Komm, du süße Todesstunde (Come, o sweet hour of death), BWV 161, is a church cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in Weimar for the 16th Sunday after Trinity Sunday, and probably first performed in 1716. The text, provided by the court poet Salomon Franck, was based on the prescribed gospel reading about the young man from Nain, and reflected on longing for death, seen as a transition to a life united with Jesus. The cantata in six movements opens with alternating arias and recitatives, leading to a chorus and a concluding chorale, a stanza of the hymn "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" by Christoph Knoll. The chorale tune appears in the first movement, played by the organ, providing a unity to the composition. Bach scored the work for alto and tenor soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque chamber ensemble of recorders, strings and continuo. In one recitative, he creates the images of sleep, of waking up, and of funeral bells. Although the libretto was published in a collection in 1715, Bach probably did not perform it until September 1716, due to a long period of public mourning in the duchy for the brother of Duke Ernst August.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komm,_du_s%C3%BC%C3%9Fe_Todesstunde,_BWV_161
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1469:
Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella I of Castile (both pictured), a marriage that paved the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_I_of_Castile
1864:
American Civil War: Despite incurring nearly twice as many casualties as the Confederates, the Union Army emerged victorious in the Battle of Cedar Creek. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cedar_Creek
1900:
German physicist Max Planck produced his law of black body emission, a pioneer result of modern physics and quantum theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_law
1943:
Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, was first isolated by researchers at Rutgers University. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptomycin
1986:
President of Mozambique Samora Machel and 43 others were killed when his presidential aircraft crashed in the Lebombo Mountains just inside the border of South Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samora_Machel
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
Pullman: 1. (rail transport, US) A railroad passenger car; especially one of the luxurious ones named after the eponymous Pullman Palace Car Company. 2. A train made up of Pullman coaches. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Pullman
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Be substantially great in thyself, and more than thou appearest unto others. --Thomas Browne https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne