Domine ad adjuvandum me

Scoring: 2 Oboi, 2 Corni, 2 Violini, Viola, Basso continuo

At the age of just 20, Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, the Kantor of St. Thomas’s, left behind the Lutheran musical tradition of his family: he went to Italy, converted to Catholicism there and successfully composed operas for Turin, Milan and Naples. Frequently overlooked are the Catholic Bach’s exquisite church music works, almost all written in the years 1757 1760, and which had a significant influence on his time in Italy.

These include large-scale Vesper settings with impressive, symphonic-style instrumental introductions, sometimes anticipating Mozartian idioms. Bach’s Domine ad adjuvandum me, an immediately captivating work, was writtenfor the opening of Vespers; it seems to be carried along by a sense of euphoric purpose and a dynamic lightheartedness which positively radiates southern European temperament.

The work is published in the authoritative Stuttgart Urtext edition, based on the rediscovered Hamburg autograph manuscript.