Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Bach 1725

A unique event marking 300 years since the composition and first performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 1725 Ascension Day Cantata Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein.

This festive and colourful cantata for orchestra, chorus, and soloists was written for first performance on Ascension Day in May 1725. Three hundred years later, it is the centrepiece of this celebratory concert exploring Bach’s compositions from this post-Easter period in 1725, together with a pair of new works composed in response to Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein.

The manuscript, which has been bequeathed to the Bodleian Library and is one of only four of the composer’s manuscripts in the UK. will be on display in the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries (opposite the Sheldonian Theatre).

OAE
Choir of New College Oxford
John Butt conductor

Wed, 7 May 2025
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
7:30pm
£15 - £40 (Students £10)

Full Event Details

A unique event marking 300 years since the composition and first performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 1725 Ascension Day Cantata Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein.

This festive and colourful cantata for orchestra, chorus, and soloists was written for first performance on Ascension Day in May 1725. Three hundred years later, it is the centrepiece of this celebratory concert exploring Bach’s compositions from this post-Easter period in 1725, together with a pair of new works composed in response to Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein.

The manuscript, which has been bequeathed to the Bodleian Library and is one of only four of the composer’s manuscripts in the UK. will be on display in the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries (opposite the Sheldonian Theatre).

OAE
Choir of New College Oxford
John Butt conductor