BACH COLLEGIUM SAN DIEGO
JOHANN
Sinfonia
Christ lag in Todes Banden
Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt
Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn
Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg
Hier ist das rechte Osterlamm
So feiern wir das hohe Fest
Wir essen und leben wohl
Tu
Dominus
BACH COLLEGIUM SAN DIEGO was founded by Artistic Director Ruben Valenzuela in 2003 to bring dynamic programming and historically-informed performance practices to its audiences. Over the last 20 seasons, BCSD has garnered national and international recognition through its exemplary talent, making it one of the most distinguished early music ensembles in the country today. In 2021, the ensemble gained national attention through its El Mesías: Messiah for a New World project which commissioned an original Spanish libretto of Handel’s oratorio. BCSD made its European debut at Bachfest in Leipzig, Germany, in June 2024, also performing at other Bach sites in the German state of Thuringia.
RUBEN VALENZUELA is the Founder & Artistic Director of Bach Collegium San Diego. As a conductor, historical keyboardist, and musicologist, he has led BCSD in notable performances of music from the Renaissance through the Classical era. Under his guidance, the ensemble has achieved international acclaim through dynamic, virtuosic performances of both iconic and lesser-known repertoire. Valenzuela has been called upon as guest conductor with such notable series and ensembles as Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity (New York City), Marsh Chapel Choir and Collegium (Boston University), Bach at Emmanuel Church (Boston), Juilliard415 at Lincoln Center (New York City), Washington Bach Consort (Washington, D.C.), Westminster Choir College with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (New York City), Bachfest 2024 (Leipzig), Seraphic Fire (South Florida), Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (San Francisco), and Handel & Haydn Society (Boston). Upcoming engagements include the Academia de Música Antigua, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (CDMX), and the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Christ lag in Todes Banden
1. [Sinfonia]
2. Versus 1
Christ lag in Todes Banden
Für unsre Sünd gegeben, Er ist wieder erstanden
Und hat uns bracht das Leben. Des wir sollen fröhlich sein, Gott loben und ihm dankbar sein
Und singen alleluja, Alleluja!
3. Versus 2
Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt
Bei allen Menschenkindern; Das macht’ alles unsre Sünd,
Kein Unschuld war zu finden.
Davon kam der Tod so bald Und nahm über uns Gewalt, Hielt uns in seinem Reich gefangen. Alleluja!
4. Versus 3
Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn,
An unsre Statt ist kommen
Und hat die Sünde weggetan, Damit dem Tod genommen
All sein Recht und sein Gewalt; Da bleibet nichts denn Tods Gestalt, Den Stachel hat er verloren. Alleluja!
1. [Sinfonia]
2. Verse 1
Christ lay in death’s bonds, Given for our sin; He is risen again And has brought us [eternal] life. Of this we should be joyful, Praise God and be thankful to him And sing hallelujah. Hallelujah.
3. Verse 2
Nobody could restrain death, Among all the children of humankind; Our sin made all that so; No innocence was to be found. As a result, death came immediately And seized power over us, Held us imprisoned in its realm. Hallelujah.
4. Verse 3
Jesus Christ, God’s son, Has come in our stead
And did away with our sin, Thereby taking from death
All its privilege and its power. There remains nothing but death’s shape; [Death] has lost its sting. Hallelujah.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Christ lag in Todes Banden BWV
5. Versus 4
Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg, Da Tod und Leben rungen; Das Leben (da) behielt den Sieg, Es hat den Tod verschlungen. Die Schrift hat verkündig(e)t das, Wie ein Tod den andern frass, Ein Spott aus dem Tod ist worden.
Alleluja!
6. Versus 5
Hier ist das rechte Osterlamm, Davon Gott hat geboten, Das ist hoch an des Kreuzes Stamm
In heisser Lieb gebraten,
Das Blut zeichnet unser Tür, Das hält der Glaub dem Tode für, Der Würger kann uns nicht mehr schaden.
Alleluja!
7. Versus 6
So feiern wir das hohe Fest Mit Herzensfreud und Wonne, Das uns der Herr scheinen lässt, Er ist selber die Sonne, Der durch seiner Gnaden Glanz
Erleuchtet unsre Herzen ganz, Der Sünden Nacht ist verschwunden.
Alleluja!
5. Verse 4
It was a wondrous battle [on the cross], Where death [Satan] and life [Jesus] wrestled; Life got the victory (there); It has swallowed up death. Scripture has proclaimed this: How one death [Jesus’s] devoured the other [death] [And] a mockery was made of death.
Hallelujah.
6. Verse 5
Here is the proper paschal/Easter lamb God has commanded of it Which is, up on the cross ’ s trunk, Roasted in ardent love.
The blood [of the lamb, Jesus] marks our door, [Blood] with which faith rebukes death; The Destroyer Angel can no longer harm us. Hallelujah.
7. Verse 6
Thus we celebrate the high feast [Easter] With joy of heart and gladness, [The feast] that the Lord lets shine upon us; He himself is the sun, Who through his luster of grace Illumines our hearts entirely; The night of sin has vanished.
Hallelujah.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Christ lag in Todes Banden BWV
8. Versus 7
Wir essen und leben wohl
In rechten Osterfladen, Der alte Sauerteig nicht soll
Sein bei dem Wort der Gnaden, Christus will die Koste sein
Und speisen die Seel allein, Der Glaub will keins andern leben. Alleluja!
Martin Luther
8. Verse 7
We eat and live well
In [Christ, the] proper paschal/Easter flatbread; The old sourdough shall not Be with the word of grace.
Christ will be the nourishment
And alone feed the soul; Faith will live by none other [than Christ]. Hallelujah.
(transl. Daniel R. Melamed and Michael Marissen)
George Frideric Handel: Dixit Dominus HWV 232
Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis: Donec ponam inimicos tuos, scabellum pedum tuorum.
The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
Virgam virtutis tuae emittet Dominus ex Sion: dominare in medio inimicorum tuorum. Tecum principium in die virtutis tuae in splendoribus sanctorum: ex utero ante luciferum genui te.
The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb.
George Frideric Handel: Dixit Dominus HWV 232
Juravit Dominus, et non poenitebit eum: Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech.
Dominus a dextris tuis, confregit in die irae suae reges.
Judicabit in nationibus, implebit ruinas: conquassabit capita in terra multorum.
De torrente in via bibet: propterea exaltabit caput.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
(Ps. 110)
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high.
Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, and now, and always, forever and ever. Amen.
(New International Version)
“A Sonic Youth brings together two youthful and iconic works by J.S. Bach and Handel thought to be composed around the year 1707. These well-traveled works already display a heightened compositional prowess, yet each of their own aesthetic. In the cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden, Bach shows his absorption of the Lutheran music of his musical predecessors, perhaps most importantly the music of his own family, but with an eye to the Italian style starting to make waves in his musical circles. By contrast, the explosive Psalm setting Dixit Dominus by the youthful but cosmopolitan Handel, dubbed “Il caro Sassone” by his enchanted Roman patrons, shows the stimulus that the ‘Eternal City’ had on his development as a composer. In Rome, Handel rubbed shoulders with some of the greatest musicians of the age, including the giant Arcangelo Corelli. It is through this lens that BCSD is thrilled and honored to collaborate with Bright Shiny Things for the first time.”
-Ruben Valenzuela
BACH COLLEGIUM SAN DIEGO
Ruben Valenzuela, Founder & Artistic Director
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Producer: Peter Rutenberg, Aaron Westman, Arlie Langager, MiraCosta College, Gary Payne, Brandon Di Noto, Bach Collegium San Diego Board of Directors CHORUS
BCSD STAFF
Katie Hickey, Executive Director
Michael Sponseller, Associate Music Director
Andrew Waid, Music Librarian
Gary Payne, Photography
Soprano: Anne-Marie Dicce, Katie Hickey, Jennifer Ellis Kampani, Stefanie Moore, Teresa Wakim, Andrea Zomorodian
Alto: Jay Carter, Mindy Ella Chu, Janelle DeStefano, Angela Young Smucker
Tenor: Scott Mello, Aaron Sheehan, Gregório Taniguchi, Matthew Tresler
Bass: John Buffett, Jeff Fields, Matthew Nielsen, David Tinervia
ORCHESTRA
Violins: Martin Davids, concertmaster; Susan Feldman, Andrew McIntosh, Lindsey Strand-Polyak, Janet Strauss, Amy Wang, Anna Washburn
Viola: Aaron Westman, Andrew Waid
Cello/Viola da Gamba: Heather Vorwerck, Alex Greenbaum
Bass/Violone: Shanon Zusman | Theorbo: John Lenti
Harpsichord: Michael Sponseller | Organ: Jacob Street, Michael Sponseller
