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The Bach Experience
MUSIC AT MARSH CHAPEL 10|11 Scott Allen Jarrett Music Director Sunday, December 12, 2010 – 9:45A.M. The Bach Experience BWV 62: ‘Nunn komm, der Heiden Heiland’ Marsh Chapel Choir and Collegium Scott Allen Jarrett, DMA, presenting General Information - Composed in Leipzig in 1724 for the first Sunday in Advent - Scored for two oboes, horn, continuo and strings; solos for soprano, alto, tenor and bass - Though celebratory as the musical start of the church year, the cantata balances the joyful anticipation of Christ’s coming with reflective gravity as depicted in Luther’s chorale - The text is based wholly on Luther’s 1524 chorale, ‘Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland.’ While the outer movements are taken directly from Luther, movements 2-5 are adaptations of the verses two through seven by an unknown librettist. - Duration: about 22 minutes Some helpful German words to know . Heiden heathen (nations) Heiland savior bewundert marvel höchste highest Beherrscher ruler Keuschheit purity nicht beflekket unblemished laufen to run streite struggle Schwachen the weak See the morning’s bulletin for a complete translation of Cantata 62. Some helpful music terms to know . Continuo – generally used in Baroque music to indicate the group of instruments who play the bass line, and thereby, establish harmony; usually includes the keyboard instrument (organ or harpsichord), and a combination of cello and bass, and sometimes bassoon. Da capo – literally means ‘from the head’ in Italian; in musical application this means to return to the beginning of the music. As a form (i.e. ‘da capo’ aria), it refers to a style in which a middle section, usually in a different tonal area or key, is followed by an restatement of the opening section: ABA. -
Liturgical Drama in Bach's St. Matthew Passion
Uri Golomb Liturgical drama in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion Bach’s two surviving Passions are often cited as evidence that he was perfectly capable of producing operatic masterpieces, had he chosen to devote his creative powers to this genre. This view clashes with the notion that church music ought to be calm and measured; indeed, Bach’s contract as Cantor of St. Thomas’s School in Leipzig stipulated: In order to preserve the good order in the churches, [he would] so arrange the music that it shall not last too long, and shall be of such nature as not to make an operatic impression, but rather incite the listeners to devotion. (New Bach Reader, p. 105) One could argue, however, that Bach was never entirely faithful to this pledge, and that in the St. Matthew Passion he came close to violating it entirely. This article explores the fusion of the liturgical and the dramatic in the St. Matthew Passion, viewing the work as the combination of two dramas: the story of Christ’s final hours, and the Christian believer’s response to this story. This is not, of course, the only viable approach to this masterpiece. The St. Matthew Passion is a complex, heterogeneous work, rich in musical and expressive detail yet also displaying an impressive unity across its vast dimensions. This article does not pretend to explore all the work’s aspects; it only provides an overview of one of its distinctive features. 1. The St. Matthew Passion and the Passion genre The Passion is a musical setting of the story of Christ’s arrest, trial and crucifixion, intended as an elaboration of the Gospel reading in the Easter liturgy. -
BACH IS BACK in BERLIN: the Return of the Sing-Akademie Archive from Ukraine in the Context of Displaced Cultural Treasures and Restitution Politics
BACH IS BACK IN BERLIN: The Return of the Sing-Akademie Archive from Ukraine in the Context of Displaced Cultural Treasures and Restitution Politics Patricia Kennedy Grimsted Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute The National Council for Eurasian and East European Research 910 17th Street, N.W. Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20006 TITLE VIII PROGRAM Project Information* Contractor: Harvard University Principal Investigator: Patricia Kennedy Grimsted Council Contract Number: 816-03g Date: June 9, 2003 Copyright Information Individual researchers retain the copyright on their work products derived from research funded through a contract or grant from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER). However, the NCEEER and the United States Government have the right to duplicate and disseminate, in written and electronic form, reports submitted to NCEEER to fulfill Contract or Grant Agreements either (a) for NCEEER’s own internal use, or (b) for use by the United States Government, and as follows: (1) for further dissemination to domestic, international, and foreign governments, entities and/or individuals to serve official United States Government purposes or (2) for dissemination in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act or other law or policy of the United States Government granting the public access to documents held by the United States Government. Neither NCEEER nor the United States Government nor any recipient of this Report may use it for commercial sale. * The work leading to this report was supported in part by contract or grant funds provided by the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, funds which were made available by the U.S. -
Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John Passion from 1725: a Liturgical Interpretation
Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion from 1725: A Liturgical Interpretation MARKUS RATHEY When we listen to Johann Sebastian Bach’s vocal works today, we do this most of the time in a concert. Bach’s passions and his B minor Mass, his cantatas and songs are an integral part of our canon of concert music. Nothing can be said against this practice. The passions and the Mass have been a part of the Western concert repertoire since the 1830s, and there may not have been a “Bach Revival” in the nineteenth century (and no editions of Bach’s works for that matter) without Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s concert performance of the St. Matthew Passion in the Berlin Singakademie in 1829.1 However, the original sitz im leben of both large-scaled works like his passions, and his smaller cantatas, is the liturgy. Most of his vocal works were composed for use during services in the churches of Leipzig. The pieces unfold their meaning in the context of the liturgy. They engage in a complex intertextual relationship with the liturgical texts that frame them, and with the musical (and theological) practices of the liturgical year of which they are a part. The following essay will outline the liturgical context of the second version of the St. John Passion (BWV 245a) Bach performed on Good Friday 1725 in Leipzig. The piece is a revision of the familiar version of the passion Bach had composed the previous year. The 1725 version of the passion was performed by the Yale Schola Cantorum in 2006, and was accompanied by several lectures I gave in New Haven and New York City. -
Bach and Money: Sources of Salary and Supplemental Income in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750*
Understanding Bach, 12, 111–125 © Bach Network UK 2017 Young Scholars’ Forum Bach and Money: Sources of Salary and Supplemental Income in Leipzig * from 1723 to 1750 NOELLE HEBER It was his post as Music Director and Cantor at the Thomasschule that primarily marked Johann Sebastian Bach’s twenty-seven years in Leipzig. The tension around the unstable income of this occupation drove Bach to write his famous letter to Georg Erdmann in 1730, in which he expressed a desire to seek employment elsewhere.1 The difference between his base salary of 100 Thaler and his estimated total income of 700 Thaler was derived from legacies and foundations, funerals, weddings, and instrumental maintenance in the churches, although many payment amounts fluctuated, depending on certain factors such as the number of funerals that occurred each year. Despite his ongoing frustration at this financial instability, it seems that Bach never attempted to leave Leipzig. There are many speculations concerning his motivation to stay, but one could also ask if there was a financial draw to settling in Leipzig, considering his active pursuit of independent work, which included organ inspections, guest performances, private music lessons, publication of his compositions, instrumental rentals and sales, and, from 1729 to 1741, direction of the collegium musicum. This article provides a new and detailed survey of these sources of revenue, beginning with the supplemental income that augmented his salary and continuing with his freelance work. This exploration will further show that Leipzig seems to have been a strategic location for Bach to pursue and expand his independent work. -
Suffering and Social Conscience in the Passion Genre from JS Bach's
Messiahs and Pariahs: Suffering and Social Conscience in the Passion Genre from J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1727) to David Lang’s the little match girl passion (2007) Johann Jacob Van Niekerk A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts University of Washington 2014 Reading Committee: Giselle Wyers, Chair Geoffrey Boers Shannon Dudley Program Authorized to Offer Degree: School of Music ©Copyright 2014 Johann Jacob Van Niekerk University of Washington Abstract Messiahs and Pariahs: Suffering and Social Conscience in the Passion Genre from J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1727) to David Lang’s the little match girl passion (2007) Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Giselle Wyers Associate Professor of Choral Music and Voice The themes of suffering and social conscience permeate the history of the sung passion genre: composers have strived for centuries to depict Christ’s suffering and the injustice of his final days. During the past eighty years, the definition of the genre has expanded to include secular protagonists, veiled and not-so-veiled socio- political commentary and increased discussion of suffering and social conscience as socially relevant themes. This dissertation primarily investigates David Lang’s Pulitzer award winning the little match girl passion, premiered in 2007. David Lang’s setting of Danish author and poet Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl” interspersed with text from the chorales of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1727) has since been performed by several ensembles in the United States and abroad, where it has evoked emotionally visceral reactions from audiences and critics alike. -
Arnold Schering on “Who Sang the Soprano and Alto Parts in Bach's
Arnold Schering on “Who sang the soprano and alto parts in Bach’s cantatas?” Translation by Thomas Braatz © 2009 [The following is a translation of pages 43 to 48 from Arnold Schering’s book, Johann Sebastian Bachs Leipziger Kirchenmusik, published in 1936 in Leipzig and presented in facsimile after the translation. To distinguish between Schering’s original footnotes and mine, his are highlighted in red while mine are left in black.] The paragraph leading into this passage describes Georg PhilippTelemann’s (1681- 1767) sacred music activities in the Neukirche (New Church) in Leipzig. These cantata performances were accomplished by Telemann with the help of university students only and without any assistance from the Thomaner1 choir(s) which were under Johann Kuhnau’s (1660-1722 - Bach’s immediate predecessor) direction. Jealous of the success that Telemann was having with his performances, Kuhnau commented that the young people there [Neukirche] had no real idea about what the proper style of singing in a church was all about and that their goal was “directed toward a so- called cantata-like manner of singing”. By this he evidently meant the elegant, modern way that male falsettists2 sang their solos [compared to the soprano and alto voices of young boys before their mutation]. What was Bach’s way of treating this matter in his sacred music? A cantor’s constant concern, as we have seen, is the ability to obtain and train good sopranos and basses. Kuhnau’s experience, that among his young scholars strong bass singers were a rarity,3 was an experience that his cantor predecessors in Leipzig had already had. -
Rethinking J.S. Bach's Musical Offering
Rethinking J.S. Bach’s Musical Offering Rethinking J.S. Bach’s Musical Offering By Anatoly Milka Translated from Russian by Marina Ritzarev Rethinking J.S. Bach’s Musical Offering By Anatoly Milka Translated from Russian by Marina Ritzarev This book first published 2019 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2019 by Anatoly Milka All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-3706-4 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-3706-4 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures........................................................................................... vii List of Schemes ....................................................................................... viii List of Music Examples .............................................................................. x List of Tables ............................................................................................ xii List of Abbreviations ............................................................................... xiii Preface ...................................................................................................... xv Introduction ............................................................................................... -
The Influence of the Unaccompanied Bach Suites
Cedarville University DigitalCommons@Cedarville Music and Worship Student Publications Student Scholarly Activity 2012 The nflueI nce of the Unaccompanied Bach Suites Meredith Lawrence Cedarville University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/ music_and_worship_student_publications Part of the Composition Commons Recommended Citation Lawrence, Meredith, "The nflueI nce of the Unaccompanied Bach Suites" (2012). Music and Worship Student Publications. 5. http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/music_and_worship_student_publications/5 This Conference Proceeding is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Cedarville, a service of the Centennial Library. It has been accepted for inclusion in Music and Worship Student Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Cedarville. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Proceedings of the National Conference On Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2012 Weber State University, Ogden Utah March 29, 31, 2012 The Influence of the Unaccompanied Bach Suites Meredith Lawrence Music and Worship Department Cedarville University 251 N. Main St. Cedarville, Ohio 45314 USA Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sandra Yang Abstract Bach was very influential in changing the function of the violoncello from an accompanying instrument to a solo instrument, showing the cello’s potential in his writing of the unaccompanied cello suites. Throughout the cello’s history, the instrument was considered to be primarily an accompanying instrument, playing the basso continuo line of most music. Through research of primary and secondary sources, it was found that during Bach’s time in Cöthen, he was given freedom and the resources to compose what he wished. These resources included excellent musicians such as the gambist, played by Abel and the cellist, Linigke. -
Baroque and Classical Style in Selected Organ Works of The
BAROQUE AND CLASSICAL STYLE IN SELECTED ORGAN WORKS OF THE BACHSCHULE by DEAN B. McINTYRE, B.A., M.M. A DISSERTATION IN FINE ARTS Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved Chairperson of the Committee Accepted Dearri of the Graduate jSchool December, 1998 © Copyright 1998 Dean B. Mclntyre ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful for the general guidance and specific suggestions offered by members of my dissertation advisory committee: Dr. Paul Cutter and Dr. Thomas Hughes (Music), Dr. John Stinespring (Art), and Dr. Daniel Nathan (Philosophy). Each offered assistance and insight from his own specific area as well as the general field of Fine Arts. I offer special thanks and appreciation to my committee chairperson Dr. Wayne Hobbs (Music), whose oversight and direction were invaluable. I must also acknowledge those individuals and publishers who have granted permission to include copyrighted musical materials in whole or in part: Concordia Publishing House, Lorenz Corporation, C. F. Peters Corporation, Oliver Ditson/Theodore Presser Company, Oxford University Press, Breitkopf & Hartel, and Dr. David Mulbury of the University of Cincinnati. A final offering of thanks goes to my wife, Karen, and our daughter, Noelle. Their unfailing patience and understanding were equalled by their continual spirit of encouragement. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT ix LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xvi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 11. BAROQUE STYLE 12 Greneral Style Characteristics of the Late Baroque 13 Melody 15 Harmony 15 Rhythm 16 Form 17 Texture 18 Dynamics 19 J. -
A Polonaise Duet for a Professor, a King and a Merchant: on Cantatas BWV 205, 205A, 216 and 216A by Johann Sebastian Bach 1
Understanding Bach , 2, 19-36 © Bach Network UK 2007 A Polonaise Duet for a Professor, a King and a Merchant: on Cantatas BWV 205, 205a, 216 and 216a by Johann Sebastian Bach 1 SZYMON PACZKOWSKI Bach’s cantata Zerreißet, zersprenget, zertrümmert die Gruft ( Der zufriedengestellte Aeolus or Aeolus Pacified , BWV 205) was composed in 1725 for the name-day of August Friedrich Müller, a professor of philosophy at the University of Leipzig. 2 Bach’s Collegium Musicum performed the piece on the evening of 3 August 1725 in front of the professor’s house at 2 Katharinenstraße in Leipzig. Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) wrote the libretto 3 with its allegorical allusions to the professor’s philosophical ideas. The libretto has attracted its fair share of scholarly criticism, and indeed derision. 4 However, the circumstances of its 1 This article is part of Szymon Paczkowski’s research project, ‘The Polish Style in German Music of the Eighteenth Century: Functions and Meaning on the Example of the Work of Johann Sebastian Bach (2004–2007)’, sponsored by the State Committee for Scientific Research of the Republic of Poland. It has been prepared for publication as part of a book entitled Polish Studies on Baroque Music (in preparation) which brings together the papers presented by Polish speakers at the 12th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music in Warsaw (26–30 July 2006), and appears in ‘Understanding Bach’ courtesy of the book’s publishers, the Institute of Musicology at Warsaw University. 2 Hans-Joachim Schulze, Christoph Wolff, Bach-Compendium . Analytisch-bibliographisches Repertorium der Werke Johann Sebastian Bachs , Vokalwerke: Teil IV (further abbreviated to Bach- Compendium IV) (edn Peters, Leipzig: 1989), p. -
J. S. Bach's Keyboard Fingering
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications: School of Music Music, School of April 1980 J. S. Bach’s Keyboard Fingering: New Evidence Quentin Faulkner University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub Part of the Music Commons Faulkner, Quentin, "J. S. Bach’s Keyboard Fingering: New Evidence" (1980). Faculty Publications: School of Music. 22. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub/22 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Music, School of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications: School of Music by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Essay originally published in The Diapason 7:4 , # 845 (April 980), pp. 4–5. Copyright © 980 Quentin Faulkner. J. S. Bach’s Keyboard Fingering: New Evidence by Quentin Faulkner There is presently considerable interest among scholars and performers of early music in early keyboard fingering practices and their effect on the music’s articulation and phrasing. This is no- where more evident than in the current reconsideration of J. S. Bach’s keyboard music in the light of primary source material on his keyboard fingering. The primary sources available to us up to now are three in number: . Applicatio (BWV 994) 2. Praeambulum (BWV 928) Both of these works are found in the Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. They both offer some insight info Bach’s fingering practices, but neither tells us all we might wish. The “Applicatio” is a simple piece (aside from the trills specified for the fourth and fifth fingers), obviously composed to show normal fingering practice without presenting difficulties which would necessitate creative or unusual solutions.