Gloria ! Vivaldi, Bach

Tuesday, October 14, 2025, 8:30 PM

Estimated Run Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

As head of the Ospedale della Pietà, a famous boarding school for girls in Venice, Vivaldi had one of the best ensembles in Europe at his disposal. It was for these talented musicians that he composed his famous Gloria, a piece of music that is theatrical, festive, and virtuosic. Combining the ancient style characteristic of sacred music with the latest innovations in vocal expressiveness, this masterpiece bears witness to the composer's spiritual interiority.
The same fervor can be found in Bach's cantatas, an immense body of work spanning the composer's entire career. While most of them date from the Leipzig period, some were written much earlier. Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir BWV 131 (“From the depths I cry to you, Lord”), which was one of the very first (1707), and Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen BWV 12 (“Weeping, lamenting, torment, discouragement,” 1714) illustrate the expressive depth that characterized Bach from the very beginning.

Photo by ©MC Bertin

Program

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Cantate Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen BWV 12
Cantate Aus der Tiefen rufe ich Herr, zu dir BWV 131

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Gloria RV 589

Cast

Departments of Early Music and Vocal Disciplines at the Conservatoire de Paris
Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris
Henri Chalet, conductor

Download the program