Koor en Orkest Collegium Vocale Gent . Philippe Herreweghe

Bach probably wrote two hundred and ninety-five cantatas. Although that may seem a lot, you may be surprised by the number written by Christoph Graupner. This contemporary and colleague of Bach managed to produce one thousand four hundred and eighteen (sic) religious cantatas, besides eight operas, forty-four concertos for solo instruments and eighty orchestral suites. If his employer, Duke Ernst-Ludwig van Hessen-Darmstadt, hadn't exerted a certain amount of coercion, Graupner would have snatched the position of Thomas Kantor in Leipzig away from Bach. In the end, the latter was chosen. For his first Christmas celebration in the Thomas Church he wrote a Magnificat. To showcase himself and demonstrate his musical mastery he used five soloists, a five-piece chorus and an unusually large orchestra for the time. Bach wrote to the city council that the music would not be too theatrical and the piece would draw out the devoutness of the believers. Skilfully, by alternating jubilant choruses and intimate arias, he succeeded in giving musical shape to the feelings of Mary after the Annunciation.