For at least the last eighteen centuries, some formula for prayer at the end of the day has been part of the Christian tradition. While no one knows precisely what the earliest form of Vespers looked like or sounded like, certain themes have managed to endure, including confession, gratitude, and light. While Vespers never quite became a significant part of Lutheran piety, that it is still kept at all in the Lutheran tradition may be thanks to one church: the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.

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Candlelit Bach Vespers

Bach Vespers '23-'24 season: Becoming Bach

A Celebration of the 300th Anniversary of J.S. Bach’s Arrival in Leipzig

September 24th - 5pm

Zimmerman’s Coffee House Experience

October 29th - 5pm

BWV 75 "Die Elenden sollen essen"

November 12th - 5pm

BWV 90 "Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende"

December 10th - 5pm

BWV 243 Magnificat

January 7th - 5pm

BWV 153 "Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind"

February 11th - 5pm

BWV 22 "Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe"

February 18th - 5pm

Organ Vespers - Dr. Jeremy Filsell

March 29th - 7pm

Good Friday: BWV 199 "Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut"

March 31st - 5pm

Easter: BWV 4 "Christ Lag in Todesbanden"

April 28th - 5pm

BWV 165 "O heilges Geist und Wasserbad"

May 18th - 7pm

BWV 255 "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied"

Johann Sebastian Bach was 38 years old when he arrived in Leipzig, Germany in 1723 to start his new position as cantor at St. Thomas’s Church. The three years that followed his first
three years in Leipzig were a time of intensive creative expression in which he composed many of his key cantata cycles for the liturgical calendar.

To celebrate the 300th anniversary of Bach’s arrival in Leipzig, the 56th Season of Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity marks the enormous promise of that moment with “Becoming Bach,” a season-long program that curates key works of that highly-influential period in Bach’s musical journey.

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