Easter Oratorio, BWV.249
The Easter Oratorio (Latin: Oratorium Festo Paschali; German: Oster-Oratorium), BWV 249, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote an autograph score in Leipzig in 1738 under this title, matching his Christmas Oratorio and Ascension Oratorio. Bach had already composed the work in 1725, when he used most of its music for two compositions, the congratulatory Shepherd Cantata, BWV 249a (BWV 249.1), and a church cantata for Easter Sunday, Kommt, gehet und eilet ('Come, go and hurry'), BWV 249.3, that later became the oratorio. The two 1725 works, premiered a few weeks apart, are both musical dramas involving characters: in the secular cantata two shepherds and two shepherdesses, and in the Easter cantata four Biblical figures from the Easter narratives in the Gospel of Luke and other Evangelists. In the oratorio, Bach assigned the music to voice parts instead.
Movements
- Sinfonia
- Adagio
- Duetto e Coro: Kommt, eilet und laufet; Duetto: Komm, gehet und eilet
- Recitativo
- Aria
- Recitativo
- Aria
- Recitativo
- Aria
- Recitativo
- Chorus: Preis und Dank
Most recent recordings
- J.S. Bach: Easter Oratorio, BWV 249 — Johann Sebastian Bach, Trompeten Ensemble Pfeiffer, Motettenchor Pforzheim, Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, Rolf Schweizer (2021) Spotify
- Easter Oratorio, BWV 249: II. Adagio — Johann Sebastian Bach, Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene (2020) Spotify
- Easter Oratorio, BWV 249: I. Sinfonia (Arr. For Organ Duet) — Johann Sebastian Bach, Vidas Pinkevicius, Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene (2020) Spotify
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