The two Bach cantatas presented here were written three years apart (1723 and 1726) for the same Sunday of the liturgical year, the tenth Sunday after Trinity. The Gospel for the day reports Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, and announcing its destruction.Marcel Ponseele thought it was very interesting to juxtapose these cantatas against 2 lamentations composed byZelenka in 1722. In a span of 4 years and geographically closely connected we have three musical settings of the same subjects. One lamentation is for bariton solo and the other for alto voice – performed in this recording by the french countertenor Damien Guillon. We know of Bach’s admiration for his colleague Zelenka, whom he had the opportunity of meeting in Dresden, where the latter worked. The first Lamentation, for Maundy Thursday, sets the first five verses of the first Lamentation of Jeremiah.

Booklet: EN, FR, DE

Lyrics: EN, FR, DE