1968 Bach Festival Program

THE BACH FESTIVAL COUNCIL Dr. Russell A. Hammar, Director Dr. \\?cimer K. Hicks, Honorary Chairman Mrs. Daniel Christian Dr. James W. Miller, Honorary Member Mrs. Maynard Conrad Sister Mary L. Bader, Honorary Member Mrs. Cameron Davis Dr. J. M. Calloway, Chairman Mrs. Lincoln Dupon Dr. Harrison Nelson, Vice-Chairman Mrs. Robert Friedmann Mr. Ceorge Tucker, Recording Secretary Mrs. R. Bowen Howard Mr. Stuart H. Simpson, Treasurer Dr. PaulL. Maier ARTISTS and Miss Sylvia Muehling ARTIST HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE Mrs. Gilbert Reinkensmeyer Dr. Russell A. Hammar :1-.Irs. George Slomp Mrs. Clifford Davidson Mrs. Harry Snow Mrs. Paul B. Horton Mrs. Edwin Steen Mrs. H. F. Mchaffie Mr. Adrian VanderLinde Mrs. Fred G. Stanley Mrs. Robert VanPutten Mrs. Eric V. Brown Mr. Charles VanZoeren Mr. George Tucker Mrs. Ann Wolff FINANCE and Mr. Russell Worden, Chorus President DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE PUBLICITY and TICKETS COMMITTEE Dr. Harrison Nelson, Chmn. Mr. Gordon Bugbee, Chmn. Mr. E. Lawrence Barr Dr. John Coats Mr. Harold N. Davidson Dr. Donald C. Flesche Dr. JohnS. Evans Rev. Louis Grother Dr. Louis Rowland Mr. Ralph Patton Mr. Stuart Simpson, Treasurer Sister Jane Hose Schlinkert Mrs. Fred G. Stanley USHERS Mr. John M. Vahey Dr. George Nielsen, Chum. Mr. Adrian L. VanderLinde Dr. Harry B. Hay Mr. Charles A. VanZoeren IIISTORY and RESEARCH COMMITTEE YOUTH CONCERT AUDITIONS Dr. Louis Rowland, Chmn. Mr. Thomas Kasdorf, Co-Chmn. Mrs. Herbert Butler Mrs. H. F. Mchaffie, Co-Chmn. 3ln Jllemortam Mrs. Marion Dunsmore Mrs. Robert Angerman Mr. George Tucker Mr. Thomas Hardie Mrs. Robert Friedmann HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE Dr. Lawrence R. Smith Miss Mildred Prestrud, Chmn. Mrs. Paul Weaver ~enrp ®berlep 1892-1967 Mrs. Bernard Bennink Mrs. Owen Baughman PERSONNEL COMMITTEE Mrs. Russell Carlton Mrs. R. Bowen Howard, Clmm. Mrs. Cameron Davis Mrs. Henry Ford The legacy of musical life in Kalamazoo left by Dr. Henry Overley at his passing is testament Mrs. H. F. Mchaffie Mrs. Arthur Manske to the truth that the spirit of a man can, and does, live on in those whom he has touched. Men Mr. Russell Worden Mrs. John B. Moore and women whose lives have been enriched by the communion of music through the effort and GUARANTOR-PATRON-SPONSOR TRUSTEES dedication of Dr. Overley are that living legacy. Many knew him, and through him knew music COMMITTEE Mr. Owen Baughman in his work at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, as a private teacher, as chairman of the Music De Mrs. Haywood H. Blanchard Mr. \Villiam Burke partment of Kalamazoo College, and especially as the Founder of the Kalamazoo Bach Festival. Mrs. Russell Carlton Mr. Cameron Davis The Bach Festival Society, which was the fulfillment of a great dream for Dr. Overley, is no Dr. Elwyn Carter Mr. Robert McBride, Jr. marble monument to the finished work of one man's life; it is the vital heritage in which hb life continues. THE BACH FESTIVAL COUNCIL welcomes you to this, lhe Twenty-Second Bach Festival. \Ve hope that you will find as much pleasure in listening to the music of Bach as the SOLI DEO GLORIA! many people involved in these concerts have in performing it. The Council wishes to express its appreciation to all of those who have given of their time, money, and talent to make the Festival possible. Dn. JEA:<: M. CALLOWAY, Chairman [ 2] r 3 1 ,, ~ PROGRAM NOTES Until recently, only the libretto to the Saint Mark Pa~sion survived. A 19th century scholar, Wilhehn Rust, located the text "for a musical Passion, according to the Evangelist Mark, for Good Cantata 61, "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" (Come Now, Savior of the Heathen) is Friday of the year 1731" in C. F. Henrici's (better known as Picander) collection of Serious, intended for the First Sunday of Advent. It is one of Bach's early works, written in 1714 during Amusing and Satirical Poetry. Thus began the century-long search for the musical setting of the his residence in Weimer. The melody is based on the Ambrosian Advent hymn "Veni Reclemptor Passion (including two choruses, six arias and sixteen chorales). Gentium," which was translated by Luther in 1524. The melody, as it was used by Bach, had While looking for close textual relationships, a number of historians found musical settings been altered slightly by Luther and Johann Walther. in parodied libretti. These settings were parts of Cantata BWV 54 "Widerstehe doch du In the introductory vocal section Bach has skillfully combined the chorale and the French Sunde;" a funeral cantata, "Klagt, Kinder;" and the Saint Matthew Passion. The chorale settings overture. This form begins with a thematic statement by each voice section, followed by a % were contained in a collection of homophonic choral works published by Sebastia' s son, Karl fugal section and closes with another slow (choral) statement. The overture is followed by a Phillipp Emanuel. To date, however, only the musical settings of the biblical text (except for tenor recitative which stresses the importance of Christ's incarnation and a da capo tenor aria one "crowd chorus") and one aria, "Angenehmes Mordgeschrei," remain lost. which beseeches the Lord to come. In the following bass recitative, pizzacato strings vividly As it presently stands, the work can be presented in two forms: represent the knocking of the Lord. His call is answered in a lovely soprano da capo aria. The last section of the cantata is a short fugal movement, whose text implores the presence of the a) Two-part cantata in the sequence of chorus, chorale, aria, etc. without the text of the Lord during the new ecclsiastical year. evangelist. The Trio Sonata in G Major for two flutes and continuo was comp0sed about 1720. This is b) Choruses, arias and chorales fitted into the spoken story, following the arrangement used tl1e first version of the work which Bach later transcribed as the first of three Sonatas for viola in the Picander libretto. cia gamba and (obligato) harpsichord ( BWV 1027). The original version, performed here, has This performance will follow form "a" and it is one of the first presentations in the United greater polyphonic clarity due to the more colorful instrumentation. States since its completion by its editor, Diethard Hellman, in Mainz, Germany where it was Bach wrote Cantata 130, "Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir" (Lord God, We Praise Thee, All performed on Passion Week of 1964. of Us), in 1740 for the Feast of Saint Michael. The first movement of the Cantata is a chorale Bach wrote the EMter Oratorio, "Komt, eilet und laufet," in 1736 during his residence in fantasia based on a theme from the Genevan Psalter of 1551 (our familiar Doxology, Praise God Leipzig. This "oratorio," as we hear it today, is in a revised form - a form resembling Bach's From Whom All Blessings Flow). The chorale fantasia, a form which evolved from the Organ sacred cantatas. Originally, this work had been an oratorio. Bach borrowed the music from choral preludes, consists of a chorus freely treating the melody with a great variety of vocal and an earlier ( secular) cantata "Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet ihr Sorgan" and added a new instrumental textures. (In this brilliant chorale fantasia the chorus sings only 23 out of 73 text known as the parody technique. Only the recitatives were newly composed. The characters measmes.) As was common during his Leipzig period, Bach used the same melody in a simple who took part were Jesus' mother, Mary, soprano; Mary Magdalene, alto; Peter, tenor; and four-part chorale (with a brilliant trumpet obligato) to conclude the cantata. This section, John, bass. In his revision Bach omitted the names and converted the opening duet to duet plus however, is in three-four meter mtl1er than tl1e traditional four-four meter to which we are chorus. Thus, the dramatic character of the work is lessened. The present revised form of this accustomed. "oratorio" was edited by Wilhelm Rust. For tl1is cantata (as for the Easter Oratorio), the Festival Orchestra includes clarinets rather Of particular interest is the fact that Bach (and most other church composers of his era) • than trumpets to cover the clarino (high treble) parts. According to the Grove's Dictionary, borrowed whole movements and thematic ideas from their own previously composed works. • the term "clarino" has little to do with tl1e clarinet, except that when the instrument came into It is believed that Bach used the concluding chorale of Cantata 130, "Herr Gott, dich loben aile vogue the art of high trumpet playing was dying out and high trumpet parts were sometimes wir," (first concert) to conclude the Easter Oratorio, but transposed it to the key of "D." Accord played on this "new instrument." ing to several music historians, Bach's versions of this oratorio did not include any chorales The five-voice Motet 227, "]esu, Meine Freude" (Jesus, my Joy), was probably written for (e.g. Parry). This point, however, is still open to question. a service of commemoration in 1723. This work is a typical German funeral motet, the words The cantata, "The Morning," is the fifth of "Six Cantatas for a voice and instruments set to and melody of a congregational hymn being woven into the fabric. The hymn tune was originally Musick" by Thomas Augustine Arne. Dr. Arne, whose works included operas, oratorios, songs, an old secular song, "Flora meine Freude, meine Seelenweide." Bach used this same melody cantatas and masques (English stage production, with music), is considered the greatest of the in three other Leipzig cantatas: "Jesus schlaft, was soli ich hoffen," "Sehet welch eine Leibe," early 18th century English composers. This cantata is performed by solo tenor, flute and strings.

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