The Leipzig Bachfest invited its audience to choose works for two programs of Bach cantatas, filled with masterpieces: John Eliot Gardiner followed the audience's expectations by composing two programs based on these recommendations.

This second program opens with a serious meditation on death, grief, and faith, gradually rising toward hope, joy, and the promise of spiritual awakening. A sonic and theological journey, where German sacred music of the 17th and 18th centuries reveals all its expressive power, between Lutheran tradition and Baroque genius.

The motet "Christ lag in Todesbanden" is one of Johann Sebastian Bach's earliest cantatas, written around Martin Luther's Easter chorale. It combines contrapuntal rigor with striking dramatic fervor, evoking the victory of life over death in a series of intensely moving choral variations.

With Johann Hermann Schein's Was betrübst du , the atmosphere becomes more intimate. This motet sets a psalm of lament, expressing the believer's anguish in the face of God's apparent abandonment. Schein's refined writing, influenced by the Italian madrigal, gives this text a poignant expressiveness.

The cantata "Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis" is a vast, almost dramatic, spiritual fresco in two parts. Bach treats the theme of grief with overwhelming intensity, before gradually bringing forth hope and confidence, culminating in a final chorus of exultation. It is a work of passage, from night to light, where faith acts as an inner transformation.

After this journey of grief and distress, Heinrich Schütz's motet Selig sind die Toten offers a form of peace. Adapted from the Book of Revelation , this luminous motet affirms the beatitude of the dead "who die in the Lord." Schütz's understated elegance gives this text a peaceful and comforting grandeur.

The funeral cantata Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit , also known as Actus tragicus , is one of the high points of Bach's sacred music. Composed for a funeral ceremony, it transcends the sadness of mourning into a serene acceptance of death.

With Schein's Ich freue mich , a wind of joy blows once again. This energetic and radiant motet expresses the believer's joy in his faith, in a style that combines Lutheran clarity and madrigal-like vivacity.

The program concludes with one of Bach's most famous cantatas: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme . This work, based on Philipp Nicolai's Lutheran chorale, is a celebration of the mystical union between the soul and Christ. Balanced, inspired, and full of light, it sums up in music the joyful anticipation of salvation.

Under the inspired direction of John Eliot Gardiner, the Constellation Choir and Orchestra bring these masterpieces to life in a faithful, vibrant, and deeply lived performance. A spiritual and aesthetic journey, from turmoil to consolation, from darkness to light.