Luogo e data di registrazione		St. Giles, Cripplegate, London (England) - Dicembre 1990
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Artist and reppertoire production		Wouter Hoekstra
	Recording producer		Martha de Francisco
	Balance engineer		Andreas Neubronner
	Recording engineers		Andreas Neubronner | Ko Witteveen
	Tape editors		Martha de Francisco | Gosia Jankowska
	Art direction		George Cramer
	Prima Edizione LP		Nessuna
	Edizione CD		Philips | LC 0305 | 432 161-2 | 1 CD - durata 66' 28" | (p) 1992 | DDD
	Cover Art		Photo: Geert Kooiman
	Note		-

CONGRATULATORY CANTATAS Besides his huge output of church cantatas, Bach wrote over 30 secular ones, mostly during his time in Leipzig, for university or city council celebrations, for noble or wealthy families or for the court of Saxony. Ten of these were designated “dramma per musica" (the early term for opera); and of these “Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan" and “Der zufriedengestellte Aeolus” were the most substantial and the most richly scored - the latter has, in addition to strings and continuo, two horns as well as three trumpets and timpani, pairs of flutes and oboes, an oboe d'amore, a viola d'amore and a viola da gamba. Quite why this unprecedentedly large orchestra was employed remains unexplained, for the recipient honoured in this celebratory cantata in 1725 was not a royal personage but only a professor of botany at the university, August Friedrich Müller, whose nameday fell on 3 August. The libretto of “Der zufriedengestellte Aeolus" BWV 205, written by Bach’s frequent collaborator Picander, begins by envisaging pent-up storm winds striving to burst out and ravage the earth as summer comes to an end: this Bach depicts in an opening chorus of remarkable dramatic power and complex texture, with furiously rushing scales, drum rolls and blustering brass. Aeolus, god of the winds, gloats at the thought of the threatened havoc, first in a recitative most unusually accompanied by the whole orchestra, with angry repeated-chord gestures by the brass, and then in an aria of scornful laughter (which is onomatopoeically suggested by reiterated quavers and a long roll on the word “laugh”). Zephyrus, god of mild breezes, attempt to plead with him, and in a lovely aria with viola d’amore and gamba, full of winding counterpoint, sings the virtues of cool and calm. He is impatiently brushed aside as Pomona, goddess of fruit, and Pallas, goddess of wisdom, approach the surly giant. Pomona tries to melt his insensate violence by begging him, in a melodic line containing expressive chromaticism and with the aid of an oboe d’amore obbligato, to pity the thought of her withered leaves. He does not deign to reply, so Pallas comes forward and adopts the strategy of appealing first to the gentle Zephyrus and then to Aeolus to support her appeal: her aria (which Bach used again later in Cantata No. 171) has a delightful violin obbligato which ranges as high as top G sharp. She implores him not to disrupt the festivities now taking place: when he contemptuously asks why these are so special, she mentions August Müller's name, which impresses him so much that immediately (with two flutes added in the recitative that suggest his softening) he yields - but not before imperiously asserting his authority over the winds in a final aria which is unique in being accompanied by trumpets and horns (independently of each other) without the strings. The other three characters express their relief in the briefest of trios, recitatives and duets before Pomona and Zephyrus, with an obbligato for two flutes in unison, sing of their happiness. Pallas invites all her friends to the Müller celebration (her cry “Come up!” on a brilliant upward scale), and the work ends with a homophonic rondeau, lavishly scored, punctuated by chorus cries of “Vivat!” The exceptional orchestration of BWV 205 and its exaltation of Müller's first name, August, led Bach to reuse the work, with different words, for the coronation of Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, as King of Poland on 19 February 1734. Two months before that date, Bach's Collegium Musicum in Leipzig performed the cantata “Tönet, ihr Pauken!” BWV 2l4 in honour of the birthday of Augustus‘s consort Maria Josepha. This too is for four named characters plus chorus, but is of a purely congratulatory nature, without a plot: the text seems to have been written by Bach himself. The four soloists are Irene, goddess of peace (a role curiously allotted to a tenor); Bellona, goddess of war; Pallas, goddess of wisdom; and Fama (Fame); and there is a fairly large orchestra, with three trumpets, timpani, and pairs of flutes and oboes besides the usual strings and continuo. Except for one aria and the recitatives, all the music was used again by Bach for his Christmas Oratorio the following year (1734). The opening chorus, for example, also serves as the opening of the Christmas Oratorio, but, taking its cue from the first words of the cantata text, aptly begins with a solo timpani figure. Irene is allowed only a single contribution, a secco recitative paying tribute to the new Queen: thereafter the other characters adopt the unusual order of aria before recitative. Bellona begins by rejoicing in Augustus’s recent victory: two flutes above a pizzicato bass illustrate the first line of the verse, but despite mention of the “clash of weapons” the aria is most unwarlike, indeed charming. (The mention of “lilies” is a reference to the insignia of the French troops who had supported Louis XV's father-in-law, Stanislaus Lesczynki, as Augustus’s rival in the War of the Polish Succession.) There is a hint of more martial sentiment in the rushing bass of the ensuing recitative. Pallas’s aria, which follows, again scarcely accords with the mood of the words, which speak of joy, although admittedly there are long melismata on “erfreut” (delight): with its minor key and pastoral-mood oboe obbligato it seems better suited to its appearance in the Christmas Oratorio, where however the oboe becomes a flute and the contralto a tenor. The recitative which thanks the queen for her protection of the arts is quietly accompanied by strings. But then a strong contrast is provided by Fame, who literally trumpets forth a eulogy of the Queen with a brilliant trumpet, making much use of syncopation, above the strings. (This becamem in the Christmas Oratorio, an invocation to the “mighty Lord.” His recitative, interlarded with chordal arpeggios by flutes and oboes introduces the final chorus (which was later to form the opening of Part Three of the Christmas Oratorio), an exultant movement gilded by a high trumpet part. © 1992 Lionel Salter