About

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Awake, calls the voice to us), BWV 140, also known as "Sleepers, Wake!" is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig and was first performed it on 25 November 1731. It is based on the hymn “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” (1599) by Philipp Nicolai. 

This is an arrangement of the fourth movement of the cantata, written in the style of a chorale prelude which contains the famous lyrical passage featuring the flugel horns while the chorale melody usually sung by the tenors is featured in the trombones.  

This arrangement was created for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra Brass section during a covid lockdown in 2020. A distance recording was made to celebrate Easter that year for the WASO audience. The recording can be found on YouTube.