This Week in Classical Music: March 16, 2026. Johann Sebastian Bach. Last week, we celebrated Georg Philipp Telemann; this week, it's Johann Sebastian Bach’s turn: their birthdays are one week apart. Bach was born on March 21st of 1685, in Eisenach. A word of warning: even though it’s Bach, we’ll be very brief: Classical Connect is about to embark on a trip. We celebrated Telemann with a cantata (one from the output of more than 1,000) that, for a long time, was ascribed to Bach, but was eventually proven to be his. Johann Sebastian, also quite prolific in this genre, composed more than 200 extant cantatas that are considered authentic by musicologists, plus several dozen have been lost. If selecting a Telemann cantata was practically impossible because of the sheer volume of them, selecting a Bach cantata is also difficult, but for a different reason: too many of them are exceptionally good. Cantata no. 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen ("Rejoice in God in every land") is unusual: it’s the only Bach cantata for soprano and trumpet, and no choir. In this 1972 recording, the wonderful Edith Mathis is the soprano, Pierre Thibaud solos on the trumpet; Karl Richter leads his Münchener Bach-Orchester.
Next week, Classical Connect will be in Venice, later traveling to several cities in Marche and Emilia-Romagna. We will report.
Bach, 2026
This Week in Classical Music: March 16, 2026. Johann Sebastian Bach. Last week, we celebrated Georg Philipp Telemann; this week, it's Johann Sebastian Bach’s turn: their birthdays
are one week apart. Bach was born on March 21st of 1685, in Eisenach. A word of warning: even though it’s Bach, we’ll be very brief: Classical Connect is about to embark on a trip. We celebrated Telemann with a cantata (one from the output of more than 1,000) that, for a long time, was ascribed to Bach, but was eventually proven to be his. Johann Sebastian, also quite prolific in this genre, composed more than 200 extant cantatas that are considered authentic by musicologists, plus several dozen have been lost. If selecting a Telemann cantata was practically impossible because of the sheer volume of them, selecting a Bach cantata is also difficult, but for a different reason: too many of them are exceptionally good. Cantata no. 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen ("Rejoice in God in every land") is unusual: it’s the only Bach cantata for soprano and trumpet, and no choir. In this 1972 recording, the wonderful Edith Mathis is the soprano, Pierre Thibaud solos on the trumpet; Karl Richter leads his Münchener Bach-Orchester.
Next week, Classical Connect will be in Venice, later traveling to several cities in Marche and Emilia-Romagna. We will report.