March 2009 The Journal of the London Bach Society LBS BENEFIT EVENING HONOURS ANTHONY MINGHELLA Sir DAVID TANG presents “Cigarettes and Chocolate” igarettes and Chocolate” - not a remedy for recession blues, but an award winning1 one-act play by the late Anthony Minghella that was re-imagined for a special one-off performance presented by LBS “CPresident Sir David Tang and directed by Tom Edmunds at St. Martin-in-the-Fields last December. Generously supported by Aspinalls and Dame Vivien Duffi eld, it was a public event and attended by a distinguished array of guests. The proceeds will benefi t the London Bach Society. Anthony Minghella2 was an avid Bach devotee and his play result of something one of them has done. Unable to requires movements from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion effectively communicate their feelings, they fi ll the void to be performed throughout. Prefacing the created by Gemma’s silence, each trying, in performance actor and friend Jude Law, their own way, to make sense of their lives who had starred in some of Minghella’s - just as Gemma is doing.” Director major films (inc. “Cold Mountain” Tom Edmunds. and “Breaking and Entering”), paid warm tribute to the much-loved Written in 1988, the theme has director before an audience that particular resonance today. included Minghella’s widow, the Edmunds chose specific solo Hong Kong born choreographer movements from the St. Matthew Carolyn Choa, and members of for performance, with Steinitz the family. Here is a brief synopsis Bach Players directed by of the Play: - Anthony Robson emulating JSB’s original at Leipzig’s Thomaskirche “Gemma has given up speaking for by performing these in the Gallery at St. Lent. She sits in her fl at and listens to Bach’s Martin’s. The audience enjoyed some truly Anthony Minghella St Matthew Passion. Her decision provokes stellar acting, singing and playing too... consternation from her friends, each imagining it is the The cast Steinitz Bach Players – Alice Patten as Gemma, Dylan Charles as Rob, Elisabeth Leader Rodolfo Richter Dermot Walsh as Lorna, Georgia Mackenzie as Gail, Sam Rachel Beckett & Christine Garratt fl utes, Richard Spruell as Alistair. Earle & Catherine Latham oboes & oboes da caccia, Rodolfo Richter violin, Richard Tunnicliffe viola da gamba, Claire Holden violin, Henrietta Wayne violin, Nicholas Logie viola, Jennifer Morsches ‘cello, Amanda Macnamara double bass, Mark Williams organ, Orchestral manager Philippa Brownsword, Malcolm Greenhalgh generously supplied the organ. Soloists Grace Davidson sop, Alexandra Gibson alto, Simon Berridge tenor GilesGiles UnderwoodUnderwood bass A HUGE THANK YOU to David, to everyone who performed, attended and donated. MS Photo Credit Alan Davidson (l to r) The Duchess of York, Sir Michael Caine, Carolyn Choa, Jude Law and LBS President Sir David Tang support LBS Benefi t 1Giles Cooper and Sony awards 2Died 18 March 2008 “If BACH HAD MET...” Fanciful ‘encounters’ with Purcell & Handel Part 1 hishis yearyear thethe creativecreative geniusgenius ofof fourfour majormajor composerscomposers On the Continent we meet up with composers Corelli, – Purcell,Purcell, Handel,Handel, HaydnHaydn andand MendelssohnMendelssohn - willwill bebe Alessandro Scarlatti, François Couperin and Albinoni. Tcelebrated.celebrated. AAllll hhaveave llefteft uuss a mmusicalusical llegacyegacy bbeyondeyond In Germany, Purcell’s early life coincides with the latter price. Their lives were packed with activity and they each years of another towering 17th century musical figure, left an indelible mark on the musical landscape. Two died the Dresden Court composer Heinrich Schütz4, whose comparatively young, while two lived into their seventies. folio of compositions includes three Passions (1665-66), St. What is common to them all is that they neither knew Luke, St. John and St. Matthew, better known nowadays as nor met Bach, although three would have been at least precursors of Bach’s than seemingly worthy of performance 5 acquainted with his music. With the aid of a time bicycle, in their own right. We also meet hymn writer Paul Gerhardt , if Bach had met them what musical environment would he regarded as Germany’s greatest, whose Passiontide hymns have discovered? What else was going on at the time? Who “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” and “Befiehl du deine 6 were the movers and shakers? Just for fun let’s fi nd out. In Wege” Bach sets so magically in his St. Matthew Passion. this issue we focus on Purcell and Handel; for our next in September, Haydn and Mendelssohn ...and Comparing Notes in the process perhaps we shall identify In 1670s London, public concerts had begun the common ground and, through the to emerge on the scene and if they had passage of time, the musical ties that ever met no doubt Purcell and Bach actually bind them. could have attended some of them together, with JSB comparing them to evenings at Leipzig’s Henry Purcell Zimmermann’s Coffee House (c. 1659-1695) perhaps, and their discussing urcell’s England this ‘new art of continuo was all about the playing’ or the ups and downs Restoration of the of life as a church musician. P Both were providers of music Monarchy and the country’s for their respective patrons emergence from the austerity or employers and also of Cromwell’s ‘republic’. for those with whom they During his formative years either became or wanted Purcell was a chorister at to become associated too; the Chapel Royal and studied Purcell, with his Funeral and with John Blow, the musician Birthday Odes, and his three he was eventually to succeed Odes for the Festival of St. at Westminster Abbey in 1679. 7 Cecilia for example, and Bach In his short life Purcell served no with his cantatas, or the Goldbergs, less than three kings. The longest Musical Offering8 and Canonic reigning, Charles II (1660-1685), was Variations9. Oh yes! If Bach had met an extensive Patron of the Arts and Purcell one wonders whether either would whose Court was glittering if not just a touch Henry Purcell have got a word in edgeways! licentious. Politically astute though the King was, the open, relaxed and comparatively ‘racey’ life at the Court proved to be a popular contrast to the Puritanism of Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) the Lord Protector. It was this King who purchased for the henhen GGeorgeorg FFriedrichriedrich HHandelandel wwasas bbornorn iinn Royal Collection 700 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, thus HalleHalle oonn 2233 FFebruaryebruary 11685,685, PPurcellurcell wwasas a laying the foundations for what it has become today. It Wyoungyoung mmanan ooff 226.6. HHandel’sandel’s mmusicusic hhasas was the time of Sir Christopher Wren and the rebuilding of enjoyed an unprecedented revival in the last fi fty years. In St. Paul’s Cathedral3, Wren’s pupil Nicholas Hawksmoor, Sir England, the preconception that he only wrote one oratorio Isaac Newton, the Great Plague (1665) and the Great Fire is long gone. British musicians and audiences alike are of London (1666). From February 1689 onwards the joint well now acquainted with his oratorios and operas, thanks to organisations like Handel Opera Society10/Farncombe/Farncombe monarchy of William III and Mary II bore witness to the and the London Handel Festival. In Germany too, the annual building by Wren of the Fountain Court at Hampton Court festivals at Halle11 and Göttingen continue to draw Handel Palace for example. devotees from across the world. 7Festival of St. Cecilia of the Musical Society of London c.1680s 3Completed in 1708 8Frederick the Great of Prussia 41585-1672 9For Mitzler Society, c.1747 51607-1676 101955-1985 6Also BWV 153 11Handel’s birthplace Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) from the leading architects, painters and sculptors of the day. Combined with royal patronage of music15, and the The Early Years music and operas by Handel in particular, this all inspired a Born in the same year and within travelling distance of each golden era that also attracted musicians from the continent other, the assumption has often been that Bach and Handel to London – undoubtedly an atmosphere that the gregarious knew each other! There has been a ‘horse and carriage’ Bach would have greatly enjoyed had he been one of them. attitude as well – in the words of the old song “ you can’t Bach’s provision of the secular cantatas for the Royal House have one without the other”. But the truth is that, while they of Saxony, each referred to as a ‘dramma per musica’, is a knew of each other, any plans for them to meet were never comparison here16 and, with others similarly composed for fulfilled and their careers followed completely different special personages, they were probably the nearest he got paths. Handel travelled abroad, fi nally settling in London; to writing an opera – unless the Passions are considered Bach confined his journeying to neighbouring German sacred dramas. states. How might it have been if they had met? Handel outlived Bach by nine years, had an eye for Halle is more than a cart ride from the commercial, enjoyed immense patronage, Eisenach, but their friendship and was considered wealthy at his death common interests could have been and never married. He was buried in established early on from 1685-1704 Westminster Abbey. Bach was not had the occasion arose. Both wealthy, kept a careful watch on his lost fathers early and each was income and was driven by priorities showing a prodigious talent. that sprang from the Lutheran Both could have compared theology and tradition into which notes on keyboard technique he was born. He was laid to and fugues. If Bach had rest in the graveyard of the then travelled to Italy Johanniskirche where people with Handel12 in between of his ‘station’ were buried, working at Mühlhausen with his supposed remains and Weimar, they could finally moved to the chancel have discussed together of the Thomaskirche in 1950, the art of composing the Johanniskirche having cantatas.