Actus tragicus - J.S.Bach

Instrumentation: treble recorder (flute, hoboe, violin), tenor recorder (flute, hoboe, violin), viola, violoncello

The funeral cantata "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit", better known under the title "Actus tragicus" (BWV 106), is one of the earliest cantatas by J. S. Bach and was composed in 1707 or 1708 in Mühlhausen.

For this sacred cantata he chose the recorder as his solo instrument.

In this arrangement the work has now been set for mixed quartet (alto recorder, tenor recorder, viola, violoncello).

Due to the ambitus of the individual parts it is now also pleasant to perform it with various instrumentations (e. g. string quartet).

In the 18^th and 19^th century, reductions of large orchestral and operatic works for chamber music ensembles were a common method of making compositions known through bourgeois music rooms.