J. S. Bach's Sacred Cantatas often open with an orchestral sinfonia. These are amongst his most innovative instrumental works, featuring daring experiments in instrumentation.
J.S. Bach's Sacred Cantatas often open with an orchestral sinfonia. These are amongst his most innovative instrumental works, featuring daring experiments in instrumentation. The sinfonia to cantata 18 is one such piece. Dispensing with violins and oboes altogether, it instead uses multiple divisi violas (with an antiphonal pair of flutes) and continuo. This gives it a distinctive dark and mellow sound. In this arrangement I have used a pair of flugelhorns which lend the ensemble a mellowness not dissimilar to baroque flutes. Trumpets are used sparingly and in general the tessitura is low. It should be performed vigorously with a feeling of two long beats per bar rather than in six. Trills should always start with the upper note. D.B.
