Wachet Auf: The King’s Consort At The Wigmore Hall, 9 December 1999

“Wachet Auf” means “Wake Up!”, which was possibly an early call for wokery back in the Baroque period…or possibly not. In any case, I wouldn’t recommend English speakers barking this German language expletive after a couple of G&Ts – it might be misunderstood.

We rated this gig “very good”. Some lesser known works by Bach’s lesser known contemporaries, sandwiched between a bit of Telemann and a bit of Bach:

• Ouverture “Perpetuum Mobile”, Georg Philipp Telemann
• Balletti Lamentabili a 4, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
• O Heilige Zeit, Johann Kuhnau
• Sinfonia No 2 in C Minor, Johann Ludwig Krebs
• Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns die Strimme Cantata BWV 140, Johann Sebastian Bach

Here is O Heilige Zeit performed by Solomon’s Knot:

Here is the Krebs Sinfonia, performed by Capella jenensis:

Here is a recording of Wachet Auf by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman…

…whom we saw 25 years later performing Telemann sonatas and Tafelmusik at The Wig:

Ton Koopman 80th Birthday Celebration, Soloists of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, 29 November 2024