful dwelling place of the world ("schönes Weltgebäude"), only longing so dearly for the most cherished Jesus ("allerschönstes Jesulein"). This phrase recurs, with slight variations, at the end of each stanza.
 
The cantata is structured in five movements, with alternating arias, recitatives and a four-part chorale. Bach scored for a bass soloist, a four-part choir (SATB) in the closing chorale, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes, taille, two violins, viola, cello, and basso continuo. In his biography of Bach, Albert Schweitzer points out that Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen is among the few works in which Bach carefully marked the phrasing of the parts; others are the Brandenburg Concertos, the St Matthew Passion, the Christmas Oratorio and a few other cantatas, including Ich habe genug and O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60.
 
BWV 61: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
Now come, Savior of the heathens was composed in Weimar for the first Sunday in Advent, the Sunday which begins the liturgical year, and first performed it on 2 December 1714. The cantata text was provided by Erdmann Neumeister, who quoted the Book of Revelation and framed his work by two hymn stanzas, the beginning of Martin Luther's "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland," the main hymn for Advent with a melody based on Medieval chant, and the end from Philipp Nicolai's "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern." The librettist developed his thoughts like a sermon. Bach structured the cantata in six movements, beginning with a chorale fantasia, followed by a series of alternating recitatives and arias, and concluded by a four-part chorale. The librettist quoted the Book of Revelation in the fourth movement: "Siehe, ich stehe vor der Tür und klopfe an. So jemand meine Stimme hören wird und die Tür auftun, zu dem werde ich eingehen und das Abendmahl mit ihm halten und er mit mir." – "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Anyone that hears My voice and opens the door, to him I will enter and keep the evening meal with him and he with me." (Revelation 3:20). The poet combined the ideas of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his promise to return with an invitation to enter the heart of the individual Christian. He developed his thoughts like a sermon, as the Bach scholar Alfred Dürr notes: mentioning that the arrival of Jesus brings blessing every day (movement 2), a prayer that Jesus may come to his congregation (movement 2), and in response to his statement of being at the door (movement 4) the opening of the heart of the individual Christian who knows about his sinfulness (movement 5). He scored it for three vocal soloists (soprano, tenor and bass) , strings and continuo. 
 
BWV 65: Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen
They will all come forth out of Sheba was composed it in 1724 in Leipzig for Epiphany and first performed it on 6 January 1724 as part of his first cantata cycle. Bach wrote the cantata to conclude his first Christmas season as Thomaskantor in Leipzig which had been celebrated with five cantatas, four of them new compositions, the Magnificat and a new Sanctus. he prescribed readings for the feast day were taken from the Book of Isaiah, the heathen will convert (Isaiah 60:1–6), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the Wise Men from the East bringing gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense to the newborn Jesus (Matthew 2:1–12). The unknown poet of the cantata text may be the same as for BWV 40 and BWV 64 for the Second and Third Day of Christmas, a person "theologically competent and poetically skilfull (sic)," as the Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann writes.The librettist begins with the final verse of the epistle reading, Isaiah's prophecy "all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense." The poet juxtaposes the prediction by a chorale, stanza 4 of the old anonymous Christmas carol "Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem [de]" ("Puer natus in Bethlehem," "A babe is born in Bethlehem," 1543), which describes the arrival of the "Kön'ge aus Saba" (Kings from Sheba), related to the epistle. The first recitative proclaims that the gospel is the fulfilment of the prophecy and concludes that it is the Christian's duty to bring his heart as a gift to Jesus. This idea is the theme of the following aria. The second recitative equates the gifts of the contemporary Christian to those of the kings: Faith to the gold, Prayer to the incense, and Patience to the myrrh. The last aria expresses that the devoted Christian offers his heart as a present. The cantata ends with a chorale. The text is not extant, but it is assumed to be stanza 10 of Paul Gerhardt's hymn "Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn."
 
Bach festively scored the seven-movement cantata, for two vocal soloists (tenor and bass), a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two horns, two recorders, two oboes da caccia, strings and basso continuo. All recitatives are secco, but the full orchestra plays for the opening chorus, the last aria and the closing chorale. Bach uses scoring and especially instrumentation to illustrate the contrast between poverty and abundance. While all recitatives are secco, and the strings are silent for the first aria which is supported only by the oboes da caccia in low register, a festive orchestra with three kinds of wind instruments and strings accompanies not only, as usual, the opening chorus and the closing chorale, but also the penultimate movement, a tenor aria expressing how the believer gives his heart as a present. Hofmann notes that Bach "combines high art with the folk style."
 
Here are four albums:
 
Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 45 – Cantatas 39, 129, 187. Masaaki Suzuki with Yukari Nonoshita (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 30 Nov 2009. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD1801. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit).
 
Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 41 – Cantatas 56, 82, 84, 158. Masaaki Suzuki (harpsichord and conductor) with Carolyn Sampson (soprano) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 1 Dec 2008. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD1691. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit).
 
Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 7 – Cantatas 61, 63, 132, 172. Masaaki Suzuki with Ingrid Schmithüsen (soprano), Yoshikazu Mera (counter-tenor), Makoto Sakurada (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 1 Apr 1998. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSCD881. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
 
Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 21 – Cantatas 65, 81, 83, 190. Masaaki Suzuki with Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), James Gilchrist (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 16 May 2003. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSCD1311. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).

​References:
Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39. (2024, June 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brich_dem_Hungrigen_dein_Brot,_BWV_39


Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56. (2024, October 21). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_will_den_Kreuzstab_gerne_tragen,_BWV_56
 
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61. (2024, August 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nun_komm,_der_Heiden_Heiland,_BWV_61
 
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65. (2023, August 19). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sie_werden_aus_Saba_alle_kommen,_BWV_65

Modest Mussorgsky wrote this piano suite in ten movements in 1874. It is a musical depiction of a tour of an exhibition of works by architect and painter Viktor Hartmann put on at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, following his sudden death. They likely met in the home of the influential critic Vladimir Stasov, who followed both of their careers with interest. The work is dedicated to Stasov.
 
Hartmann's sudden death on 4 August 1873 from an aneurysm shook Mussorgsky along with others in Russia's art world. The loss of the artist, aged only 39, plunged the composer into deep despair. Stasov helped to organize a memorial exhibition of over 400 Hartmann works in the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg in February and March 1874. Mussorgsky lent to the exhibition the two pictures Hartmann had given him, and viewed the show in person. Thanks to Stasov’s commitment the exhibition Pictures at an Exhibition — To the Memory of Viktor Hartmann was organized with architectural plans, costume designs, stage settings, utensils and artifacts, free sketches and aquarelles which through their diversity were evidence of Hartmann’s original spirit. One of the visitors was Musorgsky; he probably felt closest to Hartmann‘s oeuvre, sharing the latter’s fascination with Russian folklore and its specific, rich coloration. 

Later in June, two-thirds of the way through composing his song cycle Sunless, Mussorgsky was inspired to compose Pictures at an Exhibition, quickly completing the score in three weeks (2–22 June 1874).Each movement of the suite is based on an individual work, some of which are lost. The composition has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists, and became widely known from orchestrations and arrangements produced by other composers and contemporary musicians, with Maurice Ravel's 1922 adaptation for orchestra being the most recorded and performed. The suite, particularly the final movement, "The Bogatyr Gates," is widely considered one of Mussorgsky's greatest works.
 
Mussorgsky based his musical material on drawings and watercolours by Hartmann produced mostly during the artist's travels abroad. Locales include Italy, France, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. Today most of the pictures from the Hartmann exhibition are lost, making it impossible to be sure in many cases which Hartmann works Mussorgsky had in mind. Mussorgsky owned the two pictures that together inspired No. 6, the so-called "Two Jews." Arts critic Alfred Frankenstein gave an account of Hartmann, with reproductions of his pictures, in the article "Victor Hartmann and Modeste Mussorgsky" in The Musical Quarterly (July 1939). Frankenstein claimed to have identified seven pictures by catalogue number, corresponding to:

• "Tuileries" [Movement 3] (now lost)
• "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" [Movement 5]
• "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle" [Movement 6] (Frankenstein suggested two separate portraits, still extant, as the basis for "Two Jews: Rich and Poor")
• "Catacombs" [Movement 8]
• "The Hut on Hen's Legs" [Movement 9]
• "The Bogatyr Gates" [Movement 10]

 
Vladimir Stasov's programme and the six known extant pictures suggest the ten pieces that make up the suite correspond to eleven pictures by Hartmann, with "Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle" accounting for two. The five Promenades are not numbered with the ten pictures and consist in the composer's manuscript of two titled movements and three untitled interludes appended to the first, second, and fourth pictures.   Mussorgsky links the suite's movements in a way that depicts the viewer's own progress through the exhibition. Two Promenade movements stand as portals to the suite's main sections. Their regular pace and irregular meter depict the act of walking. Three untitled interludes present shorter statements of this theme, varying the mood, colour, and key in each to suggest reflection on a work just seen or anticipation of a new work glimpsed. A turn is taken in the work at the "Catacombae" when the Promenade theme stops functioning as merely a linking device and becomes, in "Cum mortuis", an integral element of the movement itself. The theme reaches its apotheosis in the suite's finale, "The Bogatyr Gates." The first two movements of the suite—one grand, one grotesque—find mirrored counterparts, and apotheoses, at the end. The suite traces a journey that begins at an art exhibition, but the line between observer and observed vanishes at the Catacombs when the journey takes on a different character.
 
The order of movements are as follows:
Promenade, The Gnome, Promenade, The Old Castle, Promenade, Tuileries (Children’s Quarrel after Games), Cattle, Promenade, Ballet of Unhatched Chicks, Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle, Promenade, Limoges The Market (The Great News), Catacombs (Roman Tomb), With the Dead in a Dead Language, The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba Yaga), and The Bogatyr Gates (In the Capital in Kiev). 
 
In some of the parts the link with Hartmann’s oeuvre is conspicuous: Catacombs is a splendid, but uncanny sketch with Hartmann in the crypts of Paris, surrounded by pale skeletons and an odour of silent corruption, captured by Mussorgsky in naked, raw chords. The section Cum mortuis in lingua mortua was annotated by the composer as follows: “The creative spirit of Hartmann leads me to the skulls, invoking them. Thereupon, the skulls began to glow softly.” The impressive sight of The Great Gate of Kiev — a fantastic sketch by Hartmann that, like many of his works, was never executed — is echoed in the accompaniment by obbligato bells. In The Tuileries we hear the children from Hartmann’s picture playing, laughing and squabbling in the gar- dens of Paris, while Hartmann’s costume designs for the ballet Trilby inspired Mussorgsky to compose his Ballet of the Chickens in Their Shells as a musical equivalent of busy scratching and charming cheeping. Linking other parts of the suite to Hartmann’s oeuvre is less evident. The pictorial inspiration for some of the musical sections cannot even be determined at all, as Hartmann is known to have made different versions of the same theme, or else because the original works have not yet been — and probably never will be — traced. The Old Castle is supposed to show a medieval castle with a troubadour in an Italian landscape, but no illustration corresponds to this description. For The Gnome, too, we only have Stasov’s word that the idea originated in a de- sign for a nutcracker, shaped as a grotesque dwarf with deformed legs. In other cases problems lie in ill-fitting details or vagueness. Bydło, for instance, is Mussorgsky‘s impression of a Polish oxcart, but neither the diabolic atmosphere nor the coachman — both suggested by the composer — are visible on Hartmann’s picture. Mussorgsky‘s scene with gossiping women in The Marketplace in Limoges cannot be traced to any of Hartmann’s sketches of this town. Baba-Yaga, then, is based on a design for a clock shaped like a hut on fowl’s legs, according to a Russian folktale the home of the witch Baba-Yaga. In Mussorgsky‘s fantasy this man-eating sorceress, specialized in pulverizing children’s bones in a stone pot, fumingly speeds through the air on her broomstick. Mussorgsky is probably going farthest in his manipulation of Hartmann’s materials in Samuel Goldenberg & Schmuÿle: here he combines two portraits (the rich and the begging Jew) into a polarized dialogue, the former figure on top of things in the treble of the orchestral score, the latter stumbling in the bass line. A masterly display of dramatic skills! Allegedly the portraits once belonged to Mussorgsky himself, and were lent out by him to the exhibition. The issues remain complex, though: did Mussorgsky really take his cue from these works, or were the characters mainly figments of his own imagination? That certainly is true for the Promenade which serves as the opening of the suite and recurs in shortened and changed shapes. Here we accompany the composer on his walk to and throughout the exhibition hall. The theme of the Promenade has also been incorporated into Cum mortuis in lingua mortua and The Great Gate of Kiev, where it turns into a hymn with a patriotic slant. 
 
Here are four albums:

​Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. Behzod Abduraimov (piano). Release Date: 15 Jan 2021. Label: Alpha. Catalogue No: ALPHA653. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit). 
Awards:
Gramophone Awards, 2021, Shortlisted – Piano.
Gramophone Magazine, January 2012, Editor’s Choice.
Gramophone Magazine, Critics’ Choice 2021.
International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated – Solo Instrument.
Presto Recording of the Week, 22 January 2021.
Radio 3 Record review, 23 January 2021, Record of the Week.
 
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. Steven Osborne (piano). Release Date: 28 Jan 2013. Label: Hyperion. Catalogue No: CDA67896. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 88.2 kHz, 24 bit). 
Awards:
BBC Music Magazine, March 2013, Disc of the Month.
Gramophone Awards, 2013, Winner – Instrumental.
Gramophone Magazine, March 2013, Editor’s Choice.
Presto Recording of the Week, 21 January 2013.
 
Mussorgsky-Stokowski: Pictures at an Exhibition. José Serebrier and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Release Date: 30 Aug 2005. Label: Naxos. Catalogue No: 8557645. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
Awards:
Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2005, Disc of the Month.
Penguin Guide, Rosette.
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition. Jos Van Immerseel and Anima Eterna Brugge. Release Date: 31 Mar 2014. Label: Zigzag. Catalogue No: ZZT343. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit).
Awards:
Gramophone Magazine, July 2014, Editor’s Choice.
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014.

​Reference:
Pictures at an Exhibition. (2024, November 1). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictures_at_an_Exhibition
 
Taes, S & Immerseel, J.V. (2014). Ravel Ma Mere l’Oye & Musorgsky/Ravel Pictrues at an Exhibition. Outhere Music Music.

Note: ​Peter Wollny (Director of the Bach Archive), Michael Maul (Director of BachFest), and Sir Eliot Gardiner (President of the Bach Archive) have selected the most famous sacred cantatas composed by J.S. Bach in December 2018. I shall highlight all 33 of them by their consecutive BWV numbering in the following months. The third series of four cantatas are listed today. 
 
BWV 27: Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende?
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the cantata BWV 27 Who knows how near to me my end? in Leipzig for the 16th Sunday after Trinity. It was first performed on 6 October 1726. The prescribed readings for the day were from the Epistle to the Ephesians (Ephesians 3:13–21), and from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 7:11–17). An unknown poet included in the first movement the first stanza of the chorale "Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende" by Ämilie Juliane von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and closed the cantata with the first stanza of the hymn"Welt ade! ich bin dein müde" by Johann Georg Albinus. 

​The cantata is scored for four soloists — soprano, alto, tenor, and bass — a four- or five-part choir, horn, three oboes, oboe da caccia, organ, two violins, viola, and basso continuo. The duration is given as 19 minutes. The five-part (SSATB) harmonization of the concluding chorale "Welt, ade! ich bin dein müde" is not by Bach but by Johann Rosenmüller (published for the first time in Johann Qvirsfeld's Geistliche Harffen-Klang, Leipzig, 1679).
 
The first movement of this cantata is "about as tragic as it gets": it is in a minor key and quickly sounds a strong dissonance between the oboe phrase and the continuo.  tenor recitative leads into a "shadowy" alto aria which echoes the first movement of Antonio Vivaldi's 'Spring' concert (published the year before, 1725), accompanied by an oboe da caccia. Chromaticism contributes to the "fleeting shadows" of the welcoming of death. The soprano recitative uses word painting and sustained chordal harmonies to urge the listener into heaven. The bass aria then combines two contrasting sentiments: adieu and agitation. The closing chorale includes two soprano parts and is stylistically reminiscent of an English madrigal.
 
BWV 31: Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret
Bach composed Heaven laughs! Earth exults, BWV 31, for the first day of Easter in Weimar, and first performed it on 21 April 1715. The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the First letter to the Corinthians, "Christ is our Easter lamb" (1 Corinthians 5:6–8), and from the Gospel of Mark, the Resurrection of Jesus (Mark 16:1–8). The text was written by the Weimar poet Salomon Franck who published it in Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer (Evangelical Devotional Offering). The verses consist purely of free poetry and interpret the Easter message, connected to the request to believers to let Jesus also be resurrected within their souls. The final movement, the last verse of the chorale "Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist" (When my hour is come) by Nikolaus Herman, expresses the desire to die, to follow Jesus in resurrection.
 
The cantata in nine movements is festively scored for three vocal soloists (soprano, tenor and bass), a five-part choir (SSATB), three trumpets, timpani, three oboes, taille (tenor oboe), bassoon, two violins, two violas, two cellos and basso continuo. The scoring for five parts in the choir, five parts in the woodwinds and six parts in the strings is unusual. 
 
The festive character of the work is demonstrated by a sonata with a fanfare-like introduction, a concerto of the three groups brass, reeds and strings, all divided in many parts. The first choral movement, sung by a five-part chorus, evokes the "celestial laughter and worldly jubilation" of the text. The bass voice announces the resurrection of Jesus in a recitative and continues in an aria, both accompanied only by the continuo. The aria, marked Molto adagio, praises Jesus as "Prince of life" and "strong fighter." The higher tenor voice addresses in a recitative the soul to look to the "new life in spirit," followed by a bright aria, accompanied by the strings, which speaks of "der neue Mensch" (the new man), free from sin. The highest voice, the soprano, sings in the first person as the soul in a recitative, convinced of taking part in the resurrection. In the last aria, soprano and solo oboe in echo-effects contrast with low-lying unison strings, which already anticipate the closing chorale's melody. The hymn is a "death-bed chorale," set for a four-part choir, crowned by a descant from the trumpet and first violin.
 
BWV 34: O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe
O eternal fire, o source of love, BWV 34 was composed in Leipzig for Pentecost Sunday, and it was the basis for a later wedding cantata, BWV 34a. Bach led the first performance on 1 June 1727. The readings for Pentecost were from the Acts of the Apostles, on the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1–13), and from the Gospel of John, in which Jesus announces the Spirit who will teach, in his Farewell Discourse (John 14:23–31). 
 
Bach structured the cantata in five movements, with two choral movements framing a sequence of recitative–aria–recitative. Bach scored the work for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of three trumpets, timpani, two flauti traversi, two oboes, two violins, viola and basso continuo.
 
The opening chorus, "O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe" (O eternal fire, o source of love), illustrates two contrasting subjects, "ewig" (eternal) and "Feuer" (fire). While "ewig" appears as long notes, held for more than one measure, the flames (or tongues) of the fire are set in "lively figuration from the strings and agile coloraturas from the voices." A tenor recitative, "Herr, unsre Herzen halten dir dein Wort der Wahrheit für" (Lord, our hearts keep Your word of truth fast), adopts an authoritative tone, is in minor mode, and begins with a bass pedal. It expands the concept of God abiding with his people, as outlined in the gospel. An alto aria, "Wohl euch, ihr auserwählten Seelen, die Gott zur Wohnung ausersehn" (It is well for you, you chosen souls, whom God has designated for his dwelling), conveys images of contentment by incorporating a lilting berceuse-like rhythm, with an obbligato melody played by muted violins and flutes in octaves and tenths. It is accompanied by a tonic pedal in the continuo.  The aria is in adapted ternary form. The pastoral character suited the original text, "Wohl euch, ihr auserwählten Schafe" (It is well for you, you chosen sheep), which alludes to the bridegroom, a pastor or "shepherd of souls." The bass recitative, "Erwählt sich Gott die heilgen Hütten, die er mit Heil bewohnt" (If God chooses the holy dwellings that He inhabits with salvation), is quite similar in character to the tenor recitative. The closing chorus, "Friede über Israel" (Peace upon Israel), opens with a solemn rendering of the psalm text, marked Adagio. The violins and oboes first play an ascending figure. The slow music on the psalm text is contrasted by a "spirited and very secular-sounding march, setting "Dankt den höchsten Wunderhänden" (Thank the exalted wondrous hands).
 
BWV 36: Schwingt freudig euch empor
Bach composed Soar joyfully upwards, BWV 36, in Leipzig in 1731 for the first Sunday in Advent, the beginning of the Lutheran church year. He drew on material from previous congratulatory cantatas, beginning with Schwingt freudig euch empor, BWV 36c (1725). The Gospel for the Sunday was the Entry into Jerusalem, thus the mood of the secular work matched "the people's jubilant shouts of Hosanna." In a unique structure in Bach's cantatas, he interpolated four movements derived from the former works with four stanzas from two important Advent hymns, to add liturgical focus, three from Luther's "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" and one from Nicolai's "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern." He first performed the cantata in its final form of two parts, eight movements, on 2 December 1731. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Romans, "night is advanced, day will come" (Romans 13:11–14), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the Entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–9). 
 
In 1731, Bach reworked the cantata considerably and wrote a new score. He interpolated the arias not with recitatives, but with three stanzas from Luther's hymn for Advent, "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland." This main hymn for the first Sunday in Advent had already opened his cantata for the same occasion in 1714, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, and he had used it as the base for his chorale cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62, in 1724. The hymn stanzas "serve to anchor the cantata to some extent in the Advent story, and to give it liturgical purpose and a clear focus."
 
The cantata is scored for four soloists —soprano, alto, tenor, and bass—a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola and basso continuo. It is structured in two parts of four movements each. Its interpolation of chorus and arias with chorales is unique in Bach's cantatas.
 
The cantata is unique in Bach's church cantatas in its structure of arias combined with chorale instead of recitatives. The opening chorus is opened by a ritornello, dominated by two contrasting motifs: the strings play a short rising figure in triplets, the oboes d'amore play an expansive melody. As in the secular model, the movement is in two similar parts, each consisting of two contrasting sections, "Schwingt freudig euch empor zu den erhabnen Sternen" (Soar joyfully upwards to the exalted stars) and "Doch haltet ein!" (Yet stop!). All three settings of the stanzas from Luther's chorale are different, beginning with a duet for soprano and alto for the first stanza. The voices are doubled by the oboes d'amore and render the text in sections of different length, with sixteen measures for the final "Gott solch Geburt ihm bestellt" (that God had ordained such a birth for Him). The expressiveness of the music, especially in leaps of sixths on the urgent request "nun komm" (now come), syncopated rhythm on "des sich wundert alle Welt" (over whom the whole world marvels), and daring chromatic on the final line. The tenor aria reflects "Die Liebe zieht mit sanften Schritten" (Love approaches with gentle steps) with oboe d'amore as obbligato instrument, "the traditional musical symbol of love," alluding to the concept of Jesus as the bride-groom and the Soul as the bride, which is also the base for Nicolai's hymn that closes part I in a "rousing four-part harmonisation." The bass aria beginning part II, "Willkommen, werter Schatz!" (Welcome, worthy treasure!) shows "echoes of the first movement" and avoids a regular structure. The bass voice is the vox Christi, addressing the bride. The next hymn stanza, "Der du bist dem Vater gleich" (You who are like the Father), the sixth stanza from Luther's hymn "dealing with the sins of the flesh and Christ's mission to redeem humankind", is marked "molt' allegro.” The expression of "Kampf und Sieg des Gottessohnes" (fight and victory of the Son of God) over "das krank Fleisch" (weak/sick flesh) of man is noted. The text "Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen" (Also with muted, weak voices) is illustrated by a muted (con sordino) solo violin. The closing choral, the final stanza of Luther's hymn, "Lob sei Gott dem Vater ton" (Praise be to God, the Father) is a four-part setting.
 
Here are four albums:
Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 47 – Cantatas 27, 36, 47. Masaaki Suzuki with Hana Blažíková (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Satoshi Mizukoshi (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 29 Nov 2010. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD1861. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
BBC Music Magazine, January 2011, Choral & Song Choice.
 
Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 6 – Cantatas 21 & 31. Masaaki Suzuki with Monika Frimmer (soprano), Gerd Türk (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 1 Feb 1998. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISCD851. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
 
Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 48 – Cantatas 34, 98, 117 & 120. Masaaki Suzuki with Hana Blažíková (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Satoshi Mizukoshi (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 26 Apr 2011. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD1881. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
BBC Music Magazine, July 2011, Choral & Song Choice.
 
Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 47 – Cantatas 27, 36, 47. Masaaki Suzuki with Hana Blažíková (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Satoshi Mizukoshi (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 29 Nov 2010. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD1861. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit).
Award:
BBC Music Magazine, January 2011, Choral & Song Choice.

References:
Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende? BWV 27. (2022, September 11). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wer_weiß,_wie_nahe_mir_mein_Ende%3F_BWV_27

Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31. (2023, February 18). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Himmel_lacht!_Die_Erde_jubilieret,_BWV_31
 
O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe, BWV 34. (2023, April 29). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_ewiges_Feuer,_o_Ursprung_der_Liebe,_BWV_34
 
Schwingt freudig euch empor, BWV 36. (2022, August 18). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwingt_freudig_euch_empor,_BWV_36