Chant Claire Offers First Concert at Downtown Church Since 2018 Fire

Chant Claire winter concert announcement

“Keep awake, therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

A hymn including that admonition, written by Philipp Nicolai in 1599, inspired Johann Sebastian Bach’s most famous cantata, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. The 70-voice Chant Claire choir of Milwaukee and a 23-piece orchestra will perform the 1731 work at a concert entitled Wake Awake and performed this weekend in two performances at the historic Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in downtown Milwaukee.

While the cantata, sung in German, is the centerpiece of the program, the concert will not lack for musical and linguistic variety. The repertoire includes a number of wedding-themed, Advent, and Passion Week compositions sung in Bulgarian, Punjabi, Latin, and Slavic languages.

The text woven throughout the seven movements of “Wachtet auf” is the key to understanding how Chant Claire’s eclectic program fits together. The text draws from Biblical sources: Nicolai’s hymn, based on a New Testament parable, and anonymous poems from the Old Testament Song of Solomon.

The parable, from the Book of Matthew, tells the story of ten women waiting for a bridegroom to arrive for his wedding. The women fall asleep as they wait. When they awaken, half of the women have no oil in their lamps; they miss the wedding when they must leave to buy more oil. The other women, having prepared by bringing sufficient fuel, accompany the groom to enjoy the wedding feast. The tale warns Christians to be prepared for the arrival of the Messiah.

The hymn tune and text, sung by the full chorus in three of the seven cantata movements, recount the parable’s message of patience and preparation for the coming of Christ, and present the Book of Revelation’s vision of a new heaven and new earth. Dramatic recitatives and duets sung by soprano, tenor and bass soloists based on love poetry from Song of Solomon describe Jesus as the bridegroom of the soul.

Complementing the Bach are compositions from many traditions that reinforce the themes of the cantata. Among them are the premiere of a three-movement setting of the popular wedding scripture I Corinthians 13, written by Chant Claire founder and artistic director Benjamin Bedroske; a wedding song from the musical Bombay Dreams, and a haunting, ethereal interpretation of Nicolai’s hymn O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright.

Nearly as important as the music is the space in which it will be sung: the landmark 1878 Trinity Lutheran. Chant Claire’s concert will be the first performance in the sanctuary of the church since a devastating fire in 2018. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and while the sanctuary is not yet fully renovated, the performance is “a great opportunity for people to see the monumental progress that has occurred,” Bedroske said.

Wake Awake will be performed at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15 at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1046 N. 9th St, Milwaukee. Tickets are available online and at the door. Parking is available in a small church lot, on the street, and at a nearby MATC structure.