2019
conversation
April 11-14, 2019
CONSERVATORY of MUSIC
87TH ANNUAL BACH FESTIVAL PROGRAM, PG. 31
ASPIRE
+
ACHIEVE
EVERY YEAR, MORE THAN 4,000 BW STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM A PERSONALIZED EDUCATION BUILT ON AN ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION AND A COMMITMENT
TO REAL-WORLD PREPARATION. 45,000 OF OUR GRADUATES HAVE GONE ON
TO MAKE AN IMPACT IN BUSINESS, THE SCIENCES, EDUCATION AND THE ARTS, BOTH IN NORTHEAST OHIO AND THE WORLD.
LEARN MORE AT BW.EDU/BWGRADS Baldwin Wallace University does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, age, disability, national origin, gender or sexual orientation in the administration of any policies or programs.
conversation The magazine and Bach Festival program of the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music.
CONTENTS
Welcome
3
Welcome Dean Susan D. Van Vorst
4
Positive Change: BW Music Therapy and Music Education Grads Have Skill and a Passion for Service
6
9 Horses: Genre-Hopping Virtuosity
8
The Cleveland Orchestra Residency at BW
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Perseverance, Creativity Spark Success for Jeannette Sorrell of Apollo's Fire
12
RBI Supports Advanced Student Scholarship & RBI Initiatives
14
Celebrating 50 years: Bach and the Riemenschneider Bach Institute
16
Introducing the BW Community Arts School
20
Conservatory of Music Alumni Success
22
Honor Roll of Conservatory Donors
24
Bach Festival Donors
26
Bach Festival and the Riemenschneider Bach Institute History
29
Honoring Dr. John Blocher, Jr.
30
Welcome, Dirk Garner Artistic Director of the Bach Festival
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BACH FESTIVAL PROGAM
Dear Friends, Welcome to our 87th annual Bach Festival. We are delighted to have you join us in celebration of the extraordinary work of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. Every year I am amazed by the magnificent music of artists who perform at the Festival and by the scholars who bring their expertise to campus to share with us the influence of Bach across generations of composers and musicians. The students performing today reflect the depth and talent of our Conservatory of Music and of the faculty who devote themselves to helping our students excel. Extraordinary engagement and meaningful belonging are at the core of what we do at Baldwin Wallace. We are committed to giving our students exceptional learning experiences that prepare them for personal and professional success. Among individuals who represent the best of BW in generously giving of their time, talent and treasure to benefit others are Albert Riemenschneider and his wife, Selma. Their gift to Baldwin Wallace several decades ago, and the enduring support of the Riemenschneider family today, is an example of a legacy that began with a vision and today spans generations of individuals—students, alumni, faculty, staff and the community—who have benefitted from their vision. Among Bach Festival events, I would like to personally invite you to visit our Riemenschneider Bach Institute in the Boesel Musical Arts Center. It is a wonderful resource center that houses the Riemenschneider Bach Library, which features an impressive collection of Bach-oriented books, manuscripts, archival materials and scores, including rare items. Its current collection exceeds 20,000 items. As always, we would like to thank you—our loyal patrons, subscribers, benefactors and friends—whose continued support of our Conservatory of Music and Bach Festival have enabled us to continue and build upon this exceptional BW tradition.
Robert C. Helmer President, J.D., Ph.D.
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Bach Festival Schedule
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Thursday, April 11 Events
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BW Symphony Orchestra
36
Friday, April 12 Events
38
Suites and Motets
49
Apollo's Fire
64
Saturday, April 13 Events
65
Anderson & Roe
68
Jesu mein Freude
76
Sunday, April 14 Events conversation
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#1 IN THE NATION “Best Bachelor of Music (B.M.) Music Theatre Programs” Onstage
#1 IN THE NATION
“Opera Production Competition” National Opera Association
CONSERVATORY of MUSIC
Dear Friends: A consistent theme at BW and one we promote publicly with considerable pride is our dual embrace of TRADITION + INNOVATION. There is perhaps no better time of year than during Bach Festival to celebrate these complementary energies: Our beloved and rich Riemenschneider legacy provides the very foundation that births the creative process and a continuous celebration of emergent artistic voices. We bask in the sure magnificence of our 87th Bach Festival and look ahead to the programming that will frame the 50th anniversary of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute in 2019-20. This issue of Conversation explores many examples of tradition fueling innovation. In honoring our distinctive heritage, we seek opportunities to lift up and present new works inspired by J. S. Bach through a national composition contest. We revel in our deepening alliances with community partners and artistic exemplars The Cleveland Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire and Cleveland International Piano Competition. We celebrate funders such as the Kulas Foundation for consistent generosity that makes the Bach Festival ever-vibrant and this year features Anderson & Roe Piano Duo in alliance with the Kulas Keyboard Series. We welcome back alumni who are growing musical careers of note and creating their own artistic identities with considerable care, building upon the excellent training they received at Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music. We highlight the student scholars who delve with thirst into the rich resources of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, exploring new areas of research and delighting in oh, so many opportunities for academic focus. We honor the robust relationships with K-12 schools and community health partners that provide our music education and music therapy students with remarkable experiential learning opportunities. And we embrace new members of the BW family as our Community Arts School expands its programming, furthering the BW mission and responding to the needs of our region. Most importantly, we celebrate YOU—the key to our success. Your generosity empowers our students through scholarship support and makes possible guest artist residencies, Conservatory ensemble tours, outstanding facilities and programmatic excellence. Thank you. Don’t miss the opportunity during your Bach Festival experience to visit our beautifully renovated chamber hall: Jacquelyn Jean Fynes Hall. We hope you will consider adding your name to one of the best seats in town, with 100% of your gift supporting students through the Conservatory Memorial Scholarship Fund. We wish you a most memorable Bach Festival, BW style. In the BW spirit—
Susan D. Van Vorst Dean, Conservatory of Music
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Positive Change BW Music Therapy and Music Education Grads Have Skill and a Passion for Service Conservatory of Music students find their individual and collective voices through their experiences as musicians, teachers, therapists, colleagues and friends. Their work is a testament to the power of music, and their influence as citizen artists can be felt across the region, the nation and the globe. Approximately one-tenth of all full-time BW undergraduates are enrolled in the Conservatory of Music, though not all 300 students pursue careers in performance. In addition to other majors, about 95 are earning degrees in music education, and another 19 are studying music therapy. Conservatory students “employ their talents and expertise to make a positive and enduring impact on society,” says Dr. Herbert (Butch) Marshall, Professor of Music Education and Chair of the Professional Studies Department. “They are prepared to work with everybody and see the best in everyone,” he says. “Graduates apply their educations in ways that are relevant to the people they serve.” Music education and music therapy majors are required to audition for, and be accepted by, the Conservatory of Music. The environment offers them many advantages, which begin with professors and adjunct faculty who are esteemed in their fields.
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Students also reap significant benefits from the University’s relationships with a vast network of school districts, medical facilities and other organizations both in the region and
KAY
elsewhere. Because of these relationships, the job placement rate is 100 percent for music education and music therapy graduates. Music education majors support teachers in area classrooms throughout their four years at BW. They spend a full semester as student teachers and receive a depth and breadth of experience in local schools, Dr. Marshall says. “There is so much fieldwork. This is a great location for people thinking about teaching. They have options in urban, rural and suburban districts.” This spring, he will be helping to determine student teaching placements for 23 rising seniors. “It’s a match-making enterprise,” says Dr. Marshall, who spends a portion of his time at the annual Ohio Music Education Association conference networking with teachers who are eager to work with BW music education students. For music therapy, “the Great Lakes region owns the profession,” says Lalene Kay, who has been Director of the Cleveland Music Therapy Consortium based at Baldwin Wallace since 1987. The Cleveland Music Settlement and Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital were early pioneers in the discipline, and opportunities for fieldwork abound, notes Professor Kay, who recently received the Ohio Music Education Association’s 2019 Distinguished Service Award. Along with involvement in music lessons and ensembles and regular coursework, music therapy majors each have four fieldwork placements and a six-month internship. They work at hospitals, hospices and therapy practices in Northeast Ohio and around the country in such states as Florida, California and Colorado. As they learn their chosen professions, the Conservatory’s music therapy and music education majors begin to envision their own positive contributions to society. Their academic work and their field experience empower them to become future leaders who are change agents in society.
MAKING AN IMPACT Hannah Bronson ’12 has made a significant contribution to military communities in California and Texas. Working with veterans with service-related traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, she facilitates selfexpression and healing through the composition and performance of music.
BRONSON
Gabriella Drago ’18, who is blind, credits BW’s music therapy program for setting students up for success by preparing them well for the profession. During her time at New Avenues to Independence, she formed and directed the Together We Are One choir of special-needs residents and clients in the community, who performed in concert earlier this year. Among music education graduates are Chad Pitman ’14, director of all the choirs at the Akron School for the Arts, and Rayna Brooks ’16, choir program director at Lakewood High School. About her BW experience, Rayna says, “I use the techniques and skills that I learned from my colleagues and professors in the music education program daily. I can and do still reach out to them for support, and that is a legacy of caring and empathy that I try to incorporate into my own teaching.” Rachel Krautsack ’13 is a string teacher in the Charleston County School District in South Carolina and director of a county-wide youth orchestra. Another string instructor, Sarah Mamula ’18, teaches in Kenya—and is a bass player in that country’s national symphony.
DRAGO
PITMAN
BROOKS
9 HORSES
Genre-Hopping Virtuosity
BW Conservatory Welcomes Winning Ensemble 9 Horses In 2016, 9 Horses outpaced the competition, proving to be the epitome of a 21st-century musical ensemble.
Iconoclasts and Innovators The aim was to find talented iconoclasts and innovators who, among several characteristics, collaborate with artists from other genres and art forms and see the audience as an active partner in their success.
The trio—Joe Brent, mandolin/composer/arranger; 2018 GRAMMY-nominated Sara Caswell, violin; and Shawn Conley, bass—won the grand prize, which included a $10,000 contract, a gig at New York City’s (Le) Poisson Rouge, and a produced music video.
After their win, Brent expressed the group members’ excitement. “We believe very strongly in the mission of 21CM and are excited to represent them musically and philosophically over the course of our relationship with them,” he said.
After three years of performing and giving workshops across the United States and internationally, 9 Horses will bring its eclectic music to Baldwin Wallace Conservatory for a guest artist residency Sept. 24-27.
The ensemble comes from a collective background that includes classical, jazz, folk and music from around the world. Brent met Conley at the Tanglewood Music Center, and Caswell at Carnegie Hall when they both were backing a Japanese pop star.
The 21st-Century Musician Initiative (21CM) chose the trio and four other groups after scouring the country for 6
chamber ensembles to compete in the inaugural LAUNCH: Emerging Artist Competition at DePauw University.
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dream in plastic
JOE BRENT
SARA CASWELL
A Wide World of Music to Choose From “You could say the musicians of 9 Horses didn’t come together by accident. We wanted to be in a group in which we could express the full range of our influences,” Brent said, noting that in today’s world, music lovers have unlimited exposure to different kinds of musical styles. “We reflect that eclecticism in the music we play. I’m thrilled by the virtuosity in classical performance, by the power of a rock concert, and the humor and immediacy of folk music.” The trio juxtaposes music from these many genres and styles with Brent’s original compositions. While on the BW campus, 9 Horses will premiere his composition “dream in plastic,” featuring the trio performing with the BW Symphony Orchestra. Other residency activities include academic class visits, ensemble workshops, an improv session, Convocation presentations, composer readings and a 9 Horses concert. Guest artist residencies provide Conservatory students with opportunities to have deeper interaction with musicians who are forging new paths in today’s musical landscape. In recent years, the Conservatory has welcomed such artists as Roomful of Teeth, A Far Cry, Jennifer Rowley, Barnaby Bright, Kenari Quartet, and Ensemble Variances. The 9 Horses residency is sponsored by Scott & Julie Mawaka.
SHAWN CONLEY
9 HORSES
Public Events
September 24: 3:10 p.m.
Meet 9 Horses Convocation
September 25: 8:00 p.m.
9 Horses Concert
September 26: 3:10 p.m.
Embarking on a Modern Musical Career Convocation
September 27: 7:00 p.m.
BW Symphony Orchestra Concert featuring 9 Horses and the premiere of Joe Brent’s “dream in plastic”
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CONSERVATORY of MUSIC presents
Residency
A Wealth of Experience and Education
As an enhancement to our ongoing partnership, this exceptional year-long collaboration with The Cleveland Orchestra provides Conservatory students from all disciplines the opportunity to work and engage with the world's top echelon of artistic professionals while on campus. From interactions and master classes with Orchestra musicians, conductors and administrators on multiple occasions, to new music readings, formal and informal conversations, and a Cleveland Orchestra performance on the BW Gamble stage—we are rich in experience and opportunity. 8
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Perseverance, Creativity
Spark
Success for Jeannette Sorrell
A Q&A WITH APOLLO’S FIRE FOUNDER JEANNETTE SORRELL
Jeannette Sorrell founded Apollo’s Fire in 1992, when she was 26. A quarter century later, Sorrell is recognized as one of the world’s most creative early-music conductors, and Apollo’s Fire has one of the largest audiences of any Baroque orchestra in North America. Congratulations on your GRAMMY!
What sparked your interest in conducting?
It’s a testament to the work that Apollo’s Fire musicians have done over the years in producing quite a few well-received CD recordings. Our name recognition has grown to the point where we were able to break through that glass ceiling that separates early music from the mainstream world. And AF’s videos have over 2.5 million views on YouTube, so I think that also has helped us develop more visibility and name recognition in the mainstream world.
When I was about 15, I started leading a local ensemble at my church—leading them from the keyboard. After a year or two, my mom suggested that maybe I might like to take a conducting lesson. At first I thought it was a crazy idea. But conducting was fun and I liked it. I took a lot of ballet growing up—it was a big part of my life—so I was used to shaping music through physical gestures.
You played the violin and piano growing up, then went to Wake Forest University to study piano but switched to harpsichord. What drew you to the harpsichord? My first summer in college, I went to the Aspen Music Festival, a double-major in piano and conducting. At the end of that summer, I decided I should pursue conducting, so I switched my major. I was required to take a second instrument as a conducting major, and I really did not want to do violin at all. So I was looking through the list of instruments. There were all these things I’d never played, and then I saw harpsichord. I thought, “That’s got to be much easier than anything else.” I took up harpsichord to fulfill a requirement, but within a month, I could see that the harpsichord was so much better suited to my hands than the piano is, and it was much easier [to play]. With the piano I always had trouble because my hands are very narrow and I couldn’t reach. I was limited to being a Bach and Mozart pianist because I couldn’t reach the chords for Liszt and Brahms and even Beethoven. The keys of the harpsichord are narrower [than a piano’s keys], so your hand position is less 10 conversation APRIL 2019 spread out.
What drew you to early music? In high school I loved Bach and Mozart, and that’s mostly what I played on the piano. Also, [when I was] in high school, the recordings of Mozart on period instruments started coming out. I loved the sounds, the colors of all those instruments. By the time I was 17, it was clear that my dream was to lead a period chamber orchestra. But I thought it was only a dream. I never imagined that I’d be able to do it.
Were there particular recordings that you listened to in high school and college? I was really obsessed with Gustav Leonhardt playing Bach’s D Minor Harpsichord Concerto with his own Baroque orchestra. I listened to that recording every night before bed. And that was the first piece I could play when I switched over to harpsichord. I also listened to a lot of Mozart’s piano concertos and symphonies, especially Mozart’s D Minor Piano Concerto, which was another piece that I played on the piano and loved.
ROGER MASTROIANNI
The group recently won a GRAMMY for its 27th recording, Songs of Orpheus (Best Classical Vocal Album). What advice would you give to students who want to pursue a career in early music?
Apollo’s Fire is a very successful ensemble. What are the main reasons for its success?
You have to be at the top of your game on your instrument. You need an investigative spirit for doing the research, and you need to know your way around a library. We read a lot of treatises to learn about how music was meant to be played at the time it was written. Having a certain amount of initiative and entrepreneurial spirit is helpful for any young classical or early-music musician trying to have a career. The chances of having an audition and getting a job with a symphony orchestra are not that great anymore. Musicians are more likely to have successful careers if they can create some of their own opportunities, think out of the box. Maybe create their own group, like I did, or get together with friends and create a small chamber ensemble.
Even when things are discouraging, you persevere anyway. If you come to a roadblock, then you turn right or you turn left, and you keep going in whatever way you can. Another reason is the very animated performance style of the group. When I’m choosing musicians for the group, I look for musicians who are emotionally expressive on stage. I also encourage individual personalities to come out and shine [on stage]. When we ask audiences what they like best about Apollo’s Fire, they say, “watching the musicians interact on stage.”
Why do you think we need ensembles like Apollo’s Fire that are dedicated to early music? Groups like Apollo’s Fire help to bring new audiences to classical music. We also play historical folk music—programs of Irish, Celtic, Appalachian and Sephardic music that definitely bring in audiences who are not classical concertgoers. They love it, they get hooked, and, in some cases, decide to try our Baroque concerts. And then from there, they decide to try more mainstream classical concerts.
What are some of the biggest challenges Apollo’s Fire has faced? What solutions have you developed? Money is a challenge for any arts organization. What has been most helpful to Apollo’s Fire is that we play each of our subscription concerts at least four times—we play on the east and west sides of Cleveland and in Akron and other venues— so that we’re maximizing our audience and income in relation to the expense of the rehearsal. We’ve done this since our third season. Our CDs help us get more touring engagements, and those help us capture more audiences, more donors, and more grants.
Do you have any final words of wisdom for young musicians? Listen to as much music as possible. Keep your ears open. Listen to recordings all the time. The more repertoires you know, the deeper your understanding of music will be. conversation
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RBI Supports Advanced Student Scholarship At the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (RBI), students of all ages are invited to share in the RBI's priceless and treasured resources. In addition to the BW Conservatory students who have regular access to the RBI's materials, learners from across Northeast Ohio—recent visitors include students from the Hawken School, Cleveland State University and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra—are able to utilize RBI materials to interact closely with the musical past. To see Brahms' own conducting marks or Bach's handwritten annotations in their personal scores both sparks student imagination and helps them to develop a keen sense of how music-making today can be informed by sources like those held in the RBI. One of the RBI’s most exceptional contributions to student learning are its programs aimed at supporting individual research projects by advanced music students. While many private research institutes reserve access to resources only for professional scholars, the faculty and staff of the RBI follow the vision of the institute’s founders in supporting advanced undergraduate scholars in mentored research that will help them gain experience with rare musicological materials. Music theory major Lindsay Rader ’19, recipient of the 2018-2019 RBI Scholars Program’s Gott Scholarship states, “Working with archival documents in the RBI has been so special to me because I see unique stories about individuals and their circles. My work has been a peek into the identity and culture of people who likely would have gone unstudied for many more years to come.” 12
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As the winner of the American Bach Society's Frances Alford Brokaw Grant, Grace Pechianu, a Northwestern University senior, also enjoyed the opportunity to learn from the rarely studied sources held in the RBI. While in residence at the RBI for a week in summer 2018, Grace examined the RBI’s recently acquired 1852 Griepenkerl first editions of J. S. Bach’s Harpischord Concertos, focusing on the Concerto for Two Harpischords in C minor (BWV 1060). Advanced academic music students at BW have also used RBI resources as the basis of thesis and research projects. As the recipient of a 2018-2019 BW Summer Scholars Program award, senior music history major Destinee Siebe ’19 developed a thesis project on the life and works of Harriet Ware, a 20th-century composer whose song cycle “A Day in Arcady” is preserved in the RBI in a score signed by Selma Riemenschneider. Senior music history and organ performance major Chase Castle ’19 drew on his thesis research, which focuses on the early 19th-century American cantata, to curate an exhibit of RBI resources demonstrating the evolution of Protestant hymnody in the same era. Both Chase and Destinee have shared their research in presentations, including Conservatory convocation recitals, in 2018-2019. This year, the RBI welcomes another opportunity for student scholarship with the inauguration of the RBI Educator award (page 13). This award gives a music education major at BW the opportunity to utilize the resources of the RBI in developing scholarly and educational programming connected to the BW Community Arts School.
Music Theory major Lindsay Rader ’19 brings RBI research into the 20th and 21st centuries. When Lindsay Rader was selected as the 20182019 RBI Scholars Program Gott Scholarship recipient, she knew she would pursue a more modern topic. Her current interests and music theory thesis project focus on Christina Kubisch’s early 2000s electronic composition, 5 Electrical Walks, and how analytical practices rooted in acoustic, classical traditions can accommodate the multidimensional sounds Kubisch samples in her work.
RADER
FOGLE
Examining the vast repository of the RBI, Lindsay was drawn to the many scores of late 19th and early 20th centuries. Of particular interest were several first edition scores of tone poems by composer Richard Strauss that contained unique markings by the composer, editor, and pianist Otto Singer II. Her examination of these documents searches for biographical ties among Singer, Strauss, and Joseph Aibl Verlag in addition to asking questions about Singer’s popular piano reductions of these tone poems. Lindsay is currently applying to graduate programs in Music Theory. She will present her research on the Otto Singer scores of Richard Strauss, during Bach Festival, Friday, April 12, 5 p.m. in Fynes Hall.
2019-2020 RBI Scholar Program and Gott Scholarship Recipient Rachel Fogle Music History and Keyboard Performance major Rachel Fogle ’21 seeks to combine her interests in historically informed keyboard performance to explore the RBI’s collection of first-edition piano scores.
RBI Scholars Program—Gott Scholarship The Gott Scholarship, an endowed fund within the Riemenschneider Bach Institute Scholars Program, provides $1,000 to one BW Conservatory undergraduate music major annually to support a mentored individual research project based on the resources of the RBI. The award was established in 2017 in honor of professor emerita Evelyn Gott by Lloyd and Grace Goettler (Gott’s cousin). Current and Previous Recipients 2018-2019: Lindsay Rader 2017-2018: Simeon Brown
Frances Alford Brokaw Grant The Frances Alford Brokaw Grant of $750 is awarded annually to a non-BW undergraduate student to provide support for research at the Riemenschneider Bach Institute on projects relating to Bach or figures in his circle. The award is for residencies of one or more weeks to use the RBI’s resources. For more information, please visit: www.americanbachsociety.org/research. Current and Previous Recipients 2018: Grace Pechianu (Northwestern University)
SANZENBACHER
RBI Educator Award The RBI Scholars Program and BW Community Arts School are pleased to announce the RBI Educator Award, a new undergraduate scholarship in the amount of $1,000 that will support annually one Conservatory music student in creating a portfolio of education initiatives (programs, curriculum extensions, tours, etc.) that connect the assets of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute with programs offered through the BW Community Arts School. The 2019-2020 winner of the first RBI Educator Award is music education major Dylan Sanzenbacher ’20, whose interest in education intersects meaningfully with historical sources: “It is my interest in early music, specifically early keyboard instruments, that has led me to the RBI many times. Referring to facsimiles, early editions of scores, and a multitude of reference materials has helped me to become a more knowledgeable musician and keyboardist. Moving forward, I would like to promote the early keyboard instruments within the RBI and the Conservatory to an audience who would not normally know of the vast resources available to them. I think that a collaboration between the Community Arts School and the RBI would be beneficial to the long-term growth of both programs.” conversation
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Celebrating NEW MUSIC
Celebrating 50 years— Riemenschneider 50th Anniversary Commission Contest SUBMISSION DEADLINE: JUNE 1, 2019 The BW Conservatory of Music Riemenschneider Bach Institute (RBI) and Bach Festival are pleased to issue a “Call for Scores” for the Riemenschneider 50th Commission. The RBI seeks to commission a talented composer to write a new work for the 2020 Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, April 24-26. In addition to a $3,000 monetary prize, the composer will receive a premiere performance by BWV: Cleveland’s Bach Choir and chamber ensemble of the composer’s choosing, all accommodations covered to attend rehearsals and the performance of their work, press/media coverage, and a platform for lectures about their music at the Conservatory. COMMISSION: • SATB Chamber Choir (12 professional singers) and an optional ensemble of up to 4 instruments selected from the standard orchestra, piano, chamber organ, or harpsichord. •
Duration: 8-10 min. in length.
•
The work must be inspired by Bach: the work may include musical quotes and should be linked creatively to Bach in some way.
•
Music must be completed and received by December 5, 2019.
ELIGIBILITY: There are no restrictions or preferences regarding style, nationality, age, gender, race, or religion of the composer. Since the award is a commission, anonymous submission is not necessary. The only limitations are: 1. Applicants must be U.S. citizens. 2. Current employees of Baldwin Wallace University are not eligible to apply. SUBMIT: 1. Two scores in PDF format, one of which must demonstrate the composer’s ability to write for choir. 2. Links to recordings of submitted works (YouTube, SoundCloud, etc.). MIDI is acceptable. 3. A brief (200 words max) description of the proposed Bach-inspired work. 4. One current curriculum vitae that includes applicant’s current address, telephone number, email address, and proof of US citizenship. 5. Deadline for submissions is June 1, 2019. All materials must be submitted via email: bachinst@bw.edu The selection panel will include BW Bach Festival Music Director Dirk Garner and composers Clint Needham and Stephen Hartke. Applicants will be notified of the results no later than July 1, 2019.
&
the Riemenschneider
Bach Institute
Attracting scholars from around the world, the Riemenschneider Bach Institute puts music history at our students’ fingertips.
Dr. Elinore Barber, the first director of the RBI, with a rare score of Bach’s Art of Fugue.
Where else can you find manuscripts in the hand of Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms’ own rehearsal score of his German Requiem, a rare, complete set of partbooks for Renaissance motets, an archive of programs, letters, and pictures from past BW Bach Festivals, and Jerome Robbins’ personal script for Gypsy, all in the same place? The RBI is a hidden gem of the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music.
2019–2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the RBI’s founding in 1969 and of BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Festival, begun a year later. This anniversary is a time to honor the past, but also a time to set the course for the RBI’s future. Our vision for the next 50 years is to expand the RBI into a vibrant center for student and faculty scholarship, not only in Bach, but in many diverse areas of music history. Our 50th anniversary fundraising campaign for the RBI will increase scholarships for students to conduct research in the RBI and bring in even more international scholars who can connect our students and our community to the RBI through seminars and lectures.
Professor Christina Fuhrmann, Conservatory Dean Susan Van Vorst, and guest lecturer Dr. Andrea Moore.
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Paper Conservator Amy Crist preserves Bach Manuscripts.
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Professor Danielle Kuntz works with Conservatory students in theRBI.
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Albert Riemenschneider with a rare print of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
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The year-long celebration will include the kinds of connections that a place like the RBI makes possible. Each event will connect Bach with another strand of music history. Our kickoff event on October 4,“Bach & Beyond,” will feature the Symphonic Wind Ensemble playing an arrangement of Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, followed by cutting-edge music of the present. Other events will feature connections between Bach and music of the world, Bach and the history of BW, and more. The celebration will culminate in Bach Festival 2020, which will feature student research, lectures, concerts, and a composition contest for a work inspired by Bach.
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First Martha Goldsworthy Arnold Fellow, Yo Tomita, with Sandy Eichenberg.
Keyboard performance and music history double major Chase Castle with his American Hymnals Exhibition.
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THE
INTRODUCING
BW COMMUNITY ARTS SCHOOL
Community Arts School Inspires Students to be Their Best
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Fulfilling A Need in Our Community— Art Education for Future Generations With the start of the 2019 calendar year, the 43-year-old Community Music School at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music received a new name: the Community Arts School. The decision was informed by compelling market research that aligns with the University’s desire to expand and diversify its arts education programming for the larger community. This extraordinary venture is family-friendly and ready to offer arts and multidisciplinary opportunities for students of any age and at any level of study. Important findings of the research included recognition of the strength of BW’s reputation in the community, especially for arts-based activities; the community’s desire that BW focus on programs that are engaging and enjoyable and that also include dance, visual arts and children’s theatre; and the growing interest of adults in multidisciplinary arts opportunities.
The Power of Art The Community Arts School attests to how strongly BW’s leaders feel about the beneficial impact of arts education. “We see it as a way to give voice to the young people in our midst who haven’t found their voice yet,” says Susan Van Vorst, Dean of the BW Conservatory of Music. Dean Van Vorst and Community Arts School Director Adam Sheldon ’11 stress the character-building nature of arts education. “With our top-notch educators in the field, we offer students a context or framework to express themselves through various modalities of art,” Sheldon says. “Through those experiences, the students develop self-confidence and critical-thinking skills.” Prior to this year, Sheldon was the director of the Community Music School (CMS), which had provided year-round music and arts education for all ages since 1976. CMS was established to offer Dalcroze™ classes and music lessons for
younger children. In recent years, Sheldon says, BW leaders have sought to broaden its reach. When Olmsted Performing Arts (OPA), which offered youth camps and classes in theatre, film, dance, music, voice and art since its founding in 2003, decided to cease operations, the University stepped in to welcome those who participated in its programs.
Haven for Exploration and Fun Together, they now are elevating the platform of their offerings. “With the Community Arts School, we have an opportunity to deepen our social engagement with students of every age and every ability,” Sheldon says. “We want to expand the meaning of community to provide a sense of home and a safe environment for young people to explore the arts. And we want them to have fun.” All non-musical arts classes are located in the Helwig Whistle Stop building in Berea, where Olmsted Performing Arts held its classes. All music classes remain at the BW Conservatory. The Community Arts School’s management team, led by Director Sheldon, is composed of faculty and administrators from Baldwin Wallace. CMS previously served about 2,000 households in Berea, Olmsted Falls and Strongsville. With the merger and new programming, the Community Arts School will serve more than 4,000 households. This fall, the school will offer a full range of programs enhanced by revised curricula. “A period of learning and strategic planning will continue, as we ground ourselves in creating a solid educational foundation in the context of our university setting,” Sheldon says. “Faculty and the community will serve as the architects of our educational programming. We will be building a faculty council who will help provide strategic insight to our community programs and examine ways in which BW students can augment the instruction provided.” The school also will host focus groups with parents and participants, he says.
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BW COMMUNITY ARTS SCHOOL A Community of Learners Sheldon notes that the BW Conservatory of Music has a long history of bringing school-age and adult learners to campus during the summer for focused music study through workshops, camps and training institutes. These programs will continue under the Community Arts School. Adults can enroll in professional development sessions that cover topics from repairing instruments to website design to Orff-Schulwerk certification. Recently, the school incorporated the renowned LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework into its portfolio of summer offerings. A bodybased method of vocal pedagogy, it provides information about vocal teaching and research for teachers and speech pathologists, and attracts more than 100 educators and professionals from around the country and the globe. Established nearly 20 years ago, BW’s middle school summer program is one of the largest in the state, serving nearly 600 students in weeklong string, band or music theatre camps. Even more senior is the 85-year-old Conservatory Summer Institute program, which serves high school musicians, many of whom want to study music in college. All accepted by audition, 120 instrumentalists come from across the nation for 10 days in July. Students work with Conservatory faculty and guest artists in a specific area of concentration in strings, wind and percussion, choral or keyboard. A similar institute is offered for high school vocal students, who plan to study vocal performance or opera in college. Working with BW vocal and opera faculty, they focus on voice, acting, movement and audition techniques for one week in the summer. In the process, participants in both institutes experience a little of life as Conservatory freshmen, complete with dormitory living and dining hall meals. Not surprisingly, at least one-third of incoming BW Conservatory students are alumni of these two summer institutes. Community implies inclusion, and the Community Arts School is accessible to all, thanks to financial aid dollars. Some of the funds are generated by an endowment, Fund for Access, which underwrites participation for anyone in need, and also provides scholarships for faculty to bolster their training and skills. “We level the playing field, so that regardless of socio-economic background, all participants identify as BW students,” Sheldon says.
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Numerous scholarly studies articulate the positive outcomes from young people’s exposure to, and participation in, the arts. Intellectual, personal and social growth occur; problem-solving, creative and academic skills are sharpened; and self-confidence deepens. Similar benefits accrue for adults who engage with the arts. As Dean Van Vorst says, “We see the Community Arts School as a way for the students to develop into extraordinary human beings who value the arts.”
One seat for one future
The Conservatory Campaign for extraordinary students
Your one seat for one future sponsorship will launch a deserving student into a career path that will impact and inspire others. We provide the expert training and extraordinary mentorship; you provide scholarship support that opens doors of opportunity for the next generation of artist citizens. Add your name to a seat in the newly renovated Fynes Hall and you’ll be ensuring the future of a deserving student through the Conservatory Memorial Scholarship, an endowed fund providing essential tuition support for multiple music students each year. Seat sponsorships are $5,000. For a private tour of our renovated hall, further information and your seat selection, contact Dean Susan Van Vorst, 440-826-2362 or svanvors@bw.edu.
We saved you a seat in our future.
CONSERVATORY of MUSIC
Nancy Guzman, ’20 Percussion Performance Los Angeles, CA Conservatory Memorial Scholarship recipient
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CONSERVATORY of MUSIC
ALUMNI SUCCESS
CONSERVATORY GRAD JOINS ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Cleveland native Mark Maliniak ’08 was named fourth/utility trumpet with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, known for its creativity and diverse community outreach and education programs.
PERCUSSION ALUMNA WORKS IN LA, TOURS INTERNATIONALLY Los Angeles-based percussionist Kristen Klehr ’10 tours internationally with Scrap Arts Music. In her multifaceted career, she also owns “Produced by BEAR,” a concert production company, and teaches music business at Mount St. Mary’s University.
MUSICAL THEATRE ALUMNUS ON TOUR WITH HAMILTON After graduating in 2018, Tre Frazier spent his summer at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival followed by Great Lakes Theater, where he performed in “Mamma Mia” and “Pride and Prejudice.” Immediately after closing at Great Lakes in November, he joined the First National Tour of “Hamilton.” Frazier is a principal standby for Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Marquis De Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson, John Laurens/Philip Hamilton, and Hercules Mulligans/James Madison.
ALUMNA IS VP OF BOOKING FOR PREMIER VENUES IN LA Hallie Yavitch ’94 was hired as the VP of booking for Staples Center and Microsoft Arena in Los Angeles. Yavitch spent more than 10 years working for the Cleveland Cavaliers and their home venue, Quicken Loans Arena, and was promoted to VP of event booking for the Cavaliers in 2017. Yavitch will lead the restructuring of the booking and marketing teams for both venues as a part of a larger reorganization effort.
CONSERVATORY ALUMNUS PLAYS FRENCH HORN FOR LOUISIANA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA After pursuing his graduate degree in French horn performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Josiah Bullach ’15 was awarded the position of Associate/Assistant Principal Horn for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in 2016.
ALUMNA’S ARTS ENDEAVORS INCLUDE FOUNDING WOMEN ROCK CLE Alison Tomin ’10 is founder of the up-and-coming roots rock band AJ & The Woods and Women Rock CLE, an annual one-day music festival in Cleveland. The festival helps raise the profile of women musicians and their bands while benefiting local organizations that serve women in the community. Tomin also is an active arts management consultant and serves as the box office lead for Earth and Air: String Orchestra, a Cleveland ensemble dedicated to the exploration and performance of string orchestra music from the 19th to the 21st centuries. 20 conversation APRIL 2019 20 2019 Bach Festival
VOCAL PERFORMANCE ALUMNA PLACES FIRST IN "NEW VOICES" ESSAY CONTEST Soprano Hillary LaBonte ’08 won first place in the national “New Voices” essay contest, open to college students with the theme of the 21st century musician. LaBonte’s essay, on Amy Beth Kirsten’s “Ophelia Forever,” was published by I CARE IF YOU LISTEN magazine, which partnered with 21CM magazine. LaBonte is pursuing a doctoral degree in Contemporary Performance at Bowling Green State University and is also half of Duo Rossignol. CONSERVATORY GRAD RECEIVES SOCIAL JUSTICE RECOGNITION Sean Ellis Hussey ’14 has been recognized for fusing music with social justice. Along with Swedish Grammy-nominated a cappella group Åkervinda, Hussey won a grant-funded residency at the Lund University Inter Arts Center in 2017. Together, they began “Connecting Cultures Through Music,” to reduce harmful biases between refugees and Swedes. Hussey presented the project at the Clinton Foundation Global Initiative University Conference. He also was awarded the 2018 Matthew Freeman Award for Social Justice from Roosevelt University’s Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation for his work about the nation’s foster care system.
LINCOLN CENTER GIVES CONSERVATORY ALUMNA PRESTIGIOUS CHAMBER MUSIC AWARD The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has recognized violist, violinist and educator Deborah Barrett Price ’84 for Extraordinary Service to Chamber Music. Each year, as the founder of Chamber Music Connection, Barrett Price brings together approximately 100 musicians of all ages and abilities to perform in chamber ensembles. VOCAL PERFORMANCE ALUMNUS DEBUTS WITH SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY In February 2019, Michael Jankosky ’07, made his solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Andras Schiff. Jankosky performed as tenor soloist in Mendelssohn Symphony No. 2 “Lobgesang.” In March, he also was the tenor soloist for Bach’s St. John Passion with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.
GRADS FEATURED IN BROADWAY REVIVAL TOUR OF CATS Keri Renee Fuller ’15 and Dan Hoy ’18 are Grizabella and Munkustrap in the North American tour of the first-ever Broadway revival of “Cats.” The multi-year tour opened at Providence Performing Arts Center in January of 2019 and will play 24 cities in its first season.
ALUMNUS PLAYS FOR WORLD-RENOWNED CIRQUE DU SOLEIL Kevin Johnson ’12 is traveling the world playing trumpet and guitar for Cirque du Soleil’s KOOZA. At BW, Johnson studied trumpet performance and was one of the founders of the BW Beatles. He received his graduate degree in jazz studies at Indiana University and has recently published his Beatles transcriptions and his second book with the venerated Hal Leonard Corporation. conversation 2019 2019 BachAPRIL Festival
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HONOR ROLL OF CONSERVATORY DONORS
Thank You.
With grateful appreciation, we recognize individual, corporate and foundation donors of $100 or more to the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music from February 2, 2018 to February 1, 2019. These generous investors have expanded learning opportunities, made possible guest artist residencies, provided scholarships, purchased instruments and other essential resources, and lifted the level of artistry within our BW community. $25,000+
$5,000-9,999
Mr. Stephen W. Boesel ’68 Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Mr. Gordon and Mrs. Agnes ’76 Dover Martha Holden Jennings Foundation Kulas Foundation Dr. Anthony and Mrs. Patricia ’91 Lauria Mr. Scott ’89 and Mrs. Julie Mawaka The Nord Family Foundation Mr. Charles ’85 and Mrs. Katherine Rotuno
Mrs. Mitta L. Angell ’63 Mrs. Jean A. Astrop ’57 Dr. Robert and Mrs. Janet ’66 Brown Mr. Howard and Mrs. Shirley ’56 Engle Mr. Stephen ’65 and Mrs. Betsy Pettit Mr. Randolph and Mrs. Nancy Spoth Ms. Susan D. Van Vorst
$10,000-24,999
Mr. Robert and Mrs. Janet Roll ’57 Archer Mrs. Lois A. Armington ’51 Mr. Terry and Mrs. Susan Autry Mr. Walter and Mrs. Laura ’88 Avdey Mr. Clifford O. Bemis ’70 Mr. Dennis and Amy ’81 Bender Dr. Catherine Bremner Mr. Thomas ’68 and Mrs. Jane ’67 Brooks
Mr. David N. Bertoni ’83 Mr. Nathan Cherry Dr. Edward S. Godleski Mrs. Leda J. Linderman Ms. Carole L. Maatz Mrs. Judith H. Minium ’82 Nordson Corporation Ms. Elizabeth L. Swailes ’65 22
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$1,000-4,999
Dr. Scott Burnham ’79 and Ms. Dawna Lemaire ’80 The Cleveland Foundation Mr. Charles and Mrs. Char Fowler Mr. Robert and Mrs. Jayne Garrett Mr. Lloyd and Mrs. Grace Goettler Dr. Joyce M. Hagel-Silverman ’59 Mrs. Elaine Hammond ’55 Mr. Edward Han Mr. Richard ’80 and Mrs. Christine ’79 Holdrup Mr. Alan R. Javorcky ’61 Mr. Thomas H. Konkoly ’68 Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Laura Krus Dr. Edward ’71 and Mrs. Katherine ’71 Kvet Laboratory Corporation of America Mr. John and Mrs. Nancy Lupo Dr. John and Mrs. Ruth Mercer Mrs. Nancy C. Miller ’63 Mr. Robert Pierce Presser Foundation Mr. Thomas ’66 and Mrs. Helen ’66 Rathburn Mr. John ’61 and Mrs. Nancy Riemenschneider Mr. William C. Sano ’66 Mrs. Doris M. Snedeker ’46 Mr. James and Mrs. Carol Templeman Mr. Jonathan G. Terry ’76 Mr. Boyd H. ’62 * and Mrs. Judith Warnsman Mr. Jeff Zadroga
$500-999 Anonymous (2) Mr. Theodore ’66 and Mrs. Esther Barto ’68 Mr. Joseph and Ms. Carolyn ’92 Bearlepp Mrs. Joyce and Mrs. Barbara Benjamin Berea Labor Day Oktoberfest Inc. Ms. Rosemary Boston ’62 and Ms. Scarlett Daley Dr. Patrick and Mrs. Angela ’78, ’83 Cosiano Dr. Robert ’65 and Mrs. Marcia ’93 Ebert Ernst & Young General Electric Company Dr. Joseph ’81 and Mrs. Joan Hruby Mr. David A. Leyerle ’61 Mr. Keith W. Mathews Mr. Ralph E. Moody ’80 Mr. Dwight and Mrs. Shirley Oltman
Mr. George Paidas Mr. Wendell ’50 and Mrs. Mary Parr Mr. Frank Shoemaker ’87 and Ms. Marta Perez-Stable ’81 Mr. Steven F. Smith ’86 Mr. Jack Sutte and Ms. Audra Zarlenga Mrs. Jean A. Szabo ’49 Mr. Eric Burgmann and Ms. Linda Vaccariello ’72 Ms. Leslie A. VanSyckle ’68 Dr. Marc and Mrs. Julie Weagraff
$250-499 Ms. Sharon L. Beale ’60 Mr. Shermann Bishop Rev. Dale ’68 and Mrs. Dorella Bond ’68 Ms. Sue L. Bremner Mr. Richard J. Cherba ’60 Dr. Loris and Mrs. Deanna ’83 Chobanian Mr. Mark ’88 and Mrs. Karen ’87 Danni Mr. Stephen and Mrs. Sheila Davies Dr. William ’61 and Mrs. Carol ’62 Foley Mr. Jonathan ’62 and Mrs. Helen Foote Mr. Paul ’64 and Mrs. Laura Goss Mr. Alec and Mrs. Judy Hagerty Mr. Paul ’64 and Mrs. Maryanne Heidemann Mr. William ’55 and Mrs. Patricia ’55 Hilbrink Mr. William Johnston ’74, ’76 and Ms. Cynthia Peck ’72 Mr. Donald and Mrs. Anna Marie ’78 Katt Mr. Chin and Mrs. Inja Kim Mrs. Nancy L. Langston ’67 Dr. Richard and Mrs. Laura ’83 Little Dr. David M. Lowry ’60 Mr. Mark N. Lysyj ’92 Dr. James and Mrs. Sharon Matia Mr. Bob Mast Dr. Robert Mayerovitch and Dr. Laura Kennelly Mr. John ’68 and Mrs. Katherine ’66 Musat New Music School Mrs. Gail D. Ott ’64 Dr. Dennis ’75 and Mrs. Roseann ’77 Parks Mrs. Genevieve G. Price ’59 Mr. Jay Riemenschneider
$100-249 Pastor Kenneth and Mrs. Lois Ballas Mr. Scott A. Barth ’82 Ms. Roslyn Block Mr. Randy ’72, ’88 and Mrs. Constance ’72, ’80 Border Dr. Timothy ’69 and Mrs. Phyllis Bratton Mr. Dale Brott Mr. Steven ’97 and Mrs. Meagan ’97 Bruno Dr. Carolyn J. Bryan ’85 Mr. Lloyd Bunker and Ms. Tony Bianchi Ms. Mary Margaret Burnett Mr. Ted and Mrs. Luann Burnham Mr. Craig ’70 and Mrs. Lynn ’70 Caldwell Dr. Brendan Caldwell Mrs. Janet L. Campbell-Kuhl ’57 Mr. Paul Cary and Ms. Sue Yelanjian Ms. Barbara A. Chadwick ’80 Dr. Sally Childs ’71 Mr. Paul and Mrs. Nancy Christensen Mrs. Jennifer K. L. Chung ’17 Drs. Vilnis and May Ciemins Mr. Stuart Comstock-Gay Dr. Victoria Covington Dr. Mary Ann Craig ’69 Dr. Cary Dachtyl ’78, ’79 and Mrs. Linda Dauwalder-Dachtyl Mr. George ’85 and Mrs. Heather Daina Dr. Bryan and Mrs. Maryellen Davis Mrs. Nancy R. DePauw Ms. Pamela Deuel ’66 Mr. David Dickens, Jr.
Prof. Mary Dobrea-Grindahl and Mr. Eric Grindahl Mr. Daniel and Mrs. Maria ’02 Dunst Dr. Martha Sullivan-Eberhard and Mr. Gerard Eberhard Mrs. Sandra Elliott ’61 Mr. Edward Erbach Mr. Edmund and Mrs. Jane Falk Mr. Jonathan Feaver Dr. Stephen ’83 and Mrs. Jennifer Ferre Ms. Linda L. Flinn ’68 Mr. Richard Foote Mr. Americo and Mrs. Nancy Forestieri Dr. Andrea Franklin Dr. Christina E. Fuhrmann Mr. Richard Fulchiron Ms. Linda M. Gabor ’05 Dr. Michael ’66 and Mrs. Kay Galloway Mr. Quentin and Mrs. Karen ’64 Geary Ms. Olive B. Gerber Mr. Edward L. Gibbs Ms. Bonzie M. Gilbert ’57 Mr. William and Mrs. Mary Glaeser Mr. Mark and Mrs. Thea Graham Mr. John Gruneich Mr. Harold and Mrs. Sceola ’59 Graves Dr. Laura Greenwald ’79 and Mr. David Strom Mrs. Carol A. Haines ’55 Mr. Terry A. Halco ’81 Mr. Bruce and Mrs. Susan Hall Mr. Paul and Mrs. Janet Harlamert Mr. John and Mrs. Jane ’68 Harrison Ms. Renata Heinemeyer Mr. Peter and Mrs. Shirley Henderson Mr. Michael and Mrs. Cathryn ’68 Henneberry Ms. Lois G. Holmes Mr. Stephen ’66 and Mrs. Carol Hosmer Mr. and Mrs. William Huenefeld Mr. William ’56 and Mrs. Mary Lou ’58 Hunger Dr. William and Dr. Nancy ’75 Jantsch Ms. Virginia Jennings ’54 Ms. Laura A. Johnson ’98 Mr. Keith and Mrs. Marilyn ’52 Johnson Mr. David and Prof. Lalene Kay Dr. Chris and Anne ’84 Kelton Ms. Anna M. Keyes Mr. Kye Y. and Mrs. Moon Kim Mr. Raymond ’69 and Mrs. Marilyn ’70 Kinat
Prof. George L. Kiteley Ms. Marcia Kneisley ’75 Mr. Steve and Mrs. Amanda Kost Mrs. Sandra S. Koszegi ’62 Mr. Shankar and Mrs. Ranjani Krishnamurthy Mr. Charles and Mrs. Laurel Laubacher Mr. Paul ’57 and Mrs. Patricia Lawrence Mr. Bruce Leff Mr. Eric and Mrs. Linda Lupson Ms. Dorene Marsh Mrs. Gwendolyn E. McElwaney ’74 Mr. Thomas ’79 and Mrs. Elyse McGee Mr. George McGovern Mr. Kenneth Mehalko ’61 and Ms. Beverly Wehr Ms. Beverly J. Miller ’80, ’92 Mountain View United Methodist Church Mr. James and Mrs. Darla Moyer Mr. Paul and Mrs. Michelle Mucha Mu Phi Epsilon Mr. Ronald H. Muth ’69 Dr. Clinton ’04 and Mrs. Hillery ’03 Needham Mr. Richard and Mrs. Kris ’88 Tabler-Nemeth Ms. Nieca L. Nowels ’96 Mr. Donald ’60 and Mrs. Mary Ann Obert Ms. Susan L. Otto Mr. Robert ’67 and Mrs. Barbara ’66 Paulson Ms. Sara Phillips Mr. Donald ’69 and Mrs. Nancy Phillips Dr. Jeffrey ’69 and Mrs. Alison ’68 Poland Mr. Kyle R. Post ’06 Mr. Robert and Mrs. Nancy ’53 Powell Mr. Fred ’65 and Mrs. Linda ’65 Probeck Ms. Sally Rachek Mr. John P. Reagan Mr. George and Mrs. Letitia Richard Ms. Betsy J. Riemenschneider Mrs. Kara Riemenschneider Mr. Louis and Mrs. Carolyn ’59 Rosse’ Ms. Kathleen H. Sands ’66 Mr. Donald and Mrs. Jane Schriver Mr. Timothy F. Smith Mrs. Marie Smith ’50 Ms. Susan A. Smith ’73 Mr. Diedrick Snoek Mr. Roy H. Springborn Mr. Stephan Sroka
Dr. Michael and Mrs. Angeline Strasser Mr. Bernard and Mrs. Annette ’66 Szawan Ms. Sara L. Thomas ’89 Mr. David ’17 and Mrs. Heidi Urbanic Mr. Adam Vicens Rev. Ginny M. Vigrass ’62 Mr. Ronald and Mrs. Mary Jane Warzel Mr. John and Mrs. Rebecca ’75 Weber Dr. Edward and Mrs. Dorothy Weisberg Rev. Kenneth ’58 and Mrs. Sharon Williams Rev. Thomas Wilson ’71 and Mr. John Will * Deceased
with gratitude
Mr. James Riggs Dr. Julian and Mrs. Carol Ross Mr. Thomas ’72 and Mrs. Addie ’72 Schissler Mr. George and Mrs. Penny ’71 Sent Mr. John ’57 and Mrs. Dee ’57 Sheringer Mrs. Ruth A. Simmons ’58 Ms. Jean Slonneger Mr. Lyle ’01 and Mrs. Leslie Steelman Mr. Dale Turk ’75 and Mrs. Mary Alford ’73 Dr. Joanne M. Uniatowski Mr. Charles Valley Mr. Garrit Wamelink Ms. Hannah J. Weisberg ’15
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BACH FESTIVAL ENDOWMENTS, DONORS & FRIENDS OF THE CONSERVATORY
PRESERVING THE BALDWIN WALLACE BACH FESTIVAL FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS Bach Festival Endowed Funds are permanent named endowments that generate important financial support for the Bach Festival and ensure artistic integrity and quality of performance. We gratefully acknowledge the following gifts made to remember and honor.
The Adrianne and Robert Andrews Bach Festival Fund in Honor of Amelia and Elias Fadil The Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival Endowment Fund New gifts given in memory of Boyd H. Warnsman ‘62 Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. David ’60 and Patricia ’61, ‘91 Beckman Mrs. Laura Brown Ms. Judith A. Cantwell Mr. and Mrs. Gary ’61 and Karen Clawson Ms. Anne Esarove Mrs. Barbara P. Evans Mr. George Graham and Mr. Michael Fleenor Institute for Learning in Retirement at BW Mr. and Mrs. Chin and Inja Kim Lt. Cmdr. Richard Langille Mr. and Mrs. Eugene and Constance McKeown Mountain View United Methodist Church Mr. Kye and Mrs. Moon Kim Mr. and Mrs. James ’72 and Sandra Mulroy Ms. Margaret Proctor Mr. and Mrs. Roger and Ellen Reeves Mr. and Mrs. George and Letitia Richard Mr. and Mrs. John ’61 and Nancy Riemenschneider Ms. Emily H. Roberts Mr. and Mrs. Gary and Jean Scothon Ms. Cynthia Smith-Rainey Mr. and Mrs. James and Carolyn Stevenson Mrs. Judith Warnsman Mr. and Mrs. Samuel and Mary Jane Weaver Mr. and Mrs. James ’64 and Marcia Wonnacott
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Mr. Harry L. Aiken Mrs. William B. Astrop John G. Beach Berea Labor Day Oktoberfest Inc. Esther Marting Berger Mrs. Verna Hertzler Beyer Lucille G. and Walter T. Beyer Dr. and Mrs. John M. Blocher Rosemary Boston and Scarlett Daley (in memory of Holly Arden Ring) John Charles Christian (in permanent memory of Dr. Joseph Albrecht and Mrs. Sophie Albrecht) Erwin Cochran Helene Corzelius Mrs. George M. Day Eric Lionel Dalheim Mr. and Mrs. William Didelius Rev. Paul E. Froman Dr. Miriam Gelvin Norman and Thelma Merner Goldsword Charles and Ellen Gorham Dorothy Grover Miss Edna M. Hassler Lloyd and Mildred Hoffman
Kadel Family Fund Rudolf D. Kämper Mr. & Mrs. Edward A. and Thecla A. Kemmler Mildred Martin Kerschner Artie Smith Kirby (given by Patricia Kirby Lauria) Fynette and E. J. Kulas Vincent D. Lauria (given by Dr. Anthony T. Lauria) Mary Jeanne Macosko-Longsworth Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Manko John L. Marting Josephine S. Mayer Dr. Paul O. Mayer Lillian J. Munk Lesley Newton Gladys Locke Parker Doris A. Peake Mary Marting Pendell Dr. William D. and Ruth Pickering Dr. George Poinar, Festival Music Director 1948-1974 Captain Ward and Mrs. Wilma (Riemenschneider) Powell Dr. Michael Quigley Nicholas A. and Margaret L. Raycheff
LONG LIVE...
Dr. Albert and Mrs. Selma (Marting) Riemenschneider, Festival Founders Edwin and Marybeth Riemenschneider John K. Riemenschneider Paul A. Riemenschneider Susan Riemenschneider Thomas A. Riemenschneider Sophie Schlather A. Benedict Schneider Jr., M.D. Adolph Benedict and Ila Roberts Schneider Albert Boynton Storms William Henry Vodrey III and Evelyn Stroud Vodrey Mildred Walker Barbara Vodrey Wamelink Roy and Bessie Markell Williams Reinald H. Winters Mrs. Frances Zivney Vera Zugich
THE BW BACH FESTIVAL LEGACY AND THE ASPIRATIONS OF OUR STUDENT MUSICIANS
2019 BACH FESTIVAL DONORS As of March 15, the individuals listed below made contributions to the 2019 Bach Festival. The names of donors whose gifts were received after that date are recognized in the lobby of the Kulas Musical Arts Building. SELMA CIRCLE $5,000+ Kulas Foundation
RIEMENSCHNEIDER FELLOWS $1,000+ Mrs. Joan Kämper Mr. John ’61 and Mrs. Nancy Riemenschneider
Mrs. Judy Riemenschneider Mrs. Judith Warnsman
SPONSORS $500+
Anonymous Dr. John M. Blocher, Jr. ’40 Ms. Anita Evans and Ms. Leslie Almond Mr. Thomas Konkoly ’68 Dr. Anthony and Mrs. Patricia ’91 Lauria Mr. Keith W. Mathews Mr. Paul Penko and Prof. Susan Penko Shoemaker Family Fund
BENEFACTORS $250+
Mr. Terry and Mrs. Susan Autry Dr. Bryan R. and Mrs. Maryellen Davis Friends of the Conservatory
Mr. William Johnston ’74, MBA ’76 and Ms. Cynthia Peck ’72 Mr. Weber S. Lauh ’72 Dr. Richard and Mrs. Laura ’83 Little Mr. Thomas ’66 and Mrs. Helen ’66 Rathburn Mr. Jay Riemenschneider Mr. and Mrs. Garrit V. Wamelink
PATRONS $100+
Mrs. Janet Roll Archer ’57 Pastor Kenneth and Mrs. Lois Ballas Dr. Brian and Mrs. Anne Decker ’84 Beck Drickman/Nadler Family Dr. Robert ’65 and Mrs. Marcia ’93 Ebert Mr. Ross ’77 and Mrs. Suzanne Eyer Mr. Richard ’70, ’76 and Mrs. Cleda ’83, ’90 Fletcher
Mr. Americo and Mrs. Nancy Forestieri Dr. Christina Fuhrmann Mr. Edward L. Gibbs Mr. William E. Glaeser Mr. Bruce and Mrs. Susan Hall Mr. Paul and Mrs. Janet Harlamert Mr. Peter and Mrs. Shirley Henderson Mrs. Leda Linderman Mr. James ’69 and Mrs. Constance ’73 Mehrling Ms. Betsy Riemenscheider Mrs. Kara Riemenschneider Mr. Tom and Mrs. Sarah Beyer ’69, ’83 Rosich Mr. and Mrs. Donald and Jane Schriver Mr. Roy H. Springborn Rev. Ginny Vigrass ’62 Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth Lane Williams
FRIENDS OF THE CONSERVATORY Founded in 1963, the Friends of the Conservatory (formerly the Conservatory Women’s Committee) has offered ongoing support to the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory programs and students, through membership, fundraising concerts, and other events.
Each year the organization provides student scholarships, financial support, and receptions for the Conservatory. We extended grateful thanks and proudly recognize its 55 years of extraordinary service to the Conservatory. www.bw.edu/conservatory-friends
Teresa and Barry Adkins Pamela Artz Susan and Terry Autry Deborah Barber** Dave and Kathy* McKenna Barber Bryan Bowser Nancy Lee Bowser* Margaret Brooks Terry Janet Brown Kara & Eric Burr Janet Campbell-Kuhl Patricia Ciancutti*** Anne Cole Judy Davis Tracy and Gary DeCock Wilda Donegan Christine and Matthew Drettwan Celia Duffy Bonnie Eggers Anita Evans** Jean Fadil Jane Falk Michelle Ferguson Molly Force** Sharon Ford Nancy and Americo Forestieri
Laura Kennelly Marsha** and Kevin Kolke Tom Konkoly** Amanda and Steve Kost Meredith Kurtz Felicia and Charles Landry** Leda Linderman Elenore Long** Sheree Lucas Alice Maslach Rose Mary Matejka Katherine Musat Liese Nainiger Diane and Bobby Nelin Dolores Oleksiak Tracy Wachtman Ondrejko Dr. John O’Toole** Edie Pearson** Jean and Mark Peracchio Diane Phillips** Helen* and Tom Rathburn Craig Reynolds Judy Riemenschneider* Nancy and John Riemenschneider Jay Riemenschneider Anna and Jim Riemenschneider
Camile and Mark Forster Jacquelyn Fogle Bill Fraser Richard Fulchiron Lori Fuller Christina Fuhrmann Christina Gentilcore Alberta Gill Kathy Good Laura and Paul Goss Marsha Graser** Sandra Haffey Susan Hall* Jan Harlamert Mary and Leo Harwas Erika Haskell Linda Helmer** Tracy Henderson and Jim Simmons Mark and Jean Higgins, Stephanie Higgins Debbie Holley Lois Hubler Mary Lou Hunger Lisa Judge Nancy Kahler Joan Kamper**
Jean and Jim Robejsek Amy and John Rosenberg Caroline Rudin Karen and Brian Schindler Janice Schmidt Claire Spooner** Shannon Street, Shannon Lucille Szabo Carol and Jim Templeman Consolina Templeman* Carol Thompson Laura Troyer Dean Susan Van Vorst Virginia Walker Laura Ward Judith Warnsman* Martha** and Irwin Wason Chris Webster Amy West Camilla Yoder Laurine Young Alaura Ziegler *Officers **Board of Directors ***Charter Member conversation
APRIL 2019 25
THE FIRST COLLEGIATE BACH FESTIVAL IN THE NATION
1933
BACH FESTIVAL HISTORY Albert Riemenschneider was born into a musical family and showed exceptional early musical talent. When he was just a 19-year-old student at German Wallace College (later to become Baldwin Wallace), he was asked by the Board of Trustees to become Director of the Music Department. When Albert married Selma Marting in 1905, the couple extended their honeymoon in Europe so that Albert could study organ and music theory and Selma could take voice lessons. In the 1920s and 30s, Albert and Selma made seven trips to France, taking Conservatory students to study with leading musicians. On these trips Albert began to acquire rare manuscripts, especially those related to Bach’s work. In 1933 Albert and Selma were inspired to found the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival following a visit to the Bethlehem Bach Festival. On their return trip, the couple discussed the possibility of providing professional-level performances of Bach for the people of Northeast Ohio, while simultaneously offering an opportunity for Conservatory students to experience the best in performance standards. While Albert began to plan the first Festival, Selma obtained funding from several benefactors who enabled the creation of the Bach Festival and established an ongoing tradition of patron support that has allowed the Festival to thrive, maintaining and expanding an annual event that has now extended for 86 years.
Albert and Selma Riemenschneider founded the Bach Festival in 1933, invited leading professional soloists from around the world and realized that with a chorus of Conservatory students they could create a festival of both artistic and academic excellence here at Baldwin Wallace. 26
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APRIL 2019
As the Festival grew over years of annual performances, new traditions expanded the scope of activities. Beginning with the first Festival, a brass choir played chorales from the Marting Hall tower to an audience seated on the adjacent lawn. In 1936 Albert conceived and implemented the concept of rotating Bach’s four major works for chorus and orchestra in sequence, so that Conservatory students and Festival attendees could experience the B-minor Mass, the St. John Passion, the St. Matthew Passion and the Christmas Oratorio over a four-year period. Following the 50th Anniversary Festival in 1982, two Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival concerts were performed at the “Festival of Festivals” in Washington D.C. at the invitation of The Kennedy Center. Since 1975, all works performed in Bach Festival programs have been sung in their original languages, with English translations provided for the audience. In addition, performance ensembles have been reduced to more historically appropriate proportions. Over time the Festival has grown not only to a full weekend, but to a year-long celebration, with additional concerts and presentations by Bach scholars, Conservatory faculty, and national and international artists. Several esteemed conductors have led the Bach Festival after Albert’s retirement. Most notably, Maestro Dwight Oltman served as Festival Music Director for 39 seasons. Oltman brought distinguished Bach performers from Canada and
Europe along with America’s premiere artists to perform at the Festival. One of his performances of the St. Matthew Passion was broadcast on PBS and helped to establish his reputation as one of America’s leading interpreters of Bach’s music. Stuart Raleigh, who served as Festival Choral Director for 34 years from 1974-2008, established the Motet Choir specifically to perform at the Bach Festival. The Motet Choir is now considered the flagship vocal ensemble of the Conservatory. In 2014, Dr. Dirk Garner, who serves as the Gigax Chair for Choral Studies, was appointed as the Festival Artistic Director. Dr. Garner is interested in celebrating the exploration of Bach’s legacy, not only through his music, but also through the impact Bach has had on composers for more than 250 years.
THE RIEMENSCHNEIDER BACH INSTITUTE In 1953, Selma Riemenschneider, widow of Albert Riemenschneider, formally presented the Bach Library to Baldwin Wallace College. The collection was the culmination of Albert’s lifetime’s effort to amass Bach-oriented archival materials, manuscripts, first editions, and scores. Sixteen years later, when Dr. Warren Scharf assumed the role of director of the Conservatory of Music, he and Albert and Selma’s son, Dr. Edwin Riemenschneider, discussed ways to expand the collection and make it more accessible to scholars and musicians. They conceived the idea of an institute headed by a recognized Bach scholar. In September of 1969 the Riemenschneider Bach Institute was officially opened. Dr. Elinore Barber, whose background included a long-held scholarly interest in Bach, was named Founding Director. For the next 28 years, Dr. Barber led the Institute, expanding its holdings, hosting illustrious scholars, increasing the collection’s accessibility to students, faculty, musicians, and scholars, and initiating publication of BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute. Dr. Melvin Unger succeeded her as Director in 1998. A native of Canada, with choral music degrees from the Universities of Saskatchewan, Oregon, and Illinois, and a former student of Bach specialist Helmuth Rilling, Dr. Unger held the Riemenschneider Chair in Music until 2015. Starting in 2014, a series of initiatives were launched to enhance the organization, accessibility, and continued preservation of the Institute’s entire collection. The first major component was the digital automation of the entire catalog, allowing, for the first time in the Institute’s history, local circulation of some of the less rare items in the collection. The second major component involved reconfiguring the layout of the collection, which allowed for the addition of teaching space. The final part of the initiative was aimed at significant upgrades to the vault, which houses the Institute’s extremely rare and valuable holdings. (Continued on page 29)
RBI Council
Friends of the RBI
Lindsay Rader RBI Student Scholar
Mr. Peter Beerwerth Mrs. Erin E. Broadhurst Ms. Nanette G. Canfield Dr. Loris O. Chobanian Dr. Kent Cleland Dr. Harold Cole Dr. Martin David Dr. Robert R. Ebert Dr. Raymond Erikson Mr. Sean F. Gabriel Dr. Randall Goldberg Dr. Mary Greer Mrs. Susan Hall Dr. Robert Helmer Mr. Thomas E. Huenefeld Mrs. Mary Lou Hunger Mrs. Joan Kämper Prof. Nicole Keller Dr. J. Reilly Lewis Mr. John C. Marting Dr. Robert Mayerovitch Mrs. Marcelene Mayhall Mrs. Susan Monseau Mr. William O’Connell Dr. Mary Oleskiewicz Maestro Dwight Oltman Mr. Frank Paino Dr. Shirley Powell Dr. Margaret Scharf Dr. Russell Stinson Dr. Michael Strasser Dr. Melvin P. Unger Mrs. Corinne Webner Dr. Christoph Wolff
Mr. Paul Cary Director, Jones Music Library Mrs. Nancy Riemenschneider Christensen Dr. Jenny Doctor Library Liaison Dr. Christina Fuhrmann Professor, Editor of BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute Dr. Dirk Garner Artistic Director, Bach Festival Mrs. Susan Hall Mrs. Laura Riemenschneider Hancock Mr. Tom Konkoly Development Liaison Dr. Danielle Kuntz Assistant Professor RBI Scholar-in-Residence Mr. Jaap ter Linden Performance Liaison Dr. Markus Rathey President, American Bach Society Ms. Betsy Riemenschneider Dr. Herbert Riemenschneider Mr. Jay Riemenschneider Mr. John K. Riemenschneider Mrs. Judy Riemenschneider Mrs. Betsy Riemenschneider Sales Charles Vesei, Director, Ritter Library Ms. Susan D. Van Vorst Dean, Conservatory of Music
conversation
APRIL 2019 27
BACH FESTIVAL ATTENDEES 20-87 YEARS OF PATRONAGE We celebrate these individuals who have attended 20 or more Bach Festivals. Through their steadfast support, they help to carry the noble tradition forward. Mr. Robert M. Alexander Mrs. William B. Astrop Baldwin Wallace Friends of the Conservatory Mr. and Mrs. John A. Berger Mr. David Betts Dr. John M. Blocher, Jr. Mr. Clarence L. Bowers Catherine Bremner James Mills Buncher Loris and Deanna Chobanian Patricia J. Ciancutti Drs. Vilnis and May Ciemins Mark and Martha Collier Dr. Victoria Covington Mr. Kevin M. Crowe Mrs. Berdie P. d’Aliberti Bryan and Maryellen Davis Mrs. Judith A. Davis Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Donegan Dr. and Mrs. Robert R. Ebert Mr. and Mrs. Albert and Lenore Ekar Jean N. Fadil Mr. Constance Fearon Mrs. Charlotte Feldman Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Fletcher Americo and Nancy Forestieri Mrs. Lynne B. Fournier Mr. Sean F. Gabriel William E. Glaeser Charles Clark Griesinger Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Hall Paul and Jan Harlamert Peter and Shirley Henderson Daniel and Mary Jane Horton
Rev. Horst Hoyer Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ernst Huenefeld Mr. and Mrs. William C. Hunger William Johnston and Cynthia Peck Melissa R. Jones Joan Kämper Robert and Ruth Kennat Dr. and Mrs. Raymond and Katharine Kolcaba Thomas H. Konkoly Mrs. Hilda Kovac Marybelle H. Landrum Dr. Anthony T. and Mrs. Patricia A. Lauria Dr. and Mrs. Richard and Laura Little Mr. Richard P. Lothrop Dr. David M. Lowry Carole L. Maatz Mr. and Mrs. Robert V. Maier Mrs. Kay Marshall Keith Mathews Robert and Laura Mayerovitch Jim and Constance Mehrling Rev. Stephan J. Moloney Ms. Veronica O’Brien Professor and Mrs. Dwight Oltman Dr. and Mrs. Earl M. Peck Alfred Penko Susan and Paul Penko Harlan and Elizabeth Peterjohn Mr. W. T. and Mrs. Sandra Platt Mrs. Judith Rhodes Mr. Jay Riemenschneider
Mr. and Mrs. John K. Riemenschneider Mrs. Paul Riemenschneider Mrs. Thomas A. Riemenschneider Bill and Donna Robertson Mrs. Marcia Robinson Drs. William and June Romeo Dr. and Mrs. Richard L. Ruggles Mrs. Wilma Salisbury Kathy Sands Dr. Margaret Scharf Mrs. Marlis J. Schmidt Richard and Juanita Schubert Frank Shoemaker and Marta Perez-Stable John and Claire Spooner Roy H. Springborn Roberta E. Stamper Russell and Mary Stein Catherine M. and Gary V Stolcals Mary Jane Sykora Jim and Carol Templeman Rev. Mark C. Tyson Mrs. Madelon A. VanDeusen Rev. Ginny Vigrass ’62 Mr. and Mrs. Jackman S. Vodrey J. E. Hendrickson and S. W. Vodrey Pat Vonderau Mr. William K. Wamelink Judith Warnsman Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth Lane Williams Mr. Meredith Williams Mr. and Mrs. John G. Wrabel Mr. and Mrs. William Yaeger Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Zimmerman Long-Term Patrons Deceased Since Last Festival Boyd Warnsman ’62
28
conversation
APRIL 2019
HONORING Dr. John Blocher, Jr. HAPPY
Dr. John Blocher ’40 and the BW Motet Choir, January 2019
100th
“Composer, student par excellence, leader in many activities—all in one man—John Blocher—no other explanation is needed as to why he was chosen as an outstanding personality.” –1940 BW Grindstone yearbook
Dr. John Blocher in the 1940 BW yearbook; From left to right: Conservatory Dean Susan Van Vorst, BW Trustee Beth Swailes ’65, Dr. John Blocher ’40, Dr. Kathryn Blocher McGrew ’69, Dr. Dirk Garner
The Baldwin Wallace community celebrates the 100th birthday of Dr. John Blocher ’40 (Chemistry), steadfast Bach Festival fan and patron. Dr. Blocher sang in his first Festival in 1936, at the age of 17. He has attended countless Festival performances and participated in the Festival Alumni Choir. His ties to BW are many—he met his late wife Phyllis Burke Blocher at BW; his daughter Kathryn Blocher McGrew ’69 and sister Sallie Blocher Stokes ’42 attended BW; his father, Prof. John M. Blocher, Sr., taught at BW for nearly forty years and served as
Chair of the BW Chemistry Department. Dr. Blocher received the BW Alumni Merit Award in 1965. Dr. Blocher joined the Motet Choir at its January 7 tour performance at the Summit County Day School’s Chapel, where the ensemble honored him in song and joyful festivity. Happy Birthday Dr. Blocher!
HISTORY OF THE RIEMENSCHNEIDER BACH INSTITUTE (continued from page 27) In another change, BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute added a digital platform, making the journal more accessible to subscribers both domestically and internationally. This is of critical importance, since BACH continues to be the means by which the Institute is recognized, acclaimed, and valued by the international scholarly community. In 2017, two new faculty joined the Riemenschneider Bach Institute. Dr. Christina Fuhrmann was named Professor of Music and Editor of BACH: The Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute. Dr. Danielle Kuntz was named Assistant Professor and Riemenschneider Bach Institute Scholar-InResidence. Drs. Fuhrmann and Kuntz have begun several new initiatives to expand the Bach Institute’s influence. In the fall, scholars Dr. Ellen Exner and Dr. Andrea Moore presented public lectures and led classes around the theme “The Passion Beyond Bach.” Next year, this lecture series will continue, this
time on the theme “Bach and the Romantics.” In February 2018, Dr. Fuhrmann organized the conference “Bach on Screen,” which featured presentations from national and international scholars on the myriad of uses of Bach’s music in film, television, and video games. Conference papers will be published in two special issues of BACH in 2019. Dr. Kuntz has expanded opportunities for original student research with the collections of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute. The Institute’s collection currently consists of approximately 40,000 items (of which over 1,300 are rare vault-held books, scores, and manuscripts—including nearly 700 Bach items), as well as music periodicals, sound recordings, microfilms, microfiche, CDs and videotapes, and 100 boxes of archival material. Patrons are invited to an open house between 12:30 and 2:00 Friday, April 12, at the Riemenschneider Bach Institute display in Kulas 115, near the Gamble Auditorium. conversation
APRIL 2019 29
Dear Friends, For 87 years, our Baldwin Wallace community has celebrated the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. Generations of students, alumni, faculty, guest artists, and audience members have supported this wonderful tradition, helping it grow and become what it is today. Our festival is special. Each year, we bring together world-famous performers and scholars, as many festivals do. We perform Bach’s major choral-orchestral works (more or less) in a continuous rotation, and we present the music of Bach’s contemporaries to provide historical and aesthetic context. There are many Bach festivals that do something similar. From the early days of our festival, we have juxtaposed Bach’s music with the music of living artists and often tried to present this old music in a way that is relevant to our audiences. But most arts organizations strive to find relevancy. So what makes the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival special? Our students. From the beginning, our festival has been dedicated to introducing Baldwin Wallace students to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. We are, in fact, the first collegiate Bach Festival in the United States. The (then) Baldwin Wallace College was much smaller when the Bach Festival began, and the Conservatory has expanded even in the past decade. In fact, it has nearly doubled in size since the 1990s. Personnel has changed. The needs of our students have changed. Tastes have changed. But we remain committed to our students experiencing Baroque music and, specifically, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The program of the 87th Bach Festival will present some of Bach’s best-loved and revered choral music. First, the newest addition to the line-up, BWV: Cleveland’s Bach Choir, will perform five of the Bach Motets. These virtuosic works are thrilling to sing, extraordinary to hear, and are considered by many to be Bach’s very best choral writing. We are delighted to collaborate with René Schiffer who seamlessly will fuse the motets together with movements from Bach’s Cello Suites. Just hours later, we will hear Mass in B Minor, presented by Cleveland’s own Apollo’s Fire under the incomparable direction of Jeannette Sorrell. As one of the preeminent Baroque orchestras in the country, Apollo’s Fire promises an unforgettable and exhilarating performance. The piano duo Anderson & Roe are cited as “the most dynamic duo of this generation.” Their concert on Saturday afternoon will be a musical highlight for us all. Finally, on Saturday evening, the Motet Choir completes the cycle of motets with its performance of Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227 and O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, BWV 118, among others. The 87th Bach Festival is here! We thank all of our guest artists, patrons, supportive faculty and administration, and mostly our wonderful BW students, new and old. Welcome! Sincerely,
Dirk Garner Artistic Director, Bach Festival Gigax Chair for Choral Studies
INFORMATION FOR TICKET HOLDERS, PLEASE... • Take and share selfies and photos of the auditorium when the performance is not in progress. • Disable any phone or device that makes noise or emits light. • Refrain from using cameras or recording devices during the concerts. • Help us conserve paper by bringing your program back with you to each performance. • Latecomers are requested to wait until an interval of applause before being seated. • Smoking and use of tobacco are prohibited on the Baldwin Wallace University campus. 30
conversation
APRIL 2019
APRIL 11-14, 2019 ANNOTATED PROGRAM
KULAS FOUNDATION
The 87th Annual
EVENT SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, APRIL 11 7:00 p.m.
BW Symphony Orchestra
Gamble Auditorium
pg. 34
This is a free (no tickets required) performance by the BW Symphony Orchestra. Bach/Stokowski: Air on the G String W. A. Mozart: Symphony No. 31, in D major, K. 297 Christopher Theofanidis: Rainbow Body BW Symphony Orchestra Soo Han, conductor
FRIDAY, APRIL 12 10:00 a.m-12:00 p.m.
Master Class and Q&A
Gamble Auditorium
pg. 36
Anderson & Roe Piano Duo. “The most dynamic duo of this generation.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
12:00-2:30 p.m.
Open House
Riemenschneider Bach Institute
Featuring a display of rare items from the vault.
1:00-2:15 p.m.
Master Class
Kadel Music Hall
pg. 36
Kate Maroney, mezzo-soprano. Recognized by The New York Times for her “vibrant and colorful” singing.
2:15 p.m.
Festival Brass
Marting Hall Tower*
pg. 36
3:00 p.m.
SUITES AND MOTETS ($)
Fynette Kulas Music Hall
pg. 38
Featuring four of J. S. Bach’s motets sung by an ensemble of 16 voices in an intimate setting, fused together with cello suites performed by Apollo’s Fire cellist René Schiffer. Lied, BWV 225 Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied II. Allemande from the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012 auf, BWV 226 Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf I. Prelude from the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008 Komm, Jesu, Komm, BWV 229 Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir, BWV 228 I. Prelude from the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No.1 in G Major, BWV 1007 Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230 René Schiffer, cello BWV: Cleveland’s Bach Choir Festival Chamber Orchestra Dirk Garner, conductor
4:30-6:30 p.m.
Colony Room Buffet Dinner ($)
Strosacker Union
5:00-6:00 p.m.
RBI Student Scholar Presentation
Fynes Hall
pg. 48
2018-2019 RBI Scholar Lindsay Rader ’19 (Music Theory) will present her research on the markings of Otto Singer in his personal copies of Strauss’ tone poems and Wagner’s opera scores.
5:00-7:15 p.m.
Food Trucks ($)
Seminary Street by Kohler Hall
Enjoy innovative eats provided by the Manna Food Truck and the Sweet! Mobile Cupcakery at picnic tables during the Festival Brass.
7:15 p.m.
32 2019 Bach Festival
Festival Brass
Marting Hall Tower*
pg. 48
7:00-7:40 p.m.
Preconcert Lecture
Fynes Hall
pg. 48
Presented by Dr. Thomas Forrest Kelly, Professor of Music, Harvard University
8:00 p.m.
APOLLO’S FIRE ($)
Gamble Auditorium
pg. 49
Northeast Ohio’s internationally renowned Baroque orchestra joins the BW Bach Festival to perform this magnificent sacred work. J. S. Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 Amanda Powell, soprano Amanda Crider, mezzo-soprano Jacob Perry, tenor Jesse Blumberg, baritone Apollo’s Singers Jeannette Sorrell, conductor
SATURDAY, APRIL 13 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Master Class
Kadel Family Vocal Music Hall
pg. 64
Alissa Ruth Suver, soprano. A member of Conspirare, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Skylark Ensemble and the Bach Ensemble of St. Thomas.
1:00 p.m.
Lecture
Fynes Hall
pg. 64
Musical Meaning in Bach presented by Dr. Robert S. Hatten, Professor of Music Theory, Butler School of Music, University of Texas at Austin.
2:15 p.m.
Festival Brass
Marting Hall Tower*
pg. 64
3:00 p.m.
ANDERSON & ROE PIANO DUO ($)
Gamble Auditorium
pg. 65
With Billboard chart-topping albums, Emmy-nominated music videos, and an extensive international touring schedule, this dynamic duo will perform two-piano arrangements of Bach, Brahms, piazzolla and more.
4:30-6:30 p.m.
Colony Room Buffet Dinner ($)
Strosacker Union
6:15 p.m.
Festival Brass
Marting Hall Tower*
pg. 68
7:00 p.m.
JESU, MEINE FREUDE ($)
Gamble Auditorium
pg. 69
The BW Motet Choir is joined by professional soloists and orchestra in a program featuring one of Bach’s most beloved cantatas, Jesu, meine Freude, contrasting with the rarely heard Ich lasse dich nicht. Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn, BWV Anh. 159 Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227 Licht, BWV 118 O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4 Motet Choir, Festival Chamber Choir and Orchestra Dirk Garner, conductor
SUNDAY, APRIL 14 11:15 a.m.
Bach Service
Berea United Methodist Church
pg. 76
BW Singers Marc Weagraff, conductor * = Rain Location: Lindsay-Crossman Chapel
$ = Tickets Required 2019 Bach Festival 33
THURSDAY CONCERT
BW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
THURSDAY FESTIVAL EVENTS, APRIL 11 7:00 p.m.
BW Symphony Orchestra Soo Han, conductor
Gamble Auditorium
Symphony No. 31, D Major, K. 297
W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)
“Air on the G String” from Orchestral Suite No 3 in D Major, BWV 1068
J. S. Bach (1685-1750) arr. Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977)
Rainbow Body
Christopher Theofanidis (b. 1967)
BW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Violin I Chloe Wehner, principal Kerry Broker, asst. principal Cecilia Cooper Hannah Reinschmidt Erin August Ryan Detwiler Alex Adkins Violin II Cayleigh Stewart, principal Nathan Thomeer, asst. principal Michael Heid Greg Watson Kesha Dalal Matt Chidsey Abigail Johnson Viola Elisabeth Bruckner, principal Avedis Escandon, asst. principal Colin Henley Rebecca Jenei Lesley Rudin Sarah Walker Philomena Vennari* Julia Morreale*
Cello Max Hanks, principal Faith Rohde, asst. principal Katie Morrow Avery Smith Anna Burr Nick Harwas Renee Danko Jake Muratore Crystal Delpin Bryce Kessler Jessica Jonczyk Nicholas Simul Bass Nijah Holliday Ryan Smith Jacob Kaminski Noah Steele Grace Cooper Flute Gwen Chevillard Krista Cole Evan Fraser Brandon Landry Oboe Fallon Hammer Zoë Sarganis Archie Sickels Clarinet Sarah Porter Zoe Fagerhaug Andrew Buckley Emily Ewing Justin O’Toole, bass
34 2019 Bach Festival
Bassoon Destinee Siebe Rachel Hagemeier Katie Kovacs Sarah Strasinger Horn David Peita Justin McMullen Blaine Schultice Nicholas Cantello Trumpet Casidy Reed Kyle Perisutti Leonardo Capone Trombone Caleb Slabaugh Brian Pattison Brendan Loeb Tuba Max Godfrey Percussion Nancy Guzman Donovan Aragon Eric Hanson Emily Kulinowski Harp Hannah Stater Piano Daixuan Ai
SOO HAN is the Director of Orchestral Activities at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music, a member of the Board of Directors of the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, a contributing editor for Hal Leonard’s Essential Elements for Strings, a D’Addario Orchestral Strings Artist, a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician, and the former Director of Orchestras & Department Chair of the William H. Duke Center for the Performing Arts at Carmel High School in Carmel, IN. As an active conductor, he has appeared with Carmel Symphony Orchestra, Cave Run Symphony Orchestra, Michigan State Opera Theatre, Michigan State Symphony Orchestra, Valparaiso University, and Butler University Symphony Orchestra. He is an active conductor for All-State, regional, and honor orchestras, appearing in over 30 states, and has conducted internationally in Austria, China, Thailand, and Australia. He has collaborated with numerous artists, groups, and conductors such as Lynn Harrell, David Kim, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He has produced multiple recordings of complete symphonies and has premiered several commissioned works for strings and full orchestras. He has presented workshops and clinics internationally and for nearly every major national and state music conference including, Australian String Teacher Conference, Maryborough National Australia Conference,
Midwest Clinic, ASTA National Conference, NAfME National Conference, and Ohio University Summer String Teacher Workshop. Orchestras under his leadership experienced a great deal of success including 9 Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA) State Championships and being named Grand Champions at the National Orchestra Cup at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. As a passionate supporter of public school music programs, he continues to remain active in instrumental classrooms throughout the country. He is the past-president of the Indiana American String Teachers Association (the chapter was awarded the “Most Improved Chapter” during his time as president) and recently served as the National American String Teachers Association’s K-12 Committee Chair. He received his Bachelor of Instrumental Music Education degree from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Master of Science in Education from Indiana University School of Education, and his Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the Michigan State University College of Music.
2019 Bach Festival 35
FRIDAY AFTERNOON
CONCERTS & EVENTS
FRIDAY FESTIVAL EVENTS, APRIL 12 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Master Class and Q&A Anderson & Roe Piano Duo
12:00-2:30 p.m.
Open House Riemenschneider Bach Institute Featuring a display of rare items from the vault.
1:00-2:15 p.m.
Master Class Kate Maroney, mezzo-soprano
Kadel Family Vocal Music Hall
Quella che tutta fe from Serse Elaine Hudson, mezzo-soprano
G. F. Handel (1685-1759)
È un folle, è un vile affetto from Alcina Ethan Burck, tenor
G. F. Handel
Du lieber Heiland Du…Buβ and Reu from St. Matthew Passion Ariana Davis, mezzo-soprano
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
2:15 p.m.
Gamble Auditorium
Festival Brass Marting Hall Tower* John Brndiar, conductor *Rain Location: Lindsay-Crossman Chapel Music to be performed will be chosen from the following works: Chorales My Spirit Be Joyful Contrapunctus I and IX In dir ist Fruede (In Thee is Joy)
J. S. Bach
Chorales
Johannes Brahms
La Organista Bella
Ardriano Banchieri
Sonata en Sol mineur
J. B. Boismortier
A Philharmonic Fanfare
Eric Ewazen
Canzona per sonare No. 2 Canzon septimi toni No. 1 and No. 2
Giovanni Gabrieli
Song Without Words
Gustav Holst
Fugue
Herbert Haufrecht
Adoramus Te
G. P. da Palestrina
Cantate Domino Sacri Concentus XXI
Hans Leo Hassler
Sonata from Die Bankelsangerlieder
Daniel Speer
FESTIVAL BRASS Trumpet Kyle Perisutti Benjamin Guegold Sean Burnham Casidy Reed Luke Lisowski Leonardo Capone Andrew Dyet
36 2019 Bach Festival
Matthew Maloney Katherine Malquest Eddie Schartman Gemma Mas Konigsberg Horn David Peita Justin McMullen Blaine Schultice
Trombone Caleb Slabaugh Brian Pattison Chris Nadar Brendan Loeb Kayla Rowe Erika Nockengost
Euphonium Luke Warkall Maxwell Godfrey Tuba Creighton Jensen Maxwell Godfrey Owen Baker
JOHN BRNDIAR is Director of the BW Brass Choir and Bach Festival Brass, and has been Instructor of Trumpet at BW since 1993. He is Principal Trumpet of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, a member of the Kent Brass Quintet, the Festival Mozaic Orchestra in California, and the Blossom Festival Band. For 34 years, beginning at age 21, he has performed, recorded and toured with The Cleveland Orchestra as a substitute and extra trumpeter. John has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Ballet and Cleveland Opera, BW Bach Festival Orchestra, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, the orchestras of Akron, Ashland, Canton, Erie, Lakeside, Youngstown, and with Cleveland Pops, Mannheim Steamroller, and the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra. He has appeared as a trumpet and cornet soloist, and was member of the Paragon Brass and Metropolitan Brass. He also has recorded radio/TV commercials, pop music hits, performed in Broadway touring shows, and played the piccolo trumpet solo in performances of Penny Lane with the BW Beatles.
John is a graduate of the BW Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has been a faculty member at Cleveland Institute of Music, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, University of Akron, Ashland University, Kent State, College of Wooster, and the Oberlin Conservatory. He studied trumpet with Charles Schlueter, James Darling, Mary Squire and Bernard Adelstein, and has had additional coaching with Arnold Jacobs, David Zauder, Charles Couch, and Michael Sachs. Many of his former students hold prominent teaching and performing positions in the U.S. and abroad.
2019 Bach Festival 37
FRIDAY AFTERNOON
CONCERTS & EVENTS SUITES AND MOTETS
3:00 p.m.
“Suites and Motets”
Fynette Kulas Music Hall
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
II. Allemande from the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012
J. S. Bach
Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, BWV 226
J. S. Bach
I. Prelude from the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008
J. S. Bach
Komm, Jesu, Komm, BWV 229
J. S. Bach INTERMISSION
Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir, BWV 228
J. S. Bach
I. Prelude from the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No.1 in G Major, BWV 1007
J. S. Bach
Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230
J. S. Bach
René Schiffer, cello BWV: Cleveland’s Bach Choir Festival Chamber Orchestra Dirk Garner, conductor
Program Notes, Texts and Translations by Peter Laki Peter Laki has served as Program Annotator and Lecturer for The Cleveland Orchestra. Since 2007, he has served as Visiting Associate Professor at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. Compared to the more than two hundred cantatas, the eight or nine surviving motets represent a relatively small part of Bach’s output, yet these choral works are extremely important as they kept the Thomaskantor’s name alive at a time when most of his other compositions were neglected. When Mozart visited Leipzig in 1789, he heard the motet Singet dem Herrn and was beside himself with joy. Ever since they appeared in print in the 19th century, the motets have been central to the repertoire of any choral group that can meet their high technical demands. The main difference between a Bach cantata and a Bach motet is that the latter, as a rule, does not contain any independent instrumental parts; that is, any instruments that are present do no more than double the vocal parts or provide them with continuo support. Nor do we find any recitatives and arias 38 2019 Bach Festival
as we do in most cantatas. The motets are very tightly knit works, often scored for eight-part double chorus, consisting of several sections but without the great contrasts in texture and instrumentation that characterize the cantatas. Like the cantatas, the motets, too, use verses from the Bible and more recent Lutheran chorales (or newly written poetry) for their texts, sometimes combining the two. About half of the Bach motets we know were written for funerals; the function of the remaining pieces cannot always be determined with certainty. Dating the motets has sometimes posed thorny problems for musicologists. The latest research suggests that they span more than a quarter of a century in Bach’s life: the earliest—“Ich lasse dich nicht”—goes back to about 1712 when the composer, in his twenties, was serving as court organist in Weimar, while the latest—“O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht”—is a product of the latter part of his tenure in Leipzig, and its second version, from 1746-47, is one of Bach’s last compositions altogether.
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (BWV 225, 1726/27) Sing unto the Lord a new song Along with the Song of Songs, the Book of Psalms is the most “musical” part of the Old Testament as it was certainly intended to be sung, not just recited. The last two of the Psalms (149 and 150) are musical even in their text, as they explicitly reference singing and musical instruments. For this reason alone, they have been set to polyphonic music repeatedly over the years. Bach set these words twice, first as a cantata (BWV 190) for soloists, chorus and orchestra, and then as a motet for eight-part double choir. The motet consists of two gigantic choral movements on the biblical works to open and close the work, framing a central, non-biblical section that is quite unique in its conception. Here Choir II sings a chorale melody, and after each line Choir I interjects a phrase of an original poem in the style of a chorale but emphatically not a chorale. In his manuscript, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, Die Gemeinde der Heiligen sollen ihn loben. Israel freue sich des, der ihn gemacht hat. Die Kinder Zions sei’n fröhlich über ihren König. Sie sollen loben seinen Namen im Reigen, Mit Pauken und Harfen sollen sie ihm spielen.
Bach called the material of Choir I an “Aria,” to call attention to the fact that the text was newly composed, as in the arias we find in cantatas. The score contains an indication that Bach wanted to repeat this section with the two choirs switching roles, but this intention was apparently not realized in performance, as far as we can tell from the surviving parts. The two Psalm sections that serve as bookends are also contrasted in style and technique. In some ways, the opening music resembles a concerto in that it has a recurrent “ritornello” theme and its various phrases reach their cadences in a number of different keys. Yet in one astonishing passage, while Choir II sings the ritornello material, Choir I superimposes a full-fledged four-part fugue on top of it. Then, after the aria-chorale, a lively antiphonal passage (with the two choirs alternating) is followed by the final section, where the two choirs unite to sing one of Bach’s most virtuosic choral fugues, concluding the motet with a resounding “Halleluja.”
Sing unto the Lord a new song, And His praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him: Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name in the dance: Let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp. (Psalm 149:1-3)
Wie sich ein Vater erbarmet, (Gott, nimm dich ferner unser an.) Über seine jungen Kinderlein, So tut der Herr uns allen, So wir ihn kindlich fürchten rein. Er kennt das arm’ Gemächte, Gott weiß, wir sind nur Staub. Denn ohne dich ist nichts getan Mit allen unsern Sachen. Gleich wie das Gras vom Rechen, ein Blum und fallend Laub. Der Wind nur drüber wehet, So ist es nicht mehr da. Drum sei du unser Schirm und Licht, Dann trügt uns unsre Hoffnung nicht, So wirst du’s ferner machen. Also der Mensch vergehet, Sein End’ das ist ihm nah. Wohl dem, der sich nur steif und fest Auf dich und deine Huld verlässt.
As a father shows pity (God preserve us evermore.) For his young children, So does the Lord for all those Who show Him pure and childlike fear. He knows our feeble powers. God knows we are but dust. For without You nothing is achieved Of all our strivings. As grass before the reaper, A flower, a falling leaf. The wind has only to blow And it is no more. So be You our protector and our light, Then our hopes will not deceive us, So You will continue to do. Thus will man pass away, His end is near. Happy the man who firmly and steadfastly Puts his trust in You and in Your grace. (chorale text: Johann Gramann, 1487-1541 melody: Hans Kugelmann, c. 1495-1542)
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FRIDAY AFTERNOON Suites and Motets Program Notes Lobet den Herrn in seinen Taten, Lobet ihn in seiner großen Herrlichkeit. Alles, was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn. Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord for His mighty acts, Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord, Hallelujah! (Psalm 150:2, 6)
Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (BWV 226, 1729) The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness Theologian-classicist-poet Johann Heinrich Ernesti (16521729) was rector of the Thomasschule in Leipzig when Bach was hired—in other words, he was one of the composer’s bosses. It was for his funeral on October 20, 1729, that Bach set to music a prominent passage from the eighth chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. In this famous passage, the apostle proclaims that those who are filled with the Spirit of God will conquer the weakness of the flesh and will enter a higher realm of existence. In Bach’s hands, the theological statement became palpable reality as Paul’s words were rendered in a lavishly ornamented melody in a joyful dance rhythm. Subtle shifts in the melody and harmony express our souls’ temporary fears and uncertainties. The newfound confidence of the believer is announced in a fugue where the Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, denn wir wissen nicht, was wir beten sollen, wie sich’s gebühret; sondern der Geist selbst vertritt uns auf ’s Beste mit unaussprechlichem Seufzen. Der aber die Herzen forschet, der weiß, was des Geistes Sinn sei, denn er vertritt die Heiligen, nach dem es Gott gefallet.
entrances are significantly closer to one another than they were in Singet dem Herrn and the theme itself is much shorter, evoking a more archaic contrapuntal style. The motet ends with a simple four-part chorale that, according to musicologist Daniel Melamed, was not performed with the rest of the piece during the church service but rather at a later point at Ernesti’s graveside. Melamed made this assumption because the rest of the motet calls for instrumental participation, but the chorale was not included in the instrumental parts, suggesting that the instrumentalists didn’t follow the coffin to the cemetery. Yet the musicologist has also pointed out that the chorale arrangement was adapted from another source where it appears in a different key, which means that Bach took the trouble of transposing it into the key of the motet, thereby creating a strong connection between motet and chorale. In present-day performances, the two form an indissoluble unity. The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself is pleading for us, with sighs that words cannot express. He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, Because He pleads for the saints in God’s own way. (Romans 8: 26-27)
Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229, before 1731) Come, Jesus, come This is clearly another funeral motet, but there is no indication that it was ever performed at a funeral during Bach’s time. It is, rather, a new composition on a text that had in fact served in such a function at the Thomaskirche—one year before Bach was born. For the funeral of Rector Johann Thomasius, the Thomaskantor at the time, Johann Schelle, composed a motet on the poem Komm, Jesu, komm, by Paul Thymich, who also taught at the Thomasschule. Thymich’s poem, from which Bach used only the first and last stanzas, incorporates the famous Gospel verse “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). The poem was modeled on a Lutheran chorale,
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but Bach approached it as a free composition, with plenty of sensitive word-painting alluding to the world-weariness and the hardships of life from which death is the only escape. A rather complex first section, consisting of several subsections and alternating between contrapuntal and homophonic moments, is followed by another movement called “Aria,” a term that here refers to a texture where the soprano has the melody and the other voices provide harmonic accompaniment—somewhat in the manner of a chorale yet with a number of significant differences. The melody has too many wide, expressive leaps for a simple chorale setting; also, the last line receives an extension with a long melisma that is indeed aria-like.
Komm, Jesu, komm, mein Leib ist müde, Die Kraft verschwindt je mehr und mehr, Ich sehne mich nach deinem Frieden; Der saure Weg wird mir zu schwer. Komm, komm, ich will mich dir ergeben, Du bist der rechte Weg, Die Wahrheit und das Leben.
Come, Jesu, come, my flesh is weary, My strength deserts me more and more. I yearn for Thy peace; The sour path is too hard for me. Come, I will give myself to Thee, Thou art the sure Way, the Truth and the Life.
Drauf schließ ich mich in deine Hände Und sage, Welt, zu guter Nacht! Eilt gleich mein Lebenslauf zu Ende, Ist doch der Geist wohl angebracht, Er soll bei seinem Schöpfer schweben, Weil Jesus ist und bleibt Der wahre Weg zum Leben.
Thus I yield myself into Thy hands, And bid the world good night. Soon as my life may end, My soul is prepared. It shall rise up with its Creator, For Jesus is, and remains, The true way to Life. (Paul Thymich, 1656-94)
Fürchte dich nicht (BWV 228, probably around 1715) Be not afraid
Leipzig cantatas (not to mention the St. Matthew Passion), he avoided it in the later motets.
Recent research suggests that this is one of only two motets Bach composed before his move to Leipzig (the other being “Ich lasse dich nicht”). It stands out from the other motets in several respects. The soloistic treatment of the voices in the first half of the motet is uncharacteristic of the genre as Bach practiced it in later years: several of the singers are given exposed virtuosic material while the others step back or drop out altogether. The second half is a chorale fantasy, in which a chorale melody, instead of being presented in simple four-part harmony, is superimposed on a contrapuntal web of voices. Although he used this type of chorale arrangement in several
The chorale verse is combined with words from the book of Isaiah, where God gives a message of comfort to His people. In the first half, which is about God helping and strengthening Israel, Bach uses lively rhythms and agile ornamented vocal lines. The second half goes beyond this as God now speaks of having redeemed the people—a word rich with theological meaning. Accordingly, Bach resorted to more dramatic musical means here: extreme chromaticism in the contrapuntal lower voices while the soprano’s chorale melody, soaring above, elaborates on the divine proclamation.
Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir. Weiche nicht, denn ich bin dein Gott. Ich stärke dich, ich helfe dir auch, Ich erhalte dich durch die rechte Hand meiner Gerechtigkeit.
Be not afraid, I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10)
Fürchte dich nicht, denn ich habe dich erlöset. Ich habe dich bei deinem Namen gerufen, du bist mein.
Be not afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine. (Isaiah 43:1)
Herr, mein Hirt, Brunn aller Freuden, Du bist mein, Ich bin dein, Niemand kann uns scheiden.
Lord, my shepherd, source of all joys, You are mine, I am Yours: No one can separate us.
Ich bin dein, weil du dein Leben Und dein Blut Mir zugut In den Tod gegeben.
I am Yours because You gave Your life And Your blood For me In death.
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FRIDAY AFTERNOON Suites and Motets Program Notes Du bist mein, weil ich dich fasse, Und dich nicht, O mein Licht, Aus dem Herzen lasse.
You are mine because I hold You And let You not, o my light, from my heart.
Lass mich hingelangen Wo du mich, Und ich dich, Ewig werd umfangen.
Let me come to where You may embrace me And I You, evermore. (chorale text: Paul Gerhardt, 1607-76 melody: Johann Crüger, 1598-1662)
Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden (BWV 230, date unknown) Praise the Lord, all ye heathen With the motet Lobet den Herrn, we return to the Book of Psalms with which the concert began. So far, all the motets were scored for eight-part double chorus; the present work, by contrast, uses a single-choir SATB scoring, with writtenout basso continuo. The circumstances of its composition are shrouded in mystery: the work is only known from sources dating from long after Bach’s death, which makes it impossible to assign it to any period in the composer’s life with any degree Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden Und preiset ihn, alle Völker. Denn seine Gnade und Wahrheit Waltet über uns in Ewigkeit. Alleluja!
of certainty. (Some scholars even used to doubt the work’s authenticity, but today it is generally accepted as being by J. S. Bach.) The motet opens with a lively double fugue (with two separate subjects, later united). The fanfare-like first theme is remarkable for its unusually wide range, and the entire fugue bursts with energy to express the enthusiastic praise of God in the Psalm. A more homophonic passage is followed by a new contrapuntal section, and a second, stretto fugue, with the subsequent entries hot on one another’s heels, on the word Alleluja. Praise the Lord, all ye heathen And praise Him, all ye people. For His grace and truth Reign over us evermore. Alleluia! (Psalm 117)
Excerpts from the Cello Suites In the concert, the motets will be interspersed with selected movements from Bach’s six suites for unaccompanied cello which, in this context, will function as brief meditations on the religious topics addressed in the motets. Bach’s unaccompanied works for violin and cello (the six cello suites, the three violin partitas and three violin sonatas) were written during Bach’s time at the tiny court of Cöthen (1717-1723) where he devoted himself primarily to instrumental music. They abound in moments that resemble the great religious works in their intense expressive power. In Bach’s hands, the Allemande (the word literally means “German dance”), which
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appears in all of the suites, has lost whatever dance character it may have originally possessed. The Allemande of the Sixth Suite—the most difficult of the suites, intended for a cello with five strings—is pure lyricism, a long-drawn-out, lavishly ornamented instrumental aria. The Preludes that introduce the dance movements usually develop a single rhythmic idea; with their uniformity, which never devolves into monotony, they are like extended monologues where the very regularity of the structures creates a very special sense of freedom. The extreme emotionality of the Second Prelude and the livelier demeanor of the First both amplify the spiritual messages of the texted works, whose presence will continue even after all the words have been uttered.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON Suites and Motets Biographies RENÉ SCHIFFER, cello, is praised for his “interpretive imagination and patrician command of the cello” (The Cleveland Plain Dealer). He is a native of Holland where he was a protégé of Anner Bijlsma. He later studied Baroque cello with Jaap ter Linden and viola da gamba with Catharina Meints. As a member of Sigiswald Kuijken’s La Petite Bande for sixteen years, he toured four continents and appeared many times on European television. He has also performed with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, and in over forty projects with Tafelmusik of Toronto. As a concerto soloist, he has appeared throughout North America and Europe, and can be heard on acclaimed CD recordings of the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Cellos and the Tango Concerto for Two Gambas (his own composition) on British label AVIE. As a chamber musician, he has performed at the renowned Baroque festivals of Utrecht and Bruges, as well as the Flanders Festival and Versailles. He can be heard on more than forty CD recordings, on the Harmonia Mundi, Philips, Virgin Classics, Erato, Sony, and AVIE labels. He serves on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music as Teacher of Baroque Cello, and has given master classes and coachings for the New World Symphony (Miami), the University of Michigan, Oberlin Conservatory, and Cincinnati College-Conservatory. KIA FRANK is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and is in her second year of an Early Music Master’s program at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She has served as a church musician, private vocal and piano teacher, and has worked with various educational and musical organizations. Currently, Kia serves as the Media Director for Gamma Ut, an organization for students of early music. Kia has performed with Apollo’s Fire and recently had her debut performance with The Bloomington Bach Cantata Project. She has been a featured soloist in performances with IU’s early music vocal ensemble, Concentus, including her recent performance of Orfeo in Handel’s serenata, Parnasso in Festa, under the direction of Jeffrey Thomas. In addition to work in early music, Kia was a part of the inaugural Dallas Choral Festival, performed with the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and has sung with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra in choral settings. She regularly works as a vocal recording artist at Aire Born Studios in Indianapolis. During the spring of 2019, Kia performed with IU’s contemporary vocal ensemble, NOTUS, and has worked in collaboration with a number of composers for premieres of new vocal works. In the spring of 2016, Kia and her fiancé, Jamie Kunselman, founded the marimba and soprano duo, Defiance Duo.
SARAH MARIE NADLER, soprano, has been praised for her “beautiful soubrette” voice with “delicate precision” and her “delightful sense of comedic flair." Based in Pittsburgh, PA, she sings with The Pittsburgh Savoyards, Voces Solis choir. Sarah was seen as Casilda (The Gondoliers), Elsie (The Yeomen of the Guard), Josephine (H.M.S Pinafore) and Lisa (The Grand Duke) with the Savoyards. At Calvary, Sarah has been heard as the Soprano Soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s St. John Passion, and Handel’s Messiah. She holds a MM in Vocal Performance from Carnegie Mellon University and BM from Baldwin Wallace University, where she had the pleasure of singing in the Bach Festival Choir for St. Matthew Passion, Christmas Oratorio, St. John Passion, and Mass in B Minor. Favorite roles include: Wood Sprite (Rusalka), Yvette (La Rondine), Damon (Acis and Galatea), Amarilli (Il Pastor Fido), Serpetta (La Finta Giardiniera), Miles (The Turn of the Screw). Sarah is the Soprano Soloist and Section Leader at Calvary Episcopal Church and the Cantorial Soloist at Tree of Life Or L’Simcha. Soprano SARAH HAWKEY believes that to sing is to breathe love into the world and that by cocreating art in which each person’s unique creative gifts are celebrated, music becomes a model for greater world peace. Ms. Hawkey is blazing the trail for contemporary interpretations of Baroque music. Her singing has been praised for its “clarity, precision, and power” and her interpretations lauded as “transformational.” Since the launch of her solo career in 2016, Sarah’s concert engagements have included the modern-day premiere of Freschi’s Giuditta, numerous cantatas by J. S. Bach, as well as his Johannes Passion, B Minor Mass, and Magnificat, and Missa Brevis; Vivaldi’s In furore iustissimae irae and Dixit Dominus; Scarlatti’s Lidio e Clori; Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus; Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Requiem; and Haydn’s Mariazeller Messe and Creation Mass. continued... Sarah is also a champion of new music. This season, a dream collaboration came true when she debuted with LA Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, and the Prototype Festival in a world premiere opera entitled p r i s m by an all-female writing team with all-female producers. Her other world premieres include Child in the opera Upon This Handful of Earth by Gisle Kverndokk; Surprisingly Poetic Moments from an Otherwise Typical Hiking Guidebook, a song cycle by Abraham Z. Morrison; I will not go, an extended work for violin and voice by Pamela Stein-Lynde; and Drawing Down the Moon, an opera by Hunter Long. duoSeraphim, Sarah’s collaboration with esteemed gambist Niccolo Seligmann, is opening a dialogue between present and 2019 Bach Festival 43
FRIDAY AFTERNOON Suites and Motets Biographies past through their vibrant interpretations of chamber music. This season, they are touring a program which dives deep into the rich oevre of Venice’s greatest female composer, Barbara Strozzi. Please visit sarahhawkey.com to learn more. Nashville, Tennessee-based soprano ALISSA RUTH SUVER’s warmth, clarity, and flexibility have allowed her to feel comfortable singing in a variety of genres, though she performs primarily early and choral music. Her career has led her to sing all over the country. An Ohio native, Alissa is now actively performing with professional ensembles around the United States, most recently adding Conspirare, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Skylark Ensemble, True Concord, and The Crossing to her resume. She is frequently on the roster for the Beckenhorst Press recording choir at Aire Born Recording Studio, and she is a Principal Singer with the Bach Ensemble of St. Thomas in Cincinnati, OH, in addition to performances with both the choral and instrumental ensembles at her alma mater, Capital University. Her love of music has been central to her life from an early age; she is the daughter of two music teachers, and can’t remember a time when she wasn’t in rehearsal! She began her post-collegiate career first as a secondary choral music director herself, teaching middle and high school choirs in Ohio public schools, before deciding to pursue performing on a more regular basis.
TENET, the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus, among other groups. Outside of singing, Andrew has been consistently active as a conductor and keyboardist. While at BW, he was Choir Director of the United Methodist Church of Berea and worked as a Staff Accompanist at the Conservatory. He then went on to be Music Director at Grace Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown, PA. Andrew holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College, where he served as Assistant Conductor of the renowned Westminster Choir. Find Andrew online at www. AndrewLeslieCooper.com, twitter.com/Andrew_L_Cooper, and instagram.com/AndrewLeslieCooper. Mezzo-Soprano ARIANA DAVIS is thrilled to participate in her fourth Bach Festival at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory. She has always had a passion for Baroque performance, beginning in 2014 as a chorus member at the Oregon Bach Festival. This is her last semester at BW, and she anticipates graduating in May 2019 with a Bachelor’s of Music in Music History & Literature with a double major in Spanish. Her senior thesis explores a 1720 Spanish Oratorio by Antonio Literes, with a paired research paper on the role of women in 18th Century Spanish opera. Next year, she hopes to pursue a Masters of Music in Early Music, continuing her path of research and performance.
British countertenor ANDREW LESLIE COOPER is thrilled to be making his sixth appearance at the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, his second as an alumnus of the Conservatory of Music. Andrew is based near London, where he is in demand as an ecclesiastical and concertizing choral singer. His 2018-19 season has included debuts with ensembles such as Gallicantus, Sansara, Ex Cathedra, and others. In addition, he is on the rosters of the choirs of Westminster Abbey and Cathedral, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral.
Recognized for “vibrant and colorful singing” (The New York Times) mezzo-soprano KATE MARONEY’s recent soloist appearances include with Gare St. Lazare throughout Ireland, the international tour of Einstein on the Beach from 20122015, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Master Chorale of South Florida, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Santa Fe Symphony, Berkshire Choral Festival, TENET, Carmel Bach Festival, Opera Grand Rapids, NYBI at Trinity Wall Street, LA Opera, Lincoln Center Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Musica Sacra, Bach Collegium San Diego, Princeton Pro Musica, Bach Vespers Holy Trinity, Mark Morris Dance Group, Yale Choral Artists, American Opera Projects, and Clarion. Kate has collaborated with Philip Glass, John Corigliano, David Lang, Martin Bresnick, Julia Wolfe, Missy Mazzoli, Hannah Lash, Nina Young, Dominick Argento, Christopher Cerrone, Daron Hagen, Paola Prestini, and Ted Hearne. She holds a D.M.A. from Eastman, degrees from SUNY Purchase and Yale, teaches at Mannes (The New School), and resides in Brooklyn with musician-husband Red Wierenga. www.katemaroney.com
Andrew spent twelve years living in the United States, where he appeared with the Bach Choir of Holy Trinity NYC,
Originally from Cincinnati, COURTNEY POPP is a professional musician now residing in the Cleveland area.
In addition to her performance work, she is a soprano section leader for Westminster Presbyterian Church Choir in Nashville, TN, a private voice teacher in the Nashville area, and is regularly hired as an administrative assistant for various performance projects. Alissa holds a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from Capital University in Bexley, Ohio.
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She graduated with her Bachelor of Music Education from Baldwin Wallace University in May and is now the choral director at Learwood Middle School in Avon Lake, OH, where she directs five choirs consisting of 400 seventh and eighth graders. Additionally, she serves as the Chancel Choir Director at the United Methodist Church of Berea. She teaches private lessons in voice, beginning piano, and music theory. As a local singer, Popp sings for Quire Cleveland, a professional early music group under the direction of Dr. Jay White. She is also currently singing with Trinity Cathedral’s Chamber Singers. Over the summers, she travels to Princeton and sings with the Westminster Summer Choral Festival under the direction of Dr. Joe Miller. NATHAN HODGSON is a New York-based tenor specializing in early and chamber music. He sings full-time with the Bach Vespers program at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City and performs regularly with ensembles across the nation. Recent performances include appearances with Ensemble VIII in Austin, TX, with The Thirteen Chamber Choir in Washington, D.C., Skylark Vocal Ensemble, Apollo’s Fire, and with Bricolage Ensemble in a series of workshops and performances in San Juan, Puerto Rico. A recent graduate of the University of North Texas, Nathan sang with the school’s prestigious A Cappella Choir for its tour to South Korea and performance at the 2013 ACDA National Conference in Dallas, Texas, and with the school’s early music ensemble, Collegium. Before moving to New York, Nathan sang in the Dallas area with the Orpheus Chamber Singers, Dallas Bach Society, and Denton Bach Society. JOHN K. RUSSELL, DMA is the Director of Choral and Vocal Studies at Palomar College and the Music Director of the San Diego Master Chorale. As Music Director of the SDMC, Dr. Russell conducts and coordinates all artistic activities of the chorale, which include preparing the chorus for performances with San Diego Symphony and other San Diego orchestras including the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra and La Jolla Symphony. At Palomar College, he conducts the Chamber Singers and the Palomar Chorale, teaches applied voice and oversees the vocal music program. In addition, he serves on the summer conducting faculty at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where he teaches master classes in conducting for
the annual Westminster Summer Choral Festival. He recently coordinated hundreds of San Diego choral singers for the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s Big Sing California at Copley Symphony Hall for the largest choral music event in the history of the state. Dr. Russell is also frequently in demand as a tenor soloist and was recently noted for his “heart-melting legato.” His recent solo performances include Hector Berlioz’s Te Deum with the San Diego Symphony, St. John Passion (Evangelist) with Pepperdine University, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Steve Schick and Renga, Carl Orff ’s Carmina Burana with the Lisbon Summer Choral Festival Chorus and Orchestra in Lisbon, Portugal, Handel’s Acis and Galatea with the Bach Collegium San Diego and Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 with the Westminster Summer Choral Festival and Piffaro: The Renaissance Band in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Russell was previously the Director of Choral Activities at California State University, San Bernardino, and has held similar positions at Albion College (Michigan), Los Angeles City College, Cypress College and the San Diego Children’s Choir. Prior to his work in California, Dr. Russell was the principal choral conductor at the LaGuardia School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (the Fame School) in New York City. At LaGuardia he was the assistant chairperson of the Music Department, conductor of the symphonic chorus and voice instructor for the school’s advanced vocalists. While in New York he conducted in over twenty performances with the world-renowned Orchestra of St. Luke’s, served as a clinician for the New York Philharmonic’s Education Department and was a guest conductor with New York City National Chorale. Dr. John Russell is a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is a graduate of Western Michigan University and Columbia University. He received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Music from the University of Southern California. His primary conducting mentors are Craig Arnold, Joe Miller and Jo-Michael Scheibe and he has studied voice with William Appel, Curt Peterson, Jeanne Goffi-Fynn and Gary Glaze. He currently resides in San Diego with his wife, Jill and son, Parker. Tenor GENE STENGER has been praised for creating “the most lasting moments” (The Virginia Gazette) of the performance, and for singing with “sweet vibrancy” (The Cleveland Plain Dealer). A specialist in the oratorio repertoire, Gene’s solo concert engagements include Handel’s Messiah with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Northeast Pennsylvania Bach Festival; Evangelist in both St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion with Bach Collegium at St. Peter’s (NYC); Evangelist, and tenor arias in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (complete work) with Colorado Bach Ensemble; tenor arias in St. John Passion with Voices of Ascension, and the Yale Schola Cantorum
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FRIDAY AFTERNOON Suites and Motets Biographies led by Masaaki Suzuki at Lincoln Center; tenor arias in St. Matthew Passion with Helmuth Rilling’s Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart with performances in both Germany and South America, which were featured in a documentary about Rilling’s life entitled Ein Leben mit Bach (A Life with Bach); Uriel in Haydn’s Creation at Colgate University; C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat with the American Classical Orchestra; a solo quartet performance of David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Bernstein’s Mass with the Yale Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; the title role in Handel’s Judas Maccabeus with the Yale Schola Cantorum led by David Hill, for which he was interviewed by PBS for the “Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly” series. Equally at home in chamber music, Gene has performed with numerous professional ensembles, including TENET Vocal Artists, GRAMMY-award winning Apollo’s Fire, Handel and Haydn Society, the GRAMMY-nominated True Concord Voices and Orchestra, the GRAMMY-nominated choir of Trinity Wall Street, Yale Choral Artists, the Oregon Bach Festival Berwick Chorus, and Clarion Society. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Gene holds degrees from Yale University’s School of Music and the Institute of Sacred Music; Colorado State University; and Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music. In 2017, Gene was a Virginia Best Adams vocal fellow with the Carmel Bach Festival, and was a prize winner in the annual Handel Aria Competition in Madison, WI. He currently resides in New Haven, CT, where he serves as instructor of voice at Yale University. MASON VANDALL is studying Music Theory in his junior year at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music. He studies voice in Dr. JR Fralick’s studio and participates in both Motet and University Choirs. Additionally, he has an apprenticeship with Dr. Garner in conducting and score study where he explores his newfound love of Baroque choral literature. He is thrilled to be with this group of singers which has provided such a valuable learning experience to his musical life. In his spare time, he is an avid reader, plays chess and enjoys spending time with his friends. Specializing in early and sacred music, JONATHAN COOPER performs regularly with groups such as Apollo’s Fire, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, Collegium Cincinnati, and Bach Collegium Fort Wayne. His rendition of BWV 82 Ich habe Genug as part of the inaugural Cincinnati Bach Festival with CSO principal oboist Dwight Parry was acclaimed as demonstrating “a dark,
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caressing voice” with “just the right edge to it.” An experienced recitalist, Jonathan was a “highlight” of concert:nova’s “re:member” concert, where he performed songs of English composer George Butterworth. Jonathan is also an accomplished administrator and communicator, having recently moved to New York City in 2017 to take on the role of Communications Manager for the National Association of Episcopal Schools. He now also serves as Vice President for Membership & Communications for the Religion Communicators Council NYC Chapter. Prior to that, Jonathan worked at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Terrace Park, OH, as Communications Coordinator & Music Associate, providing piano accompaniment for Sunday evening liturgies, acting as section leader in the choir, and performing as soloist on a monthly Bach Vespers services. Jonathan holds degrees in voice from Baldwin Wallace University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). JAKE DUFRESNE is a Vocal Performance Major at BW. He is currently studying voice with James Mismas. He is in the Motet Choir at BW and serves as the president of Bella Voce. In 2018, Jake participated in the Blooming Voce Summer Workshop where he performed Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte. In 2017, he attended the CoOPERAtive program at Westminster Choir College. His recent collegiate roles include Father Trulove in Rake’s Progress, Geronimo in Il Matrimonio Segreto, Peachum in Threepenny Opera and the Marquis in Dialogues of the Carmelites. In 2016, he performed Elvrio/Rumi in a world premiere adaptation of the Handel Opera Serse under the direction of Timothy Nelson. Jake hopes to continue his studies in Vocal Performance with a master’s degree, and aspires to continue his studies and career in Germany. DR. CHRISTOPHER JACKSON is the Director of Choral Activities and Head of Voice at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. Christopher works frequently as a guest conductor for honor choir festivals on the East Coast, and has led master classes and workshops on conducting and Baroque music at the San Juan Conservatory of Music in Puerto Rico. In addition to teaching courses in Music History, Choral/Vocal Methods and Pedagogy, and Conducting, he has also led courses in Baroque Music, Art, and Architecture, and traveled throughout Italy and Germany. Christopher is also active as a professional choral singer and soloist. Most recently, he was honored to sing as a member of the GRAMMY Award-Winning ensemble, Roomful of Teeth. He is a core member of and Educational Outreach Manager for the GRAMMY-nominated professional chamber choir,
Skylark Vocal Ensemble. He is featured on Skylark’s two recent albums, Crossing Over and Winter’s Night, and has sung with other professional ensembles such as the Tucson Chamber Artists, Kinnara Ensemble, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, The South Dakota Chorale, and more. Dr. Jackson received his BM in Vocal Performance from Oklahoma State University, and his MM in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College, where he was the graduate assistant conductor of the Westminster Symphonic Choir under Dr. Joe Miller. He received his DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of North Texas. DOMINIC ARAGON is a native of Wichita, Kansas. He currently resides in Boulder, Colorado while pursuing an Artist Diploma in Voice Performance from the University of Colorado-Boulder, studying with Dr. John Seesholtz. Mr. Aragon has performed concert works by Handel, Mozart, Bruckner, Poulenc, SaintSaëns, and Claussen with various ensembles during his time in the Front Range and currently sings as a chorister with the Colorado Bach Ensemble. He has also enjoyed performing roles including Onegin in Eugene Onegin, Bernardo in West Side Story, Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, Fredrik in A Little Night Music, Falke in Die Fledermaus, Escamillo in The Tragedy of Carmen, and Nardo in La Finta Giardinera. Mr. Aragon completed his undergraduate studies at Baldwin Wallace University and his graduate studies at Colorado State University. DIRK GARNER is the Gigax Chair for Choral Studies and Director of the Bach Festival at Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music. He is a noted Bach scholar whose continuing research concerns the Golden Mean in Bach’s Sacred Cantatas, a topic he discussed during a two-hour interview on National Public Radio’s “Bach Sunday.” He also has presented on the subject on the campuses of Western Michigan University, The University of Eastern Connecticut, and Wake Forest University. In addition, he regularly lectures on topics relating to J. S. Bach’s music and Baroque performance practice. Prior to his appointment at Baldwin Wallace, Dr. Garner served as Director of Choral Studies at Oklahoma State University where he conducted the Concert Chorale, Chamber Choir, and led the graduate program in Choral Conducting. Dr. Garner also served as the Director of Choral Activities at Southeastern Louisiana University, and on the faculties of High Point University and Albertson College of Idaho. Popular as a clinician and adjudicator, Dr. Garner has conducted
festivals in twenty-five states and his choirs have been heard across the country and in regional and state conventions of American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the National Association for Music Education (MENC). In January 2008 he conducted Mozart’s Requiem in Carnegie Hall for Mid-America productions. During the summers he serves as Associate Conductor for the Westminster Choir College summer workshop in Florence, Italy. He has judged competitions for the National Association of Teachers of Singing and ACDA, and has served as State Chair of Repertoire and Standards for Colleges and Universities in Louisiana. Dr. Garner holds the Master of Music degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa.
BWV: CLEVELAND’S BACH CHOIR Soprano Kia Frank ’15 Sarah Hawkey Sarah Nadler ’15 Alissa Ruth Suver Alto Andrew Leslie Cooper ’15 Ariana Davis ’19 Kate Maroney Courtney Popp ’18 Tenor Nathan Hodgson John Russell Gene Stenger ’10 Mason Vandall ’20 Bass Jonathan Cooper ’12 Jake Dufresne ’20 Christopher Jackson Dominic Aragon ’16
FESTIVAL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Violin I Alice Culin-Ellison, concertmistress Violin II Phoebe Gelzer-Govatos Viola Josephine Stockwell Cello Eva Lymenstull Bass Kynan Horton-Thomas Oboe Sarah Davol Martin Neubert Oboe/oboe da caccia Julie Brye Bassoon C. Keith Collins Harpsichord Jason Aquila Personnel Manager Martin Neubert
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FRIDAY EVENING CONCERTS & EVENTS 5:00-6:00 p.m.
RBI Student Scholar Presentation Fynes Hall 2018-19 RBI Scholar Lindsay Rader ’19 (Music Theory) will present her research on the markings of Otto Singer in his personal copies of Strauss’ tone poems and Wagner’s opera scores.
LINDSAY RADER is a senior Music Theory major at Baldwin Wallace University. Her interests in music theory currently include timbre analysis in electronic music and pedagogy. She plans to pursue these and other subfields in graduate school this coming fall. In addition, Lindsay studies classical piano with Dr. Robert Mayerovitch and is active in the Cleveland
area with her pop/jazz duo. She feels very honored to have had the opportunity to work with Dr. Danielle Kuntz as the Riemenschneider Bach Institute student scholar and looks forward to presenting her work on Otto Singer II.
5:00-7:15 p.m.
Food Trucks Seminary Street Enjoy innovative eats provided by the Manna Food Truck and Sweet! Mobile Cupcakery at picnic tables during the Festival Brass.
7:00-7:40 p.m.
Preconcert Lecture Fynes Hall Dr. Thomas Forrest Kelly, Professor of Music, Harvard University
THOMAS FORREST KELLY is Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music at Harvard University. Before coming to Harvard he taught at Oberlin Conservatory (where he served as mentor to Jeannette Sorrell, as well as Acting Dean of the Conservatory). Prior to that he taught at Wellesley College and the Five Colleges in Massachusetts.
Hungarian). His book The Beneventan Chant (Cambridge) was awarded the Otto Kinkeldey Award of the American Musicological Society for the most distinguished work of musicological scholarship of 1989.
He is the author of the highly popular book First Nights: Five Performance Premieres (Yale University Press, translated into Korean and Chinese). This lively book takes readers back to the first performances of five famous musical compositions: Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo in 1607, Handel’s Messiah in 1742, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in 1824, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique in 1830, and Stravinsky’s Sacre du printemps in 1913.
He is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres of the French Republic and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Academy in Rome. He received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005. He is an honorary citizen of the city of Benevento (Italy).
His other books include First Nights at the Opera (Yale, 2006); Capturing Music (Norton, 2015); and Early Music: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, translated into German and
Professor Kelly served as President of the Board of Apollo’s Fire during 1993-1995 and currently serves as one of AF’s national Board members.
7:15 p.m.
Festival Brass Marting Hall Tower* John Brndiar, conductor *Rain Location: Lindsay-Crossman Chapel See page 36 for program and personnel information
8:00 p.m.
Apollo’s Fire
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Gamble Auditorium
APOLLO’S FIRE | The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra Jeannette Sorrell, Artistic Director J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 Jeannette Sorrell, conductor Amanda Powell, soprano | Amanda Crider, mezzo-soprano Jacob Perry, tenor | Jesse Blumberg, baritone PROGRAM I. KYRIE Kyrie eleison Christe eleison Kyrie eleison
Chorus Amanda Powell & Amanda Crider Chorus
II. GLORIA Gloria in excelsis Deo Et in terra pax Laudamus te Gratias agimus tibi Domine Deus Qui tollis peccata mundi Qui sedes ad dextram Patris Quoniam tu solus sanctus Cum Sancto Spiritu, Amen.
Chorus Chorus Amanda Powell, with Olivier Brault, violin Chorus Amanda Powell & Jacob Perry, with Kathie Stewart, flute Chorus Daniel Moody, with Debra Nagy, oboe d’amore Jesse Blumberg, with Todd Williams, corno da caccia Chorus INTERMISSION
III. SYMBOLUM NICENUM (Nicene Creed) Credo in unum Deum Patrem omnipotentem Et unum Dominum Et incarnatus est Crucifixus Et resurrexit Et in Spiritum sanctum Et expecto resurrectionem
Chorus Chorus Rebecca Myers & Elisa Sutherland Chorus Chorus Chorus Jesse Blumberg Chorus
IV. SANCTUS Sanctus, Pleni sunt coeli
Chorus
V. OSANNA, BENEDICTUS, AGNUS DEI Osanna in excelsis Benedictus Agnus Dei Osanna repetatur
Chorus Jacob Perry, with Kathie Stewart, traverso Amanda Crider Chorus
Apollo’s Fire CD recordings are for sale in the lobby, including Bach’s St. John Passion and the complete Brandenburg Concertos. Please join the Friends of the Conservatory for a reception in the lobby following the performance.
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FRIDAY EVENING Apollo’s Fire Texts and Translations I. KYRIE Coro Kyrie eleison.
Chorus Lord have mercy.
Duetto Christe eleison.
Duet (Soprano/Mezzo-soprano) Christ have mercy.
Coro Kyrie eleison.
Chorus Lord have mercy.
II. GLORIA Coro Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Chorus Glory be to God on high.
Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
And on earth, peace to men of good will.
Aria
Aria (Soprano)
Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te.
We praise you; we bless you; we adore you; we glorify you.
Coro
Chorus
Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.
We give you thanks for your great glory.
Duetto
Duet (Soprano/Tenor)
Domine Deus, rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe, altissime. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris.
Lord God, heavenly King, God the almighty Father. O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Most High Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.
Coro
Chorus
Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.
You who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. You who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.
Aria
Aria (Alto)
Qui sedes ad dextram Patris, miserere nobis.
You who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us.
Aria
Aria (Bass)
Quoniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe.
For you alone are the Holy One. You alone are the Lord. You, Jesus Christ, alone are the Most High.
Coro
Chorus
Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.
With the Holy Ghost in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
III. CREDO Coro Credo in unum Deum.
Chorus I believe in one God.
Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorum coeli I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium. earth and of all things visible and invisible.
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Duetto
Duet (Soprano/Mezzo-soprano)
Et in unum Dominum, Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum do Deo vero, genitum, non factum, consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds. God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven.
Coro
Chorus
Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sanctu ex Maria virgine et homo factus est.
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man.
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered est. and was buried. Et resurrexit tertia die secundum scripturas. Et ascendit in coe- And on the third day he rose again according to the scriptures. lum, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris, et iterum venturus est cum And ascended into heaven. And sits at the right hand of the gloria judicare vivos et mortuos, cujus regni non erit finis. Father. And he shall come again with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. Aria
Aria (Bass)
Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit; qui cum Patre et Filioque procedit; qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur; qui locutus est per Prophetas. Et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam. Coro
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the Prophets. And I believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church. Chorus
Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
And I await the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
IV. SANCTUS Coro
Chorus
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria ejus.
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
V. OSANNA, BENEDICTUS, AGNUS DEI Coro
Chorus
Osanna in excelsis.
Hosanna in the highest.
Aria Benedictus, qui venit in nomine Domini.
Aria (Tenor) Blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord.
Coro Osanna in excelsis.
Chorus Hosanna in the highest.
Aria Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Aria (Alto) Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Chorus Hosanna in the highest.
Coro Osanna in excelsis.
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FRIDAY EVENING Apollo’s Fire Program Notes Notes on the Mass in B Minor are taken from Melvin Unger, J. S. Bach’s Major Works for Voices and Instruments: A Listener’s Guide (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2005) and used here with the author and publisher’s permission. On July 27, 1733, Johann Sebastian Bach sent a set of beautifully prepared parts of a Kyrie and Gloria to the elector of Saxony, Frederick Augustus II (1696-1763), who had succeeded his father, August the Strong, a few months previously. (Two years later, after a successful election to the Polish throne, he would become August III of Poland.) In the letter accompanying the gift, Bach wrote: To His Most Serene Highness, the Prince and Lord, Frederick Augustus, Royal Prince in Poland and Lithuania, Duke in Saxony . . . To Your Royal Highness I submit in deepest devotion the present small work of that science which I have achieved in musique, with the most wholly submissive prayer that Your Highness will look upon it with Most Gracious Eyes, according to Your Highness’s World-Famous Clemency and not according to the poor composition; and thus deign to take me under Your Most Mighty Protection. For some years and up to the present moment, I have had the Directorium of the Music in the two principal churches in Leipzig, but have innocently had to suffer one injury or another, and on occasion also a diminution of the fees accruing to me in this office; but these injuries would disappear altogether if Your Royal Highness would grant me the favor of conferring upon me a title of Your Highness’s Court Capelle, and would let Your High Command for the issuing of such a document go forth to the proper place. Such a most gracious fulfillment of my most humble prayer will bind me to unending devotion, and I offer myself in most indebted obedience to show at all times, upon Your Royal Highness’s Most Gracious Desire, my untiring zeal in the composition of music for the church as well as for the orchestra, and to devote my entire forces to the service of Your Highness, remaining in unceasing fidelity Your Royal Highness’s most humble and most obedient servant. . . . Johann Sebastian Bach1 With these words the unhappy cantor of St. Thomas introduced the first part of what is now regarded as an artistic monument of Western civilization, his Mass in B Minor. While the work that Bach sent to the ruler in Dresden included only the Kyrie and Gloria portions of the mass ordinary, Bach would probably have considered it complete for such “short” mass settings were typical in Lutheran Germany at that time. It was perhaps Bach’s first attempt at setting the Kyrie and Gloria
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texts—the other four extant masses were all written later—and it was apparently his most ambitious: the scope of this missa is far beyond that of most missae brevis. Incorporating twelve movements lasting about forty-five minutes, it more closely approximates the “monumental celebratory settings that were performed on special occasions in the Dresden Hofkirche.”2 Furthermore, aspects of style and structure reveal that this missa has an internal unity of its own. All five voices are utilized in the solo movements, the instrumental families are represented in turn in the solo instrumental roles, and various aspects of symmetry can be identified. The complete mass was not assembled until the very end of Bach’s life. Sometime between August 1748 and October 1749 the various movements (many of them adaptations from previous works) were gathered and numbered into four primary divisions, each with a title page specifying the instrumentation: the missa became No. 1, the Credo (Symbolum Nicenum) became No. 2; the Sanctus, No. 3; and the Osanna / Benedictus / Agnus Dei et / Dona nobis pacem, No. 4.3 There is no title for the work as a whole. Indeed, contemporary sources (including Bach’s letters) make no mention of a B-minor mass. The first known reference to the work as a whole appears in C. P. E. Bach’s 1790 estate catalog, which calls his father’s compilation “Die große Catholische Messe” (the “Great Catholic Mass”). Not until sometime after 1800 was it referred to as the “B-minor Mass”—and one might question that name’s appropriateness, since the work actually contains more movements in D major than in B minor. Eventually it was published as a unit by Nägeli-Simrock—the Kryie and Gloria movements appearing in 1833, the rest in 1845). In any case, the result of Bach’s compilation is a work of grand proportions. Lasting close to two hours, it would have been too long for most liturgical settings. Why did Bach write such an unusually long work? Was it ever performed during Bach’s lifetime? Why were the movements divided into four nonliturgical sections? Why did an apparently staunchly Lutheran composer write a Catholic mass in the first place? Did he even conceive of the work as a unified whole? Concerning the last question Andreas Bomba writes: The unusual diversity of its origins could easily give cause to doubt that the Mass in B Minor was conceived as a single piece of music. It would seem rather that Bach collected individual movements scattered throughout his work into a sort of pasticcio. Of course, this view is based on a notion of creating and composing music which is not inherent but imposed from without: that a work of art must be “original,” composed of fresh ingredients, so to speak, with the conception preceding the composition. A closer look reveals that this premise does not accurately describe what really took place in the
course of music history. The mere fact that Bach combined the various portions and composed new music for certain sections as needed proves that a different notion of the creative process is perfectly justifiable: the act of composition need not be restricted to individual notes, the smallest units of music, but can also consist in the creation of an inventive synthesis of larger elements, from quoting motifs and melodies to organizing entire movements and pieces in an artistic arrangement.4 Why did Bach compile this great mass? As a universal statement of Christian faith? That is the view of some scholars, including Yoshitake Kobayashi, whose research is responsible for the chronological redesignation of the work, demonstrating that it was Bach’s last creative endeavor—his opus ultimum.5 Other scholars suggest that Bach was motivated by a desire for achieving a supreme artistic expression in a timeless art form. Thus Georg von Dadelsen writes: As a whole, this Mass has no place in the Lutheran worship service, and at the same time it is unlikely that it was expressly written for a particular catholic rite. . . . Bach probably wished to compose in a field that represented the highest achievement since the time of Josquin and Palestrina, who elevated the Mass to an independent work of art. Bach took it outside the realm of the liturgy, as an expression of his personal mastery.6 Christoph Wolff notes the compendium of styles represented by the work and writes: More traditions attach to the Mass than to any other form of vocal music, and it has indeed been regarded since the fourteenth-century as the central genre of sacred vocal music, so it is not surprising if Bach wanted to write his own contribution to this particular chapter in the history of music.7 Similarly, John Butt writes: Historically the work is an exhaustive—if not didactic—summation of the composer’s skills, and of all the styles, idioms and devices available to his age. Bach clearly viewed the mass genre as the most historically durable form. . . . The concepts of hard work, thoroughness and of following an established order to its furthest implications [so characteristic of Bach], are evident both in the genesis of the Mass in B Minor—obviously aiming towards the perfection and unification of pre-existent material—and in the sheer density of the resulting work.8 Nevertheless, the work has too many marks of intended performance to be an abstract work for posterity: the extroverted nature of certain movements (which seem calculated to appeal to an audience of Bach’s time), the
structure of the manuscript (loose gatherings typical of Bach’s performance scores and four title pages listing the forces needed for each section), and the revision of the previously existing Sanctus to correspond to the voicing of the other movements.9 Several of the work’s features point to Dresden: five-part, SSATB vocal scoring (unusual for Bach and impractical in Leipzig), extensive length (similar to that of settings by other Dresden composers), emphasis on antique polyphonic style, juxtaposition of contrasting styles, emphasis on chorus writing, and formal division of the work into sections (which appear in separate folders).10 Whatever, Bach’s motivation, the resulting work exhibits remarkable unity and dramatic power. Kyrie The Kyrie opens with a solemn and grand motto introduction. While such chordal prefatory statements were unusual for Bach, they were common in works by Dresden composers. Indeed, it is possible that Bach was working from a specific model here: a Mass in G Minor by Johann Hugo von Wilderer, which Bach copied out and apparently also performed around 1730.11 Noteworthy is the incorporation of Luther’s Kyrie melody (from the German Mass of 1526) in the uppermost line.12 Because Bach used this liturgical melody in other works as well (the Mass in F, BWV 233, and the single Kyrie, BWV 233a)13 we may assume that its appearance here is significant. The Kyrie fugue constituting the bulk of the movement is a marvel of linear tension. The contour of the primary theme (also related to Luther’s traditional cantus firmus14) masterfully depicts the text, an anguished plea for divine mercy. We hear the melody inching slowly and chromatically upward; several times it falls back abruptly, as if struggling out of a deep and dark abyss. The tension of this “complex, emotionally charged subject” is released only in the piccardy-third cadence of the final measure.15 “A clue to Bach’s thinking is provided by his Weimar colleague Johann Gottfried Walther, who [once] described writing a solemn Kyrie on the hymn “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir” (“Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord”), Luther’s paraphrase of Psalm 130.”16 The image is strengthened in the second vocal development where the voices enter sequentially from lowest to highest. The overall sense of anguish is heightened by the appearance of disjointed sighing figures occurring in the middle of text syllables, powerfully portraying the sheer inarticulateness of the speaker. (Note: For the convenience of readers using music scores employing the older numbering system rather than the one used in the new collected edition, movement numbers are given here according to both schemes whenever they differ.17) Of the second movement, George Stauffer writes: In the “Christe eleison” Bach moves from the elevated world of the chorus fugue to the intimate realm of the [Neapolitan] love duet . . . [with] dulcet parallel 2019 Bach Festival 53
FRIDAY EVENING Apollo’s Fire Program Notes thirds and sixths (emphasized here through sustained notes), diatonic melodic lines, a galant mixture of duple and triple figures, straightforward harmonies, expressive appoggiaturas, and weak-beat phrase endings that resolve downward as “sighs.”18 Set in D major, the relative major (i.e., companion key) of B minor, the key of the previous movement, the “Christe” offers a distinct contrast in tonality, style, and effect. It had long been common practice to make the “Christe” more intimate than the surrounding “Kyrie” statements, often by reducing the choral forces, but Bach achieves even greater contrast by setting the text as a duet in theatrical style. Though not in Da capo form, the movement is unified by means of a ritornello (a harmonically stable, instrumental “refrain”). While duets were often structured as dialogues, this one is different: the voices sing mostly in parallel motion, suggesting agreement between the two singers. After the Christe, Bach sets the second Kyrie in antique style—as an intense Renaissance-style movement for voices and continuo bass. Except for the bass, the instruments have no independent role—they simply double the vocal parts. The conscious adoption of an archaic style for Kryie II was common among Dresden composers; Bach, however, adds elements of emotional tension by employing fugue form (in which a primary theme is treated imitatively throughout the texture), choosing a tonality (F # minor) considered highly expressive by Baroque composers,19 and creating a primary theme (the fugue subject) that moves sinuously by half steps. For added tension both subject and countersubject are treated in stretto—that is, the voices “butt in,” creating overlapping statements of the theme. It is noteworthy that the fugue theme appears thirteen times—a phenomenon that may have symbolic intention in a movement constituting a desperate cry for mercy. Gloria In the Gloria Bach abandons the reserve of the preceding Kyrie, expanding the vocal and instrumental sonority to the utmost. Trumpets and timpani play for the first time, and regular oboes replace the less powerful oboes d’amore, doubling the flute parts. The style is that of the concerto: a highly virtuosic interplay of voices and instruments, which places great technical demands on all performers, suggests a scene of majestic splendor. George Stauffer observes: With the Gloria, we encounter an abrupt and shocking change of mood. Bright D major, the Baroque key of trumpets and drums, sweeps away the brooding B minor and F # minor of the Kyrie, extroverted concerto writing replaces introverted fugal development; and springy, dance-like rhythms, notated in the chamber meter of 3/8, supplant the alla breve gravity of Renaissance vocal style.20
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With its origin in the angelic hymn occurring at Jesus’ birth as recorded in the Gospel of Luke, the opening text has Christmas associations that are mirrored in Bach’s treatment: the abrupt change of mood suggests the sudden appearance of the angels; the overt exuberance and dance-like triple meter suggest the nature of their news; the prominence of the trumpets, their heraldic function; and the rich texture (a total of sixteen independent vocal and instrumental parts), perhaps the numerical strength of the angel host. That Bach later reused this music in a cantata for Christmas Day (BWV 191) “leaves no doubt that he associated the score with the Nativity.” The style of the movement is clearly instrumental; perhaps Bach adapted the music from a concerto movement that is no longer extant. The shift to a contemplation of peace on earth occurs without a break. At the end of “Gloria in excelsis” the soprano voices were taken to their extreme upper register. Now most of the voices drop, the lines become more linear, the meter changes from sprightly triple groupings to a more sedate arrangement of four pulses per measure, and the trumpets and drums are hushed briefly. Lilting two-note groupings, sweet harmonies of parallel thirds and sixths, and sustained bass notes work together to create a pastoral atmosphere. After twenty measures the main theme becomes the subject of a fugue; a lively countersubject accompanies the primary melody, providing momentum. From the “lyricism of the Christmas Eve reminiscence” at the beginning of the movement, the music gradually intensifies until the “prophetic vision appears to be triumphantly fulfilled.”21 For the centerpiece of the triptych with which the Gloria begins, Bach writes an aria in the florid operatic style, which may have been intended for the Dresden operatic mezzosoprano Faustina Bordoni. Bach was evidently acquainted with Faustina (along with her husband, the composer Hasse). Her vocal technique was legendary, as the following description by the eighteenth-century writer Charles Burney attests. She in a manner invented a new kind of singing, by running divisions with a neatness and velocity which astonished all who heard her. . . . Her beats and trills were strong and rapid; her intonation perfect.22 Similarly, the Baroque theorist and flautist Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773) observed: Her execution was articulate and brilliant. She had a fluent tongue for pronouncing words rapidly and distinctly, and a flexible throat for divisions, with so beautiful and quick a shake that she could put it in motion upon short notice, just when she would. The passages might be smooth, or by leaps, or consisting of iterations of the same tone, their execution was equally easy to her as to any instrument whatever.23 The solo violin part is likewise demanding. As for the other
strings, they do not merely accompany but participate in the thematic unfolding of the movement. For the “Gratias” text, Bach chose to reuse a chorus from an earlier work—Cantata 29—where the words “Wir danken dir, Gott, und verkündigen deine Wunder” express the same prayerful homage as the Latin text of the mass. As in Kyrie II, Renaissance-style polyphony (now within the formal design of a double fugue) is used to set the text. The rising lines of the first theme appear in immediately overlapping fashion; the resulting dense web of sounds suggests the thickly intertwining trails of ascending incense. Then a second, more rhythmic subject is introduced on the words “propter magnam gloriam”; a subsequent combination of the two themes produces further intensification. Finally, “in a brilliant extension of the stile antico practice”24 Bach adds additional instrumental lines to the four-voice vocal setting: first the second trumpet, then the first trumpet, and lastly the third trumpet with timpani, so that the movement climaxes in a blaze of glory. In the following love duet between God the Father and God the Son, Bach returns to the intimate, galant style of the “Christe” and “Laudamus te.” Scored for obbligato flute, muted upper strings, and plucked cellos and basses, the duet features melodic lines that cascade downward, as if from heaven. The slurred note pairs of the instruments are often performed in reverse-dotted rhythm (the so-called Lombard rhythm), as was common in Dresden. Bach’s treatment of the text is noteworthy: two phrases (describing Father and Son, respectively) are presented more or less simultaneously—not, apparently, to shorten the movement but to emphasize the interaction between the two persons. Bach is not literal about the representation: the roles of Father and Son switch back and forth between soprano and tenor soloists. However, as Stauffer points out, “the first voice always carries the ‘Domine Deus’ line and the second the ‘Domine Fili,’ thus preserving the theological image of the Father preceding the Son.”25 Bach also adds a word (“altissime”—not normally part of the mass text) to the second text phrase, perhaps to allow better matching of the two text phrases by increasing the number of syllables in the latter. For the “Qui tollis” Bach adapted music from a work he had composed some twenty-five years earlier—the opening chorus of Cantata 46, Schauet doch und sehet. The appropriateness of Bach’s choice is apparent from the similarity of affect between the original text and the new one. In Cantata 46 a verse from the book of Jeremiah’s Lamentations (“Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow . . .”) is applied Christologically to the Gospel lesson for the tenth Sunday after Trinity, which depicts Jesus weeping over Jerusalem’s impending destruction. Bach’s music, with its sighing and circling figures, monotonously plodding bass (whose throbbing cello rhythm is new to the mass setting), and harmonic dissonance effectively
portrays a mood of resigned lament. It is therefore a good general match for the new text (“You who take away the sins of the world . . .”). Several of Bach’s changes are illuminating. The new key is lower (B minor in place of the original D minor), serving to intensify the dark mood. The vigorous fugue with which the original setting concluded (on a suitably agitated text) now has no place, and is omitted. Finally, since the original chorus specifies only four voices, the vocal texture in the mass is reduced to that number. Bach does it, however, not by combining the two soprano parts but rather by omitting the higher of the two, an effect called for in only one other movement of mass—the “Crucifixus.” Unlike Bach’s other, shorter masses or masses by Dresden composers, the “Qui sedes” in the Mass in B Minor is set as an independent movement. The scriptural context for the text has both Old Testament and New Testament roots: the words of the psalmist (“The Lord said unto my Lord, ‘Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool’”—Ps. 110:1) are reinterpreted according to the New Testament teaching of Christ’s ascension (“So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.”—Mark 16:19) and the doctrine of Christ as advocate at the right hand of God (Hebrews 8). After the lament of the “Qui tollis” (corresponding to Christ’s Passion) this restrained and courtly dance movement (a gigue)—in which an oboe d’amore echoes the voice (effectively appearing “to the right of it”) before joining with it in unison (i.e., the two are “of the same substance”)—is evidently intended to suggest Christ’s divine nature and his exalted position and role as mediator at the royal right hand of God. The scoring of the “Quoniam” is extraordinary and unique. The movement calls for bass voice, natural horn (playing in a relatively high range), two bassoons (playing in thirds), and continuo bass. The contrast between the higher horn (which, along with the key of D major, had royal associations) and the other voices, all of them low, must surely have been inspired by the words, “tu solus altissimus Jesu Christe.” With its determined ascending octave leap, the horn contributes an intense, magisterial presence, undoubtedly intended to symbolize Christ. Bach rarely wrote for obbligato bassoon; that he calls for two in this movement was probably because several virtuoso players were available in Dresden. The use of a hunting horn also points to Dresden, where it was a specialty.26 Bach’s unusual orchestration is further emphasized by the fact that two of the three obbligato instruments are unique to this movement: the corno da caccia and the second bassoon appear nowhere else in the entire mass. The movement is cast in modified ternary form; Bach’s attention to detail is evident in the fact that, when the opening material returns, Bach does not leave the expected ornamentation to the whims of the singer but writes out the embellishment.
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FRIDAY EVENING Apollo’s Fire Program Notes The final movement of the Gloria, and one of exceptional virtuosity, follows without pause. While it had long been commonplace to clothe texts dealing with the Spirit “dynamically,” Bach’s setting of “cum sancto Spiritu” is particularly energetic. The overall design reveals five sections, which alternate between concertato style (instrumental and vocal bodies of sound placed in opposition to each other) and dense fugal writing, in which a leaping subject (derived from the material of the opening) is accompanied by an animated but more linear countersubject. To create a sense of forward motion Bach writes the first fugal exposition for voices alone (not counting the omnipresent continuo), then reinforces the vocal parts with instrumental doublings in the second one. To further energize the second exposition Bach creates “false” entries in stretto (the entries overlapping one another), leaving the listener guessing which of the statements will be completed. The overall effect is one of “feverish contrapuntal activity,”27 which climaxes in the final seven measures when the sixteenth-note motion of first sopranos (doubled by the first violins, first oboe, and both flutes) passes to the first trumpet, whose sound radiates above the entire texture. Bach’s own words, inscribed under the last measure of his manuscript, seem entirely fitting: “Fine—Soli Deo gloria” (“The End. To God alone be the glory.”).28 Symbolum Nicenum For the Credo, Bach could not very well turn to Dresden models, for what few Credo settings existed were too short for his purpose. Written some fifteen years after the music of the Kyrie and Gloria, Bach’s Credo (especially the opening movement) reflects his preoccupation with Renaissancestyle polyphony in the intervening years. The overall structure is clearly symmetrical, with the centerpiece being the “Crucifixus.” Bach’s division of the text into individual movements is not commensurate with the text length but, apparently, with the relative significance of the text segments in Bach’s estimation. It is clear that Bach intended from the outset to assign entire movements to the individual statements in the text that he believed the most significant, even if these often consisted of only a few words.29 A number of structural details suggest that Bach aimed to produce a highly integrated work, with “compelling transitions and cyclical allusions.”30 While perfectly chiastic, it is also developmental, following the three articles of Luther’s Trinitarian division of the Creed. “That Bach was thinking along Lutheran lines . . . is verified by his label for the ‘Et in unum Dominum’ insert: ‘Duo Voces Articuli 2’: “The two vocal parts of Article 2.’”31 In the first movement Bach turned again to the antique church style, in which a theme is treated imitatively in all voices. It may well be that Bach’s choice of style was motivated in part by
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a desire to portray the traditional text in an objective manner. The movement’s musical theme is the chant intonation to the Credo used in Leipzig, and some part of it appears in every measure except the closing few. “In turning to a chant-derived theme and the sixteenth-century idiom of Palestrina, Bach acknowledged the roots of the Nicene Creed in the ancient church.”32 In all there are seven interwoven strands of melody in the counterpoint: five vocal parts and two violin lines. The resulting dense musical web is supported by a Baroque walking instrumental bass line, which adds an eighteenthcentury instrumental touch to what is essentially a sixteenthcentury style.33 In the “Patrem” Bach turned back to previously composed music: the opening chorus (a fugue) of Cantata 171, Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm (“According to thy name, O God, so is thy glory”). However, he made numerous clever adaptations: for example, to avoid emphasizing the division between the “Patrem” and the previous movement, he added material to the opening so that it begins in A major—even though the rest is in D. Bach also added declamatory “Credo” statements in the voices not preoccupied with the fugue theme. These, too, serve to unite the “Patrem” movement with the foregoing “Credo”; in addition, they perhaps pay homage to the so-called Credo Masses that were common in Dresden during Bach’s time.34 The original cantata material is in four parts. Since Bach was apparently concerned about maintaining five-part vocal scoring throughout most of the mass (even reworking a fourvoice cantata movement into five voices in the case of the “Et expecto”), it is initially surprising that he maintained the fourpart vocal texture here. Upon closer examination, however, we see that, in both cantata and mass versions, an obbligato first trumpet line expands the fugal texture to five parts—perhaps Bach left it unaltered for this reason. In Bach’s symmetrical design, the first two movements of the Credo—the “Credo in unum Deum” and the “Patrem omnipotentem”—form an antique/modern style pair that is counterbalanced by another pair of movements at the end—the “Confiteor” and the “Et expecto.” While the two movements are dissimilar in form and style it is clear that Bach wanted the components of the opening Credo sentence to be understood as inseparable. By using the venerated church style for the opening phrase (“Credo in unum Deum”) he freed it from subjective associations. Accepted as dogma, it then becomes the basis for the second movement, which portrays the glorification of God as extending “to the ends of the earth” (as the original cantata model states it).35 The following love duet originally ended with the words “Et incarnatus est . . . et homo factus est.” At some point, however, Bach decided to compose a new, self-contained movement for those words, apparently for the purpose of making the “Crucifixus” the centerpiece of a symmetrical
arch. The decision entailed removing the “Et incarnatus” text from the duet without, however, shortening the music. Instead Bach kept the instrumental parts intact and reworked the vocal lines, redistributing the words over the entire musical span. Even with adjustments made to the vocal parts to accommodate the new text distribution, the process undermined the close relationship between text and music that had characterized the original version.36 On the other hand, it highlighted the “Et incarnatus” text, which was now set as a self-contained movement. The duet exhibits numerous symbolic features. Many writers have suggested that the two voices symbolize the second person of the Trinity (as they perhaps also do in the “Christe eleison”). In Helmuth Rilling’s view, Bach expresses [the] simultaneous unity and difference between the Father and the Son in a single motive, which appears canonically in m. 1 in the highest orchestral parts and continues to pervade the entire movement. The notes of the motive are identical in both parts, a representation of the common substance of the Father and the Son. But the articulation is different, the last two eighths in the first part being marked staccato, while the same notes in the second part are slurred. The first motive, the stronger of the two, represents the all-powerful Father; the second motive, a gentler musical gesture, represents the Son, who proceeds from the Father. This perfect musical synonym for the meaning of the text permeates the entire movement.37 What follows is—despite its brevity—one of the most expressive pieces of the entire mass. Significantly, it is also the most progressive movement in the Symbolum, with a violin line perhaps modeled after the repeating violin figure of the “Quis est homo” in Pergolesi’s Stabat mater. Clearly symbolic are the imitative vocal lines (which descend as if coming down a staircase) and the sighing figures of the unison violin part (in whose jagged outline some writers perceive symbolic cross figures). Probably also symbolic are the many sharp signs, since the German word for sharp (Kreuz) simultaneously signifies “cross.” A pulsating instrumental bass adds a hint of resignation and—because it sometimes repeats a single bass note many times before eventually finding resolution— expectation. In fact, all of the above musical elements combine to “create an atmosphere of anticipation—anticipation of the crucifixion that was made possible through Christ’s incarnation.”38 The crucifixion, as portrayed in the following movement, is also foreshadowed in the alto line near the end of the “Et incarnatus,” where we hear, in inverted form, the chromatic “lament” motive of the “Crucifixus.” Immediately following this statement in the alto, the descending sighing/ cross motive is presented in stretto (i.e., in overlapping fashion) in the two violin parts and the instrumental bass.
For the centerpiece of the Credo Bach adapted the opening chorus of his 1714 Weimar cantata “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen,” BWV 12. The distinguishing musical feature of this movement is the “lamento bass,” a bass line that descends by semitones from the tonic to the dominant. In the Baroque the figure was understood as a stereotypical gesture of lament, and was often used as a ground bass: a bass line that is continually repeated in a composition and thereby becomes the unifying element in the work. Bach presents the theme in throbbing quarter notes, thus heightening the sense of pathos and making this movement analogous to the “Qui tollis.” A number of indicators suggest that this movement was very important in Bach’s conception: its central position in a symmetrical structure, the use of ground bass (traditionally used for key texts), and the repetition of the entire text for emphasis. The ending—a musical extension that repeats the words “et sepultus est”—is particularly evocative with its chromatic harmonic language, low range and descending melodic movement, and subdued dynamic. Structurally, it accomplishes a modulation to G major, which allows the following movement (“Et resurrexit”) to explode upon the listener’s ear without pause. After the sepulchral ending of the “Crucifixus,” the full orchestra (including trumpets and drums) erupts jubilantly in D major. The ascending figures are the antitheses of those in the preceding movement (especially noteworthy is the occasional ascending chromatic bass line, which approximates an inversion of the lamenting bass theme of the “Crucifixus”), and the overall effect suggests absolute confidence in the belief of the resurrection as described by Paul the apostle: “We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed.”39 Bach’s writing is instrumental, and of a sufficiently virtuosic nature to suggest that he may have reused music from a now-lost concerto movement. “The switch from the primarily vocal idiom of the ‘Et incarnatus’ and the ‘Crucifixus’ to the unabashed instrumental style in the ‘Et resurrexit’ helps to produce the miraculous effect of euphoric awakening.”40 Interestingly, the beginning of the “Et resurrexit” retains evidence of Bach’s original design for the Credo, which had only eight movements (the “Et incarnatus text still being subsumed in the preceding duet), but which, despite its even number of movements, was already chiastic (arch-like) in form. Bach marks this important structural point with a melodic palindrome (chiasm) of thirteen notes in the Soprano 1 (mm. 1-3). The perfect symmetry of this arching line can hardly be coincidental, since it requires the two soprano parts to cross unnecessarily on the last note—Soprano 1 dipping down to a’ (the pitch required to complete the palindrome) while Soprano 2 remains on d”. When the figure is repeated later at “Cujus regni” (m. 86), more normal voice leading is
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FRIDAY EVENING Apollo’s Fire Program Notes employed, the two voices remaining in their respective ranges. Furthermore, while the S1 line doubles the high instruments in the opening measures, it does not continue up to b #” as the instrumental parts do, and as it does later (m. 15). These anomalies in the first three measures of the Soprano 1 part suggest that Bach was deliberately creating a melodic palindrome. Thus, while Bach’s ultimate decision to create a separate movement for the “Et incarnatus” moved the focus to the “Crucifixus,” (which now received central place), the “Et resurrexit” retains evidence of Bach’s earlier emphasis. After a striking passage in which the vocal bass alone renders the text “And he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead,” Bach repeats the opening music for the final phrase, “Whose kingdom shall have no end.” This time, however, the trumpets dominate, and the “breathlessly ebullient” movement ends with a final triumphant flourish. In the following bass aria, Bach sets one of the longest text units in the Credo. The music reverts to the intimate style of such movements as the “Qui sedes.” While the absence of close text-music relationships have led writers to conclude that this movement must be a parody of an earlier work, a connection between the general pastoral mood (created by the lilting dance meter, symmetrical phrases, sweet-sounding oboes d’amore, and consonant harmonies) and the textual image of the Holy Spirit is discernible. The Credo concludes as it began, with a pair of choruses in contrasting (old versus modern) styles. The first of the two choral pillars, like its counterpart at the beginning of the Credo, is written in archaic motet style and, in the second half, cites a chant tune. Two distinct themes, one motto-like, the other motoric, are first developed independently, then combined. Again the chromatically rising bass theme (itself an inversion of the “lamento bass” heard in the “Crucifixus”) appears. When Bach introduces the liturgical chant in the second half of the movement, he does so in a structurally rigid manner, as if adding a further objective component. First the ancient tune appears in canon at the fifth between bass (Vox Christe?) and alto, written in half notes with entrances one measure apart. In measure 92 the tenors sing it, now in longer (whole note) values. It is as if “Bach and his personal interpretation relinquish the place of importance to the objective affirmation of the Gregorian quotation.”41 This second half of the movement has no new text. Instead, the foregoing words are simply repeated: “I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.” An examination of the autograph score demonstrates that Bach was keeping track of measure totals as he wrote (measures 61, 100, and 141 are all numbered), allowing him to introduce the chant at the very center point (measure 73). By introducing the chant (cantus firmus) at the midpoint (and with a forceful harmonic
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preparation) Bach appears to be making a symbolic statement regarding the centrality and timelessness of baptism. The movement ends with an eery rendition of the words “And I look for the resurrection of the dead,” which will be repeated in the following movement. The fact that Bach chose to include the words here and repeat them at the beginning of the next movement is surely significant, especially in view of the fact that he apparently rejected a similar approach earlier when he decided to revise “Et unum Dominum” and make “Et incarnatus” an independent movement. (In that instance, he excised the “Et incarnatus” text from the end of “Et unum Dominum” and reworked the choral parts of the duet. It would have been much simpler to leave “Et in unum Dominum” as it was, then repeat the “Et incarnatus” text in the new movement.) Why did Bach follow a different course here? Perhaps he intended to make clear the connection between resurrection and baptism by having the words “Et expecto resurrectionem” follow on the heels of “unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.” Perhaps he wanted to portray the tension inherent in Christian hope—a state conceptualized and expressed by theologians as “already . . . but not yet.” Undoubtedly, by creating a bridge passage with a soft dynamic, slow tempo, and unstable harmonies (complete with reappearance of chromatically descending “Crucifixus” bass motive) he makes the jubilation of the following movement all the more abrupt, underscoring the suddenness of the event. For the final movement of the Credo, Bach reworked a choral movement from his 1728 cantata “Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille,” BWV 120, written for the inauguration of the Leipzig town council. His extensive revisions so completely altered the music that commentators did not recognize the connection until the twentieth century. One significant change is the vocal scoring: Bach expanded the four-voice original to five voices, so that it matches the scoring of the foregoing choral movements. Fanfare motives for the trumpets, soloistic timpani writing, ascending figures for “resurrectionem,” and a developmental design serve to render the meaning of the words and to propel the music toward the substantial and ecstatic “Amen,” which concludes not only the “Et expecto” but, “bound as it is to the prospect of eternal life, [also] the entire affirmation of the Credo.”42 Sanctus Originating some twenty years earlier, the Sanctus is the oldest music in the Mass in B Minor. This fact helps account for its uniqueness: the orchestration requires no flutes but does call for a third oboe; the six-part vocal scoring is virtually unparalleled in Bach’s output; within the mass itself no other movement uses polychoral texture (in which groups of voices and/or instruments respond to one another in an antiphonal manner) as a dominant structural principle. The movement opens with a grand portrayal of the Isaiah text.
The numbers 6 and 3 appear prominently—perhaps they are intended to function symbolically as Trinitarian references. At “Pleni sunt coeli” the texture abruptly changes, the accumulated inner tension of the amassed sound released in a fugue in 3/8 meter. Of this dramatic change Helmuth Rilling writes: Bach desired a contrast here: instead of the seventeen-part texture used up to now, one voice begins alone; instead of the carefully balanced and symbol-laden rhythms of the first section, the rhythmic character of the motivic material is light and lively. . . . The . . . countersubject . . . with its uninterrupted sixteenth-note coloratura, demonstrates even more clearly than the subject itself Bach’s desire to write a virtuosic, “play-fugue.”43 At the end Bach writes “a textbook-perfect example of a composed crescendo. All of the parts here begin in a relatively low range and move constantly upward for five measures. . . . The development of this crescendo culminates with the reentry of the trumpet-and-timpani-supported motive in the bass.”44 Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Dona nobis pacem For the Osanna Bach expands the scoring to the limit. With eight-part choral writing (in double choir format) and the reentry of the flutes the texture now comprises a total of twenty parts—the most expansive in the entire Mass. The Benedictus, on the other hand, goes to the opposite extreme: with just three parts it represents the thinnest texture of the entire work. The Osanna is clearly related to the opening chorus of Bach’s secular cantata “Preise dein Glücke, gesegnetes Sachesen,” BWV 215; therefore either the Osanna is a reworking of BWV 215 or both were derived from a third now-lost work. The Osanna’s fast triple meter with upbeat suggests the passepied, a spirited court dance of French origin. Fortuitously, the borrowed material has a primary motive similar to the second subject of the “Pleni sunt coeli.” This relationship helps connect the Osanna with the preceding Sanctus. The Osanna is exuberant yet carefully structured. After an initial concerto-style opening the forces are reduced to chamber dimensions. Then begins a fugue-like development in which the motive works its way systematically (at twomeasure intervals) through Choir I, Choir II (ascending from bass through soprano in Choir I; descending from soprano to bass in Choir II), and finally the orchestra (first the strings and woodwinds, then the trumpets). After a further section in which instrumental and vocal groups play off each other, the movement ends with instruments alone. “It is logical that the movement should end as it does with a purely instrumental section, given the previously observed transition from vocal to instrumental dominance within the movement.”45
In the Benedictus, we encounter the most intimate scoring of the entire mass: a solo tenor is accompanied by a treble instrument (unspecified in Bach’s original but the part is perhaps most suitable for flute due to its range and tone color) and continuo. The variety of rhythms in the obbligato treble line imparts an improvisational character, typical of the “more pliant, flexible idiom” of the emerging empfindsamer Stil (the pre-Classical “sensitive style”), while the somewhat halting phrase structure of the tenor line suggests meditative restraint. Framed as it is by the two overtly exuberant Osanna statements, this movement “creates a very different world, one of solitary, almost mystical reflection.”46n the liturgy, the Agnus Dei is a threefold prayer just before the distribution of the bread and the wine of the Eucharist. In the Mass in B Minor Bach follows the Dresden custom of dividing the text into two separate movements. The threefold prayer is reduced to two and one-half statements—the concluding words, “Dona nobis pacem,” lacking the introductory phrase “Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi.” The most immediate reason for this structure is Bach’s decision to create cyclical unity in the mass by bringing back the music of the “Gratias” for the “Dona nobis.” One could also argue, as Helmuth Rilling has done, that the closing ritornello (i.e., instrumental passage) of the Agnus Dei functions as a third (non-verbal) statement of “Agnus Dei, qui tollis.” Bach’s genius is once again evident in the music of this movement, which, while taken from an earlier aria (reused by Bach also for an aria in the Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11), displays much invention in its adaptation. A number of plaintive rhetorical figures help establish a mood of intense supplication: dissonant, wrenching leaps (especially in the violins), two-note slurred sighs (heard already in previous movements), and a hypnotic walking bass of eighth notes separated by rests. The vocal theme is echoed at the fifth by the violins playing in unison—as if they are repeating the text rhetorically. The strict counterpoint, accompanied as it is by the inflexible bass, produces an effect of still meditation (perhaps even benumbed sadness), which finds some release at an interior pause—the only instance within the entire work where a fermata appears within a movement rather than on a final chord. The five instrumental measures with which the Agnus Dei ends are of utmost expressiveness, with unusual chromatic leaps that disorient the listener with regard to the tonal center. Perhaps Bach wished to obscure the ending of the Agnus Dei so that the “Dona nobis pacem,” with its D-major tonality and conjunct ascending lines, would stand out as much as possible.47 For the “Dona nobis” the music of the “Gratias” returns. That Bach chose not to compose new music for the end of his work is surely significant. Interestingly, an examination of the autograph manuscript suggests that Bach originally envisioned
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FRIDAY EVENING Apollo’s Fire Program Notes a more expansive movement. His earlier decision to create a separate movement for the “Et incarnatus” text had ensured that the “Gratias” and “Dona nobis” would be equidistant from the “Crucifixus.” Now his reuse of the “Gratias” music (whose rising diatonic melodic lines countermand the chromatic lament of the “Crucifixus”) not only provides a sense of cyclical unity, but also serves as a hermeneutical device, illuminating the new text. While the words “Dona nobis pacem” are ordinarily heard as supplication, they become here an assurance of prayer answered, a promise of heavenly welcome. The suppliants’ anguished “miserere nobis” has been heard and peace is assured. It is as if the gates of glory are
opening slowly to receive not just the prayer of the petitioners but the very suppliants themselves—Bach’s vision of glorification. Perhaps Bach also regarded this final movement as a kind of doxology; if so, he was employing the traditional musical pun used at “Sicut erat in principio” in settings of the Lesser Doxology—“as it was in the beginning.” As before, Bach’s expansion of the four-part contrapuntal texture with three trumpet lines (after their initial role of simply doubling the voices) produces an unexpected dynamic intensification: first the trumpets enter, soaring high above the previous lines, and then, with a dramatic note of finality, the timpani enters.
Notes 1. Translated Christoph Wolff, New Bach Reader, no. 162 (p. 158). 2. George B. Stauffer, The Mass in B Minor (New York: Schirmer Books, 1997; reprinted Yale University Press, 2003), 51. 3. John Butt, Bach: Mass in B Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 14. 4. Andreas Bomba, CD booklet, J. S. Bach, Mass in B Minor, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (Helmuth Rilling, conductor), Hänssler CD 92.070, p. 32. 5. Yoshitake Kobayashi, trans. Jeffrey Baxter, “Universality in Bach’s B Minor Mass: A Portrait of Bach in his Final Years (In Memoriam Dietrich Kilian),” BACH: The Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute 24 (Fall/Winter 1993): 3–25. 6. Georg von Dadelsen, “Bach’s h-Moll Messe,” Über Bach und anderes. Aufsätze und Vorträge 1957–1982 (Laaber: Laaber, 1983): 139; trans. in Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 256. 7. Christoph Wolff, “Bach the Cantor, the Capellmeister, and the Musical Scholar: Aspects of the B-Minor Mass,” The Universal Bach. Lectures Celebrating the Tercentenary of Bach’s Birthday (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1986), 45; cited in Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 257. 8. Butt, Bach: Mass in B Minor, 102. 9. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 257–58. 10. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 19–23. 11. See Christoph Wolff, Origins of the Kyrie of the B Minor Mass, Bach. Essays on His Life and Music (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991), 141–51; Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 54. 12. See Wolff, “Origins of the Kyrie,” 147–48; Robin A. Leaver, “Bach and the German Agnus Dei” in A Bach Tribute. Essays in Honor of William H. Scheide (published simultaneously in the United States and Germany. Kassel: Bärenreiter; Chapel Hill: Hinshaw Music; 1993), 163. Luther based both his Kyrie and the so-called German Agnus Dei (“Christe du Lamm Gottes”) on the traditional first psalm tone. See Wolff, “Origins of the Kyrie,” 147; Robin A. Leaver, “Liturgical Chant Forms in Bach’s Compositions for Lutheran Worship: A Preliminary Survey,” Die Quellen Johann Sebastian Bachs – Bachs Musik im Gottesdienst. Proceedings of the Symposium of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, 1995 (Heidelberg: Manutius, 1998), 418, 425; Robin A. Leaver, “Luther and Bach, the ‘Deutsche Messe’ and the Music of Worship,” Lutheran Quarterly, 15 (2001): 331. 13. Wolff, “Origins of the Kyrie,” 147. 14. Leaver, “Bach and the German Agnus Dei,” 163; Leaver, “Luther and Bach,” 331; Robin A. Leaver, “The Mature Vocal Works and Their Theological and Liturgical Context,” in The Cambridge Companion to Bach, ed. John Butt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 112. 15. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 56. 16. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 53. 17. The first number follows the numbering system used in the new critical
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edition of Bach’s works: Johann Sebastian Bach: Neue Bach-Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke (NBA), ed. Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Institut Göttingen, and Bach-Archiv Leipzig (Leipzig and Kassel, 1954–). The second number (in parentheses) follows the system used in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV); see Wolfgang Schmieder, Thematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach, rev. and expanded ed. (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf and Härtel, 1990). 18. The unison violin line reinforces the sense of happy concord. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 57. 19. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 62. 20. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 64. 21. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 24. 22. Charles Burney, A General History of Music from the Earliest Ages to the Present (London, 1789), with critical and historical notes by Frank Mercer (New York: Dover, 1957), 2:738. 23. Johann Joachim Quantz cited by Charles Burney, A General History of Music, 2:745. 24. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 28. 25. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 79. 26. For example, high florid horn parts appear frequently in mass settings by Johann David Heinichen (1683–1729) and Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679–1745). See Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 90–91. Stauffer also notes that in the Dresden performing parts of Bach’s work the horn part “is written on a separate sheet of paper, which leads one to believe that Bach intended it for a specialist rather than an unoccupied trumpet player.” 27. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 94. 28. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 43, 47, 48. 29. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 52. 30. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 141. 31. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 144; see also 99. 32. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 103. 33. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 100. 34. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 109. 35. See also Rilling, B-minor Mass, 63. 36. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 68. 37. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 64. 38. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 116. 39. 1 Corinthians 15:51–52, Revised Standard Version. 40. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 127. 41. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 99. 42. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 110. 43. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 124. 44. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 128. 45. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 139. 46. Stauffer, Mass in B Minor, 162. 47. Rilling, B-minor Mass, 148.
Biographies APOLLO’S SINGERS
APOLLO’S FIRE VIOLIN Olivier Brault, concertmaster Julie Andrijeski, principal Evan Few, asst. concertmaster Alan Choo Augusta McKay Lodge Allison Monroe Jennifer Roig-Francoli VIOLA Karina Schmitz, principal Kristen Linfante CELLO René Schiffer, principal Rebecca Landell Reed CONTRABASS Sue Yelanjian TRAVERSO Kathie Stewart, principal Sarah Lynn
OBOE Debra Nagy, principal Kathryn Montoya Sian Ricketts
SOPRANO Amanda Powell, soloist Rebecca Myers Kristine Caswelch Sarah Coffman Ashley Lingenhoel Raha Mirzadegan Sian Ricketts
BASSOON Nathan Helgeson HORN Todd Williams TRUMPET Steve Marquardt, principal Perry Sutton Stanley Curtis TIMPANI Luke Rinderknecht ORGAN Peter Bennett
SOLOIST PROFILES AMANDA POWELL, soprano, has been praised as “the star of the evening with a performance so tender it could make a stone cry” (Seen and Heard International). Noted as “Bright-toned, charismatic and theatrically arresting” (San Francisco Chronicle), she enjoys a diverse performance career including classical, folk, jazz and global music. As a frequent guest artist with Apollo’s Fire, she has appeared in programs including Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Handel’s Messiah. She has a special affinity for bringing early music artistry to traditional folk repertoire and has been featured on numerous recordings including Sugarloaf Mountain and Sephardic Journey, both of which are top ten BILLBOARD bestselling CDs. In 2015 she released her solo debut album, Beyond Boundaries and she can be heard on Apollo’s Fire’s newest CD, Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain. Ms. Powell holds a degree in vocal performance from Shenandoah
ALTO Amanda Crider, soloist Elisa Sutherland Joe Schlesinger Nadia Tarnawsky Jay White TENOR Jacob Perry, soloist Steve Bradshaw Nathan Dougherty Brian Wentzel BASS Jesse Blumberg, soloist Daniel Fridley Anthony Gault Francisco Prado
Conservatory and a certificate in jazz improvisation from the Jazz in July Institute (University of Massachusetts). She has collaborated with artists such as Bobby McFerrin and Sheila Jordan. A nationally recognized leader in the field of sacred world music, she has sung concerts around the world, including at concert halls in Italy, Spain, France, Mongolia and China. She serves on the voice faculty at Cleveland State University where she also teaches classes in improvisation. AMANDA CRIDER, mezzosoprano, has quickly won national attention for her “gleaming vocalism” (Boston Globe). She recently created the role of Alma in the world premiere of Persona with Beth Morrison Projects, with the Wall Street Journal declaring, “the eloquent Ms. Crider carried the evening,” while The New York Times praised her “winsome, vulnerable and deeply expressive” performance. Other opera engagements include Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Dallas Opera, and Florentine 2019 Bach Festival 61
FRIDAY EVENING Apollo’s Fire Biographies Opera. She has appeared as concert soloist at Carnegie Hall in Handel’s Messiah, and in varied repertoire with the New World Symphony in Miami and the ensemble Seraphic Fire. She has toured nationally in Jeannette Sorrell’s early American program, Come to the River. JACOB PERRY, tenor, is a cantor and chorister at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, as well as a core tenor of the soloist-ensemble Les Canards Chantants and the chamber choir The Thirteen. He can also be heard as an ensemble singer and featured soloist with The Clarion Choir, ACRONYM, Piffaro, Mountainside Baroque, and The City Choir of Washington. Having cultivated a passion for a wide variety of music ranging from medieval folk song to vocal jazz, he sings contemporary chamber works with Third Practice Ensemble, hexaCollective, and Great Noise Ensemble. In April 2017 he gave a series of recitals with artists of Tempesta di Mare in Philadelphia to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Claudio Monteverdi. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Maryland. JESSE BLUMBERG, baritone, enjoys a busy schedule of opera, concerts, and recitals, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 20th and 21st centuries. His performances have included the world premiere of The Grapes of Wrath at Minnesota Opera, Bernstein’s MASS at London’s Royal Festival Hall, numerous productions with Boston Early Music Festival, and featured roles with Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Utah Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. Recital highlights include appearances with the Marilyn Horne Foundation, New York Festival of Song, and Mirror Visions Ensemble. He has performed major concert works with American Bach Soloists, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Boston Baroque, Oratorio Society of New York, Apollo’s Fire, and on Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. He has been featured on nearly twenty commercial recordings, including Winterreise with pianist Martin Katz, St. John Passion with Apollo’s Fire, and various operas with Boston Early Music Festival. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music, and is also the founder of Five Boroughs Music Festival in New York City.
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JEANNETTE SORRELL Artistic Director, Conductor & Harpsichordist “Under the inspired leadership of Jeannette Sorrell, Apollo’s Fire has become one of the pre-eminent period-instrument ensembles, causing one to hear Baroque material anew.” – THE INDEPENDENT, London Jeannette Sorrell is recognized internationally as one of today’s most creative early-music conductors. Winner of a GRAMMY award, she has been credited by the U.K.’s BBC Music Magazine for forging “a vibrant, lifeaffirming approach to the re-making of early music.” She was one of the youngest students ever accepted to the prestigious conducting courses of the Aspen and the Tanglewood music festivals. She studied conducting under Leonard Bernstein, Roger Norrington and Robert Spano, and harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. She won both First Prize and the Audience Choice Award in the 1991 Spivey International Harpsichord Competition, competing against over 70 harpsichordists from Europe, Israel, the U.S., and the Soviet Union. Sorrell’s recent guest conducting engagements include the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center (Handel’s Messiah) and repeat engagements with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra (2017 and 2018), the Utah Symphony (2016, 2017, and 2019) and the New World Symphony (2015 and 2018). Her 2013 debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as conductor and soloist in the complete Brandenburg Concertos was met with standing ovations every night, and hailed as “an especially joyous occasion”(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). She has also led the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis with the St. Louis Symphony, Handel & Haydn Society (Boston), and the Grand Teton Festival, among others. Sorrell is the founder and artistic director of Apollo’s Fire, with whom she has built one of the largest audiences of any Baroque orchestra in North America. She has led AF in sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall, London’s BBC Proms and London’s Wigmore Hall, Madrid’s Royal Theatre (Teatro Real), the Grand Théâtre de l’Opéra in Bordeaux, the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), the Tanglewood Festival, Boston’s Early Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Library of Congress, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), among others. This year she and the ensemble tour to the UK and Ireland. Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire have released 28 commercial CDs, of which eight have been bestsellers on the Billboard classical chart. She recently won a GRAMMY for her conducting and artistic direction of “Songs of Orpheus,” an album featuring tenor Karim Sulayman. Her recordings include the complete Brandenburg Concerti and harpsichord concerti of Bach,
praised by the London Times as “a swaggering version… brilliantly played by Sorrell.” She has also released four discs of Mozart, and was hailed as “a near-perfect Mozartian” by Fanfare Record Magazine. Other recordings include Bach’s St. John Passion, Handel’s Messiah, the Monteverdi Vespers and four creative crossover projects. Sorrell has attracted national attention and awards for creative programming. She holds an Artist Diploma from Oberlin Conservatory, an honorary doctorate from Case Western University, two awards from the National Endowment for the Arts for her work on early American music, and an award from the American Musicological Society. Passionate about guiding the next generation of performers, she is the architect of AF’s highly successful Young Artist Apprentice Program, which has produced many of the leading young Baroque professionals in the country today.
ABOUT APOLLO’S FIRE “The U.S.A.’s hottest Baroque band” – Classical Music Magazine, UK “Led by a brilliant harpsichordist, Jeannette Sorrell, the ensemble exudes stylish energy – a blend of scholarship and visceral intensity.” – GRAMOPHONE Named for the classical god of music, healing, and the sun, Apollo’s Fire is a GRAMMY award-winning ensemble. It was founded by its Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell, to revive the Baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners. Apollo’s Fire is a collection of creative artists who share Sorrell’s passion for drama and rhetoric. Hailed as “one of the pre-eminent period-instrument ensembles”(THE INDEPENDENT, London), Apollo’s Fire made its London debut in 2010 in a sold-out concert at Wigmore Hall, with a BBC broadcast. Subsequent European tours took place in 2011, 2014, and 2015. European performances include sold-out concerts at the BBC Proms in London (with live broadcast across Europe), the Aldeburgh Festival(UK), Madrid’s Royal Theatre, Bordeaux’s Grand Théàtre de l’Opéra, and major venues in Lisbon, Metz (France), and Bregenz (Austria), as well as concerts on the Birmingham International Series (UK) and the Tuscan Landscapes Festival (Italy). AF’s London concert in 2014 was chosen by the DAILY TELEGRAPH as one of the “Best 5 Classical Concerts of The Year.” North American tour engagements include sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall (2018), the Tanglewood Festival(2015 and 2017), the Ravinia Festival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY (2013, 2014, 2015, and 2018), the Boston Early Music Festival series, and the Library of Congress, as well as concerts at the Aspen Music Festival, and major venues in Toronto, Los Angeles
and San Francisco. The ensemble’s notable U.S. tours include two major tours of the Monteverdi Vespers (2010 and 2014); a 9-concert tour of the Brandenburg Concertos in 2013; and a semi-staged production of Monteverdi’s L’ORFEO in April 2018 (U.S. tour). Upcoming is an UK/Ireland tour in August 2018, including the Wexford Opera House, the National Concert Hall of Ireland (Dublin), and a return to the Aldeburgh Festival. At home in Cleveland, Apollo’s Fire frequently enjoys soldout performances at its subscription series, which has drawn national attention for creative programming. Apollo’s Fire has released 28 commercial CDs and recently won a GRAMMY for “Songs of Orpheus,” a vocal album with tenor Karim Sulayman. AF’s most recent release (November 2018) is Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain, Sorrell’s joyful exploration of the Celtic roots of Appalachian music, which was named “Festive Disc of the Year” by Gramophone Magazine (UK) and quickly hit no. 3 on the Classical Billboard Chart. Since the ensemble’s introduction into the European CD market in 2010, the recordings have won ravereviews in the London press: “a swaggering version, brilliantly played” (THE SUNDAY TIMES) and “the Midwest’s best-kept musical secret is finally reaching British ears” (THE INDEPENDENT). Eight of the ensemble’s CD releases have become best-sellers on the classical Billboard chart: the Monteverdi Vespers, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos & Harpsichord Concertos, a disc of Handel arias with soprano Amanda Forsythe titled “The Power of Love” (Billboard Classical #3, 2015), and Jeannette Sorrell’s four crossover programs - Come to the River – An Early American Gathering (Billboard Classical #9, 2011); Sacrum Mysterium- A Celtic Christmas Vespers (Billboard Classical #11, 2012); Sugarloaf Mountain – An Appalachian Gathering (Billboard Classical #5, 2015) ;and Sephardic Journey – Wanderings of the Spanish Jews (Billboard World Music Chart #2 and Billboard Classical #5, Feb. 2016); and Songs of Orpheus (Billboard Classical #5, 2018). 2019 Bach Festival 63
SATURDAY AFTERNOON Concerts & Events 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
1:00 p.m.
Master Class Alissa Ruth Suver, soprano
Kadel Family Vocal Music Hall
Quia respexit from Magnificat Ciara Ferris, soprano
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Tutte nel cor vi sento from Idomeneo Nan Goltz, soprano
W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)
“Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen” from Cantata 51 Kathleen Davies, soprano
J. S. Bach
Lecture
Fynes Hall “Musical Meaning in Bach” Presented by Dr. Robert S. Hatten, Professor of Music Theory, Butler School of Music, University of Texas at Austin.
ROBERT S. HATTEN is Marlene & Morton Meyerson Professor in Music at The University of Texas at Austin, current President of the Society for Music Theory (2017-19), and past President of the Semiotic Society of America (2008). He received his doctorate in music theory from Indiana University in 1982, and he has served on the faculties of SUNY Buffalo, the University of Michigan, Penn State, and Indiana University. His first book, Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation (1994) was co-recipient in 1997 of the Wallace Berry Award from the Society for Music Theory. His second book, Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, and Tropes: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert (2004) helped launch the book series “Musical Meaning and Interpretation,” which he edits for Indiana University Press. His latest book, A Theory of Virtual Agency for Western Art Music, appeared in the series in 2018.
Many of the examples in his recent book feature agentially-motivated and refractive counterpoint as found in Bach. In an article to appear in The Routledge Handbook of Music Signification (ed. Esti Sheinberg and William P. Dougherty) he explores expressive meaning in Bach’s organ chorale prelude, “O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross” from the OrgelBüchlein. Dr. Hatten has lectured widely across Europe and North America, and his pioneering work on musical expressive meaning has appeared in numerous journals and collections. In June he will travel to China for a series of lectures at Shanghai Conservatory. Also active as a poet, he wrote the libretti for two operas composed by Dr. Ann Gebuhr (Houston), Brian Boru and Bonhoeffer, and in 2012-14 he set his own libretto for a one-act opera, Compassion.
2:15 p.m.
Festival Brass Marting Hall Tower* John Brndiar, conductor *Rain Location: Lindsay-Crossman Chapel See page 36 for program and personnel information
3:00 p.m.
Anderson & Roe Piano Duo
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Gamble Auditorium
ANDERSON & ROE PIANO DUO Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe
PROGRAM
Four Canons on the First Eight J. S. Bach (1685-1750) Notes of the Goldberg Ground, BWV 1087 “Erbarme Dich” from the St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244
J. S. Bach arr. Anderson & Roe
Sonata for Two Pianos in F minor, Op. 34b Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Allegro non troppo Andante, un poco adagio Scherzo: Allegro Finale. Poco sostenuto – Allegro non troppo – Presto, non troppo INTERMISSION “Contrapunctus IX: Double Fugue” from The Art of Fugue
J. S. Bach
Aria (“Lo, at Midnight”) from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) arr. Anderson & Roe
Primavera Porteña
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) arr. Anderson & Roe
Sonatina from Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 “Actus tragicus”
J. S. Bach arr. György Kurtág (b. 1926)
Hallelujah Variations Anderson & Roe (Variations on a Theme by Leonard Cohen)
“Let It Be” from Let It Be
Program Notes by Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe Erbarme Dich Although his oeuvre now stands at the apex of the canon, J. S. Bach was once music’s greatest example of a forgotten genius. During his lifetime, his compositional style was already considered staid and old-fashioned, and after his death in 1750 his music was largely abandoned until the mid-19th century.
John Lennon & Paul McCartney arr. Anderson & Roe The first performance of the St. Matthew Passion was given in 1727. Considering it his most significant work, Bach revised it in 1736. Nonetheless, it was shelved after its initial performances in the St. Thomas Church and promptly neglected. The Passion received a second premiere of sorts in 1829 when the 19-year-old Felix Mendelssohn organized a performance and conducted the work for the first time since Bach did so himself. With this, the concept of "Classical Music" was born, and Bach's St. Matthew Passion has remained 2019 Bach Festival 65
SATURDAY AFTERNOON Program Notes & Biography one of the monuments of the literature. The St. Matthew Passion, which depicts the final sufferings, crucifixion, and rebirth of Jesus Christ, contains an aria of great sublimity, “Erbarme Dich.” Immediately following a recitative set to the Biblical text of Matthew 26:69-75 recounting Peter’s betrayal of Jesus, the aria expresses Peter’s penitence through the lamenting words of a poem by Bach’s contemporary, Picander: “Have mercy, my God, for my tears’ sake. Look hither, heart and eyes weep bitterly before Thee.” This aria was originally scored as a duet between alto voice and solo violin, accompanied by strings and continuo. Peter’s weeping is characterized by melismatic vocal writing and the pervasive presence of appoggiaturas, descending basslines, and clashing dissonances. The simple desire to perform this work of haunting beauty and emotional power inspired us to transcribe it for two pianos. We aimed to capture the profound sorrow of the aria and to convey that the music, regardless of its instrumentation, retains its perfect integrity. Without words or a variety of instruments at our disposal, we treat the music in an abstract manner, paring it down to its purest essence. The relatively monochromatic sonority of two pianos together highlights the music’s harmonic complexities; the conflict between the soaring melody and tormented dissonances become more palpable on the keyboard. Words are no longer necessary: the music speaks for itself, with poignancy and intensity. Hallelujah Variations A cult classic originally released in 1984, Leonard Cohen’s most well-known song—covered by numerous artists, including legends like Bob Dylan, Bono, and Jeff Buckley (whose sublime version may be our personal favorite)—is a meditation on the elusive nature of love and the search for atonement. The lyrics contain emotional multitudes in their complexity, and the meaning of “hallelujah” itself seems to shift throughout the song, alternating between despair, yearning, ecstasy, and praise; it emerges as a call that is not solely religious, but profoundly human. As Cohen himself said: “This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled, but there are moments when we can transcend the dualistic system and reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that’s what I mean by ‘Hallelujah.’ That regardless of what the impossibility of the situation is, there is a moment when you open your mouth and you throw open your arms and you embrace the thing and you just say, ‘Hallelujah! Blessed is the name.’…The only moment that you can live here comfortably in these absolutely irreconcilable conflicts is in this moment when you embrace it all and you say, ‘Look, I don’t understand a thing at all—Hallelujah!’ That’s the only moment that we live here fully as human beings.” The song appropriately opens with an invocation of the Biblical King David, whose gift for the harp had heroic powers (“Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord / That David played,
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and it pleased the Lord”) but immediately moves into more personal (“But you don’t really care for music, do you?”) and musical territory (“It goes like this / The fourth, the fifth / The minor fall, the major lift”) until it returns to the evocative, symbolic image of “the baffled king composing Hallelujah” (perhaps a commentary on the ineffable puzzle of romantic love, and even of artistic creation). In subsequent verses, the song moves through phases of conflict, desire and heartache, ultimately arriving at a state of grace both resigned and valiant. In creating our set of variations, we were influenced by the late works of Beethoven and Schubert, who both were masters at unearthing an almost otherworldly transcendence amid human struggle. As a nod to the elliptical nature of the song, we created a set of variations that are structured in an unconventional manner; there are eight variations with no initial, straightforward statement of the theme (a common feature of most variation sets). The eight variations are divided into four pairs: Variation 1 is chorale-like, followed by a variation in which the theme is most clearly presented, in the manner of a Schubert lied. Variations 3 and 4 are bustling, at times straying from the harmonic progressions of the original. The third set of variations are characterized by serpentine configurations, calling to mind Schubert’s idiomatic four-hand piano writing. The concluding two variations are the most expansive, in structure and mood; it meanders, lost, then finally builds toward a climatic, rapturous conclusion. Let it Be Throughout the ages motherhood has inspired the genesis of countless works of art, from fables of lore and sacred paintings to theatrical tragedies and, of course, music of all genres. Motherhood, perhaps the prototype of creation, inspired us to utilize our full creative potential in arranging and interpreting “Let It Be” by the Beatles. In this classic song, Paul McCartney pays poignant and powerful tribute to his mother Mary, who tragically died of an embolism when he was only 14; the song’s lyrics, and gospel-inflected tone, also invokes the Virgin Mary, the ultimate maternal icon: When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be In our arrangement, we take on the roles of duelling gospel pianists (to the max!), while also underscoring the redemptive uplift of the song’s message—and the power of music to illuminate the darkness.
Biography Known for their adrenalized performances, original compositions, and notorious music videos, GREG ANDERSON and ELIZABETH JOY ROE are revolutionizing the piano duo experience for the 21st century. Described as “the most dynamic duo of this generation” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “rock stars of the classical music world” (Miami Herald), and “the very model of complete 21st-century musicians” (The Washington Post), the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo aims to make classical music a relevant and powerful force around the world. Their albums on the Steinway Label (When Words Fade, An Amadeus Affair, and The Art of Bach) were all released to critical acclaim and have spent dozens of weeks at the top of the Billboard Classical Charts, while their Emmynominated, self-produced music videos have been viewed by millions on YouTube and at international film festivals. Highlights of the 2017/18 season include recital and concerto appearances throughout North America (including their Kennedy Center debut), Europe, Asia, and New Zealand; the release of their latest album, Mother Muse; webcast hosting for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; and the introduction of a new music competition which will award the winning composer an Anderson & Roe-produced music video. Anderson & Roe met in 2000 as freshmen at The Juilliard School and formed their dynamic musical partnership shortly thereafter. They have since toured extensively, with notable recitals in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Estonia, Israel, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and most major U.S. cities, as well as in nearly every New York City venue imaginable, from Carnegie Hall to children’s hospitals. They have appeared at the Gilmore and Gina Bachauer International Piano Festivals, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Cliburn Concert Series, and dozens of summer chamber music festivals. Anderson &
Roe’s concerto engagements include performances with the orchestras of San Francisco, Vancouver, Rochester, Liverpool, Calgary, Hartford, Boulder, Chautauqua, Waco, and Winnipeg, among others, and with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 2015, Anderson & Roe premiered Brahms’ Double Concerto in their arrangement for two pianos and orchestra with the Performance Santa Fe Symphony. The duo’s exploits have captured the attention of such media outlets as MTV’s Total Request Live, NPR’s All Things Considered and From the Top, APM’s Performance Today, PBS’ Texas Music Cafe, and BBC’s In Tune, as well as Gramophone, Clavier Companion, Listen, and Pianist magazines, and the Huffington Post. They are profiled in Nick Romeo’s book, Driven. In recognition of their singular vision for the advancement of classical music, they have been invited to present at numerous international leader symposiums, including (Entertainment Gathering), the Imagine Solutions Conference, Chicago Ideas Week, and Mexico’s Ciudad de las Ideas. Their scores are published by Alfred Music on the “Anderson & Roe Duos & Duets Series” and by Awkward Fermata Press. Anderson & Roe left an indelible impression at The Juilliard School, where they both earned their bachelor’s and master’s degrees. A live performance by Anderson & Roe was handpicked to appear on the Sounds of Juilliard CD celebrating the school’s centenary. In 2006, given only two months to compose and prepare, they gave the world premiere of their own composition “Four Fantasies on Themes from Star Wars,” replacing John Williams on Juilliard’s “Cinema Serenades” concert in Alice Tully Hall. Additionally, the two directed the groundbreaking project “Life Between the Keys,” a performance project that celebrated the unique camaraderie of Juilliard’s 2004 piano class and chronicled its experience in an all-American program of piano music. Anderson & Roe believe strongly in the communicative potential of music, and their performances, compositions, websites, videos, recordings, and writings all serve this mission, bringing joy to people around the world. As the Northwest Reverb recently stated, “[Anderson & Roe] swept the audience into a cheering mass of humanity, making a strong case that playing piano is the most fun thing that two people could ever do together.”
Greg Anderson & Elizabeth Joy Roe are Steinway Artists. www.andersonroe.com | Facebook, Twitter, Instagram: andersonroe
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SATURDAY EVENING Concerts & Events 6:15 p.m.
Festival Brass Marting Hall Tower* John Brndiar, conductor *Rain Location: Lindsay-Crossman Chapel See page 36 for program and personnel information
7:00 p.m.
Jesu, meine Freude
Gamble Auditorium
Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn, BWV Anh. 159
J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227 J. S. Bach Jesu, meine Freude Es ist nun nichts Unter deinem Schirmen Denn das Gesetz des Geistes Sarah Hawkey, soprano Kia Frank, soprano Andrew Cooper, alto Trotz dem alten Drachen‌Ihr aber seid nicht fleischlich Weg, mit allen Schätzen! So aber Christus in euch ist Andrew Cooper, alto John Russell, tenor Christopher Jackson, baritone Gute Nacht, o Wesen Sarah Hawkey, soprano Kia Frank, soprano Andrew Cooper, alto John Russell, tenor So nun der Geist des Weicht, ihr Trauergeister INTERMISSION
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O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, BWV 118
J. S. Bach
Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4 Sinfonia Versus I: Christ lag in Todes Banden Versus II: Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt Sarah Hawkey, soprano Andrew Cooper, alto Versus III: Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn Gene Stenger, tenor Versus IV: Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg Sarah Hawkey, soprano Andrew Cooper, alto Gene Stenger, tenor Christopher Jackson, bass Versus V: Hie ist das rechte Osterlamm Christopher Jackson, bass Versus VI: So feiern wir das hohe Fest Sarah Hawkey, soprano Gene Stenger, tenor Versus VII: Wir essen und wir leben wohl Motet Choir and Soloists Festival Chamber Orchestra Dirk Garner, conductor
J. S. Bach
JESU, MEINE FREUDE
Program Notes, Texts and Translations by Peter Laki Peter Laki has served as Program Annotator and Lecturer for The Cleveland Orchestra. Since 2007, he has served as Visiting Associate Professor at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn (BWV Anh. 159, 1712/13) I will not let you go unless you bless me The last motet that Bach ever composed will be followed by his very first, a piece written in a noticeably earlier style. The archaisms of the music are so striking that for a long time, the work was attributed to an older member of the Bach family, Johann Christoph (1642-1703). Accordingly, it was relegated to the Anhang, or appendix, of the official Bach catalog. J. S. Bach’s authorship is now universally accepted: as Daniel Melamed writes, the final section of the work shows “a degree both of contrapuntal sophistication and of thematic economy found in no other composer’s motets.” “Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn” (“Ich will not let you go unless you bless me”) are the words Jacob says to the mysterious “man” he has just wrestled with (Genesis 32:26). Jewish commentaries identify the “man” as an angel, but according to the Lutheran interpretation, Jacob’s opponent was God Himself. It was a very small leap from there to add the words “mein Jesu” to the sentence, bringing it into harmony with Bach’s spiritual world. The motet consists of two sections. The first, strictly homophonic, has the two choirs repeat the biblical verse in alternation, in chord progressions enriched by some rather bold dissonances. In the second half, where the two choirs are united, Bach added a chorale melody in the soprano, enveloping it in a dense contrapuntal web by the lower voices. He took advantage of the fact that the Biblical verse, in Luther’s translation, has a striking dactylic rhythm, which becomes an important musical motif in the motet. (A similar rhythm was featured prominently in the other pre-Leipzig motet on an Old Testament text, Fürchte dich nicht, performed at our first concert). Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn, mein Jesu.
Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227, date unknown) Jesus, my joy Jesu, meine Freude is by far the longest and the most complex of the motets: its eleven movements offer an elaborate interplay of Biblical and chorale texts, alternating regularly throughout the entire work. For the Scriptural reading, Bach turned to Romans 8, on which he also drew in Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf. The Apostle’s exhortation to give up the ways of the flesh and live entirely in the Spirit is echoed by the chorale, which expresses a similar message. The chorale melody, used in six of the movements, is presented in widely divergent ways. In the opening and closing movements, we hear it in basic four-part harmony. The second time, the chorale appears in a fuller, five-part scoring, the third time in an extremely free and dramatic arrangement, and then in another four-part setting with more independent inner voices. The most memorable of the chorale verses is “Gute Nacht, o Wesen,” where Bach borrows a technique from his chorale preludes for organ, surrounding his melody with a trio-sonata texture. The delicate sound of this movement is due to the fact that the basses are silent and the tenors assume the harmonic role of the lowest voice. The Biblical movements show similar diversity in technique, and the various ways of writing are deployed in symmetrical fashion. Both in the first and the last of the Biblical settings, the words are declaimed dramatically in a chordal texture, with all the voices pronouncing the text simultaneously. Two of the movements are scored for only three voices, either the upper trio (Soprano I—Soprano II—Alto) or the lower one (Alto—Tenor—Bass). A powerful fugue is placed at the center of the work. This wide variety in compositional style has led some researchers to believe that Jesu, meine Freude is a compilation, with its different movements written at different times and joined together when Bach, in Leipzig, needed another funeral piece. In the absence of the original manuscript, it is impossible to say anything conclusive about the work’s genesis.
I will not let you go, unless you bless me, my Jesus. (Genesis 32:26 + “my Jesus”)
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SATURDAY EVENING Program Notes 1 Jesu, meine Freude, Meines Herzens Weide, Jesu, meine Zier; Ach, wie lang, ach lange, Ist dem Herzen bange, Und verlangt nach dir! Gottes Lamm, mein Bräutigam, Außer dir soll mir auf Erden Nichts sonst lieber werden.
Jesus my joy, Delight of my heart, Jesus, my ornament: O how much longer Must my heart be in anguish And long for Thee! Lamb of God, my betrothed, Nothing on earth Can be dearer to me than You. (chorale text: Johann Franck, 1618-77 melody: Crüger)
2 Es ist nun nichts verdammliches an denen, die in Christo Jesu sind, die nicht nach dem Fleische wandeln, sondern nach dem Geist.
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)
3 Unter deinem Schirmen Bin ich vor den Stürmen Alter Feinde frei. Lass den Satan wittern, Lass den Feind erbittern, Mir steht Jesus bei! Ob es itzt gleich kracht und blitzt, Ob gleich Sünd und Hölle schrecken, Jesus will mich decken.
Under Thy protection From the raging of the enemy I am ever free. Let Satan rage, Let the enemy be embittered, Jesus is at my side! Through life’s storms and strife, Through the horrors of sin and hell, Jesus will protect me. (Franck-Crüger)
4 Denn das Gesetz des Geistes, der da lebending machet in Christo Jesu, hat mich frei gemacht von dem Gesetz der Sünde und des Todes. 5 Trotz dem alten Drachen, Trotz des Todes Rachen, Trotz der Furcht dazu! Tobe, Welt, und springe, Ich steh hier und singe In gar sichrer Ruh. Gottes Macht hält mich in Acht, Erd und Abgrund muss verstummen, Ob sie noch so brummen.
For the law of the Spirit, which makes us alive in Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) I defy the old dragon, I defy the jaws of death, I defy the fear thereof! Rage, o world, and jump, I stand here and sing In secure peace. God’s might protects me: Earth and Hell must fall silent, However much they are roaring. (Franck-Crüger)
6 Ihr aber seid nicht fleischlich, sondern geistlich, so anders Gottes Geist in euch wohnet. Wer aber Christi Geist nicht hat, der ist nicht sein.
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But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, since the spirit of God dwells in you. Now whosoever has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (Romans 8:9)
7 Weg mit allen Schätzen, Du bist mein Ergötzen, Jesu, meine Lust! Weg, ihr eitlen Ehren, Ich mag euch nicht hören, Bleibt mir unbewusst! Elend, Not, Kreuz, Schmach und Tod Soll mich, ob ich viel muss leiden, Nicht von Jesu scheiden.
Away, all you treasures, You are my delight, Jesus, my joy! Away, you vain honors, I do not want to hear you, Remain unknown to me! Distress, need, the cross, insults and death I may suffer, Yet nothing will separate me from Jesus. (Franck-Crüger)
8 So aber Christus is euch ist, so ist der Leib zwar tot um der Sünde willen, der Geist ist aber ist das Leben um der Gerechtigkeit willen. 9 Gute Nacht, o Wesen, Das die Welt erlesen, Mir gefällst du nicht! Gute Nacht, ihr Sünden, Bleibet weit dahinten, Kommt nicht mehr ans Licht! Gute Nacht, du Stolz und Pracht, Dir sei ganz, du Lasterleben, Gute Nacht gegeben!
If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)
Good night, you being who has chosen the world, I do not like you! Good night, you sins, Stay far behind, Do not come to light any more! Good night, pride and pomp, To you, you life of sin, I bid good night! (Franck-Crüger)
10 So nun der Geist des, der Jesum von den Toten auferwecket hat, in euch wohnet, so wird auch derselbige, der Christum von den Toten auferwecket hat, eure sterblichen Leiber lebending machen, um des willen, dass sein Geist in euch wohnet. 11 Weicht, ihr Trauergeister, Denn mein Freudenmeister, Jesu, tritt herein. Denen, die Gott lieben, Muss auch ihr Betrüben Lauter Wonne sein. Duld ich schon hier Spott und Hohn, Denen bleibst du auch im Leide, Jesu, meine Freude.
But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)
Go away, you spirits of grief, For my master of joy, Jesus, is entering! To those who love God, Even their sadness Must be full of delights. Even if I endure scorn and derision, You remain even in suffering, Jesus, my joy! (Franck-Crüger)
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SATURDAY EVENING Program Notes O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht (BWV 118, 1736/1746) O Jesus Christ, light of my life This work is exceptional in that it is clearly a motet. That is what Bach called it; also, it has no solo recitatives or arias. Yet it contains a purely instrumental ritornello, something we find in none of the other motets. Because of this peculiarity, the work was catalogued with the cantatas, an error that has since been corrected. In the words of Daniel Melamed, “Bach apparently held a slightly expanded view of what a motet could be.” Instrumentation was clearly of primary importance to Bach in this case, because, a decade or so after composing the piece, he reorchestrated it in 1746 or 47, during the last years of his life. The first version uses a cornetto and three trombones along with the voices, while the second uses strings (as well
as optional oboes and bassoon). Both versions, in addition, contain parts for a pair of litui (singular lituus), a term that does not appear anywhere else in Bach’s output, nor in the works of his contemporaries for that matter. The word must have referred to horns playing in a rather high register (or, perhaps, trumpets). The work could have functioned as the opening chorus of a church cantata, because its form—a chorale prelude with the church hymn in the soprano surrounded by contrapuntal voices—is one that Bach used in his sacred works on other occasions. But there are no additional movements, and the arrangement of the chorale is relatively simple (compare the much more elaborate treatment of the same melody in Cantata 58). Of course, this doesn’t mean that the contrapuntal texture is not of the utmost refinement and delicacy!
O Jesu Christ, mein’s Lebens licht, Mein Hort, mein Trost, mein’ Zuversicht, Auf Erden bin ich nur ein Gast, Und drückt mich sehr der Sünden Last.
O Jesus Christ, light of my life, My refuge, my comfort, my confidence, On earth I am only a guest, And my sins oppress me sorely.
Auf deinen Abschied, Herr, ich trau, Darauf mein’ letzte Heimfahrt bau. Tu mir die Himmelstür weit auf, Wenn ich beschließ mein Lebenslauf.
Lord, I have faith in your farewell, And build thereon my own last journey. Open wide the gate of Heaven When I end my life on earth. (chorale text: Martin Behm, 1557-1622 melody: anonymous)
Christ lag in Todes Banden (BWV 4, 1707/08) Christ lay in bonds of death The Easter cantata Christ lag in Todes Banden (later catalogued as Cantata No. 4) was certainly the most profound work the 22-year-old Bach had composed to date. It may not have been the first cantata he had ever written (it was probably either his second or his third), but this time he had taken on a challenge that was greater than anything he had tackled before, and produced a masterpiece that is on a par with everything he wrote later. The challenge lay, first of all, in the text: this chorale, written by Martin Luther himself, is full of complex theological and philosophical notions. Luther took his cue from 1 Corinthians 15, where St. Paul ends his extensive account of the Resurrection by exclaiming: “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” Life, then, became “the death of Death,” after a cosmic battle between the two principles that ended with the resounding victory of Life. Bach, who probably composed the cantata as his audition piece for an organist job at Mühlhausen, approached these abstract ideas on an emotional level, turning them into pure drama. He set the seven verses of Luther’s hymn in as many separate movements (preceded by a short instrumental introduction). In each movement, he used Luther’s chorale
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melody, treating it in widely divergent ways each time so that the listener experiences an entire gamut of personal reactions to the subject matter, which is, quite literally, “life and death.” Each verse ends with the word “Halleluja”; Bach set the word differently each time, in accordance with the changing moods of the verses.* Verse 1 is an elaborate chorale fantasy involving the full chorus, with the chorale melody in the soprano and agitated figurations in the violins. The closing “Halleluja” ends with an ecstatic section marked “Alla breve,” with a significant increase in tempo. Verse 2, for soprano and alto with continuo, confronts us with the stark tragedy of death, with no redemption yet in sight. Even the closing “Halleluja” sounds sad here... As a complete contrast, Verse 3, for tenor, announces the Resurrection to the accompaniment of an agile, concerto-like violin part. There is a single brief moment of introspection when we are told that Death has been reduced to a mere shadow of itself. The central movement, verse 4, depicts the war between Life and Death in another magisterial piece of counterpoint, with the chorale melody in the alto this time. Death has been
turned to a mockery (ein Spott), and the chorus expresses the idea with a “hocket” effect (rapid alternations among the voices) that illustrate how Death is being mocked. In Verse 5, scored for bass with full string orchestra, the victory over Death is celebrated as a solemn ritual. The vocal range spans two entire octaves as we relive the depths of despair, immediately followed by the heights of joy.
Verse 6, for soprano and tenor, expresses that joy more directly with jubilant coloraturas in the vocal lines with bouncy dotted rhythms in the accompaniment. The work ends with a simple four-part harmonization of the chorale melody (verse 7). * My comments about the cantata are indebted to John Eliot Gardener’s discussion in his superb book Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven (New York: Knopf, 2014), p. 131-139.
1 Christ lag in Todes Banden Für unsre Sünd gegeben, Er ist wieder erstanden, Und hat uns bracht das Leben; Des wir sollen fröhlich sein, Gott loben und ihm dankbar sein Und singen Hallelujah.
Christ lay in bonds of death, Sacrificed for our sins. He is again arisen And has brought life to us; Therefore we shall be joyful, Praise God and be thankful to Him And sing Hallelujah.
2 Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt Bei allen Menschenkindern, Das macht’ alles unsre Sünd, Kein Unschuld war zu finden. Davon kam der Tod so bald Und nahm über uns Gewalt, Hielt uns in seinem Reich gefangen, Hallelujah!
No man could conquer death among all mortal children, Our sin has caused all this, No innocence was to be found. Hence came death so suddenly And took power over us, Kept us imprisoned in his realm, Hallelujah!
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SATURDAY EVENING Program Notes 3 Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn, An unser Statt ist kommen, Und hat die Sünde weggetan, Damit dem Tod genommen All sein Recht und sein Gewalt, Da bleibet nichts denn Tods Gestalt, Den Stachl hat er verloren, Hallelujah!
Jesus Christ, Son of God, Has come in our stead And has done away with sin, Thereby from death has taken All its rights and its power, And nothing remains but death’s image, Death has lost its sting, Hallelujah!
4 Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg, Da Tod und Leben rungen, Das Leben da behielt den Sieg, Es hat den Tod verschlungen. Die Schrift hat verkündiget das, Wie ein Tod den andern fraß, Ein Spott aus dem Tod ist worden, Hallelujah!
It was a wondrous war, When death and life were fighting. Life retained the victory, It has swallowed up death. Scripture has proclaimed this, How one death devoured another, Death has become a mockery, Hallelujah!
5 Hier ist das rechte Osterlamm, Davon Gott hat geboten, Das ist hoch an des Kreuzes Stamm In heisser Lieb gebraten, Das Blut zeichnet unsre Tür, Das hält der Glaub dem Tode für, Der Würger kann uns nicht mehr schaden, Hallelujah!
Here is the true Easter Lamb that God has offered us, Which high on the tree of the cross Is roasted in burning love, Its blood marks our door, Faith holds this up to death, The strangler can no longer harm us, Hallelujah!
6 So feiern wir das hohe Fest Mit Herzensfreud und Wonne, Das uns der Herre scheinen lässt, Er ist selber die Sonne, Der durch seiner Gnade Glanz Erleuchtet unsre Herzen ganz, Der Sünden Nacht ist verschwunden, Hallelujah!
The high feast thus we celebrate With joyous heart and rapture, The Lord lets it appear for us, He is himself the sun Who through the splendor of his grace Wholly illumines our hearts, The night of sin has vanished, Hallelujah!
7 Wir essen und leben wohl In rechten Osterfladen, Der alte Sauerteig nicht soll Sein bei dem Wort der Gnaden, Christus will die Krone sein Und speisen die Seel allein, Der Glaub will keins andern leben, Hallelujah!
We eat and live well On the true Passover bread, The old leaven shall not exist Beside the word of grace; Christ will be the food And feed the soul alone, Faith will live on no other, Hallelujah! (Martin Luther, 1483-1546)
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For conductor and soloist bios, please see pages 43-47. MOTET CHOIR Soprano Anissa Clay Jesse Bobbitt Kathleen Davies Mary Grace Corrigan Kailyn Martino Carly DeCock Kaitlin Lehuta Samantha Lucas Grace Dahl Cassandra Girzone Emily Szillat Alto Ariana Davis Claire Makowski Elizabeth Mackley Elaine Hudson Ciara Ferris Kelly Hudson Katherine Jefferis Sarah Antell Megan Sparks Lindy Warren Milla Guerra Brooke Szymusiak
FESTIVAL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Tenor Frank SmrÄ?ka Jeff Jaskolka Mason Vandall Mitchell McVeigh Isaac Temelkoff Connor Prusha Logan Byerly Zach Van Camp Greg Prevoznik Bass Alex Coker Cody Gould Jake Dufresne Stephen Tsambarlis Patrick Kennedy Ben Senneff Sam Wetzel Sean Donovan Chase Lenz David Drettwan Jimmy Contakis Andrew Nelin Nathan Mullaly Elijah Dawson Sam Nasar
Violin I Alice Culin-Ellison, concertmistress Guillermo Salas-Suarez Gloria Parn Violin II Phoebe Gelzer-Govatos, principal Corinne Auger Will Crock Viola Josephine Stockwell, principal Abigail Hakel-Garcia Jason Butler Cello Eva Lymenstull, principal Matthew Gabriel Bass Kynan Horton-Thomas, principal Trumpet John Brndiar, principal Kyle Perisutti Harpsichord & Organ Jason Aquila, principal Personnel Manager Martin Neubert
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SUNDAY MORNING Bach Service 11:15 a.m.
Bach Service BW Singers Marc Weagraff, conductor
Berea United Methodist Church
Selections from J. S. Bach’s Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150 2. Coro: Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (Unto Thee, O Lord, Do I Lift Up My Soul) 6. Coro: Meine Augen sehen stets zu dem Herrn (My Eyes Always Look to the Lord) 7. Coro: Meine Tage in dem Leide (My Days Spent in Sorrow) MARC WEAGRAFF is Associate Professor of Voice and Chair of the Vocal Studies Department at Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music. He holds the D.M.A. degree in Voice Performance from The University of Michigan; with M.M. and B.M. degrees in Voice Performance from The Cleveland Institute of Music. Dr. Weagraff has a firmly established reputation as a teacher of excellence. His students have performed with national and international opera programs (Sarasota, Hawaii Performing Arts, AIMS, FAVA, AVA Russian Intensive, others), in leading roles on Broadway (Mean Girls, Les Mis, Ghost, Bring it On!, Rock of Ages, others), in numerous national and international tours (American Idiot, Book of Mormon, West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera, others), on network television, and have been accepted to top-tier graduate programs in voice. His opera credits include roles with Cleveland Opera Theater, The Utah Opera Company, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Cleveland Concert Opera, Michigan Opera Works, The University of Michigan, The University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and the Cleveland Institute of Music as well as numerous performances in musical theater programs. Several of his performances have been broadcast over WCLV (Cleveland) and KBYU (Provo, UT) radio. Equally at home with oratorio repertoire, he has performed as soloist with the internationally renowned University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club, the Utah Symphony, Master Singers, Inc., and many regional choral organizations. Before coming to BW, Dr. Weagraff was the Director of Music Ministries at St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills, OH. His choirs have performed in Rome and Assisi, Italy including the worldwide telecast of the 2007 New Year’s Day Papal Mass at which His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, was the presider and in concert at San Ignazio Church. They also performed throughout the greater Cleveland area including at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and the regional NPM convention. Dr. Weagraff maintains voice studios in New York and Cleveland, offers master classes across the country, and is a sought after choral and voice clinician. www.facebook.com/WeagraffVoiceStudio 76 2019 Bach Festival
Soprano Sara Adams, Olivia Beal, Amelia Beckham, Karyn Bellush, Audrey Hare, Alexandra Horwitz, Morgan Hummel, Laura Kennelly, Eden Mau, Alexandra McMahon, Claire Marie Miller, Sophie Mintsiveris, Martha Peck, Kelly Schikowski, Allison Winkel Alto Morgan Butler, Rachel Fogle, Julianna Gutierrez, Autumn Key, RhonniRose Mantilla, Lindsay Miller, Marcy Molmen, Tori Shell, Gracee Street, Mira Terrette Tenor Jeremy Beloate, Enrique Caraballo, Nick Cortazzo, Andrew Faria, Andrew Furio, CJ Garbin, Jon Gesin, Jack Hale, Nic Hermick, Jahir Hipps, Steven Hyunh, Makay Johnson, Tim Michel, Zach Norrod, Lee Price, Ethan Rogers, Willem Sandercox, Logan Sword, Rodrigo Torrejon Bass Galen Adkins, Tim Aspesberro, John Bukovac, Chase Castle, Kyle Clark, Dashiell Gregory, William Lamb, Trevor Lanford, Robert Mayerovitch, Charles Miller, Randy Molmen, John Russell, Dylan Sanzenbacher, Ben Webster, Ken Williams, Leo Zigmond Managers Olivia Beal, Claire Marie Miller, Logan Sword Pianist Michelle Makhlouf
REPERTORY Presenting a comprehensive picture of Bach’s creative genius and influence is one of the chief objectives of the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival. To view a list of works performed on Festival programs since its inception in 1933, visit www.bw.edu/bachfest.
PERSONNEL ARTISTIC PERSONNEL Ensembles and Conductors Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra Festival Brass Choir BWV: Cleveland’s Bach Choir Festival Chamber Orchestra Apollo’s Fire Apollo’s Singers Baldwin Wallace Motet Choir BW Singers
Soo Han,* director John Brndiar,* director Dirk Garner,* director Dirk Garner,* director Jeanette Sorrell, director Jeanette Sorrell, director Dirk Garner,* director Marc Weagraff,* director
Vocal Soloists Dominic Aragon# ’16 Jesse Blumberg Andrew Leslie Cooper# ’15 Jonathan Cooper# ’12 Amanda Crider Ariana Davis ’19 Jake Dufresne ’20 Kia Frank# ’15 Sarah Hawkey Nathan Hodgson Christopher Jackson Kate Maroney Sarah Nadler# ’15 Jacob Perry Courtney Popp# ’18 Amanda Powell John Russell Gene Stenger# ’10 Alissa Ruth Suver Mason Vandall ’20
bass baritone countertenor bass mezzo-soprano alto bass soprano soprano tenor bass alto soprano tenor alto soprano tenor tenor soprano tenor
Guest Artists Anderson & Roe† Greg Anderson Elizabeth Joy Roe Robert Hatten Thomas Forrest Kelly René Schiffer
piano duo pianist pianist lecturer lecturer cellist
*Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Faculty Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Alumnus † Anderson & Roe Piano Duo is exclusively represented by Dispeker Artists www.dispeker.com.
Administrative Personnel Susan Van Vorst Erika Haskell Martin Neubert Christina Fuhrmann* Danielle Kuntz* Peter Laki Melvin P. Unger Craig Reynolds Emily Quinn Alicia Maurer Mark Graham Jeff Krill Ostoja (Joe) Mijailovic Maegen Holm Stephen Tsambarlis Ushers Dave Barber Kathy McKenna Barber Glenn Blair Margaret Brooks-Terry Robert Ebert Chungsim Han Ellen Hansen-Ellis, head usher Tom Konkoly Richard Little Randy Molmen Susan Penko Barbara Peterson Timothy Riggle Head Stage Managers Donovan Aragon Ross Fagan Elaine Hudson Melissa Levine
Conservatory Dean Festival Manager Personnel Manager Program Annotator & Editor Program Annotator & Editor Guest Program Annotator Guest Program Annotator Concert Production & Scheduling Coordinator Conservatory Brand Manager Assistant Director of Publications Piano Technician Piano Technician Facilities Coordinator Intern Festival Intern Recording Staff Bill Hartzell, studio manager Bri Curran, student manager Kenzie Rae Hall Anissa Clay Kiran Sadhra Sarah Coffee Bruno Bush Corinne Conklin Eden Mau Elaine Hudson Grace Dahl Gwendolyn Weaver Imani Robinson Jennifer Landis Jesse Bobbitt Jon Gesin Joshua Arkangel Makenna Virag Michael Czubaj
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2019 Bach Festival 77
Preparatory Camp for Young Artists
July 21 - July 28, 2019 Pianists ages 12-17 LEARN MORE clevelandpiano.org
78 2019 Bach Festival
Hosted by the BW Conservatory of Music
www.SuburbanClock.com • 440 234 4027
Tangos & Fandangos
A Gala Benefit for APOLLO’S FIRE SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2019 at the historic Tudor Arms Hotel Enjoy sangria & cocktails, tapas, dinner with wine, music, and much more!
12 Evening music includes a performance of the stunning Tango Concerto for Two Violas da Gamba by René Schiffer and Boccherini’s Fandango with harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell and strings & guitar.
12 For more information & tickets visit apollosfire.org/2018-2019-benefit-gala/ or contact Meredith Soeder 216.320.0012 x 6 | msoeder@apollosfire.org DON’T DELAY! GET YOUR TICKETS TO THE GALA BENEFIT NOW!
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2019 Bach Festival 79
The Conservatory of Music:
A PLACE FOR MUSIC AND CREATIVITY
Baldwin Wallace University completed a major renovation and expansion of its Conservatory of Music facilities in 2011. The Conservatory’s striking Boesel Musical Arts Center—called one of the most beautiful conservatories in the world—and the historic Kulas Musical Arts Building and Merner-Pfeiffer Hall function as one interconnected facility. The addition of Boesel created dedicated rehearsal spaces for choral, instrumental and percussion and added soundproofed practice rooms and teaching studios. The facility also features an expanded library facility and gathering spaces throughout for students, faculty, staff and Community Arts School families. Performance venues • Fanny Nast Gamble Auditiorium • Fynes Hall • Fynette-Kulas Hall • Kadel Vocal Music Hall Specialized spaces for learning • Keyboard labs • Recording studio • Midi computer lab • Riemenschneider Bach Institute • Ferne Patterson Jones Music Library
CONSERVATORY of MUSIC
Join our celebration... 2020 BACH FESTIVAL Featuring St. Matthew Passion The BW Motet Choir will be joined by the Westminster Choir, Joe Miller, conducting.
“Johann Sebastian Bach never wrote an opera, but his dramatic gifts can be discerned in several oratorios, especially ‘St. Matthew Passion.’ The work has a cast of dozens, including two choruses as the public and characters that depict the story of Jesus and the crucifixion in music of almost incomparable eloquence and power.” Donald Rosenberg, music critic, 2016
Bachelor of Music (BM) Music Composition Music History & Literature Music Performance: Keyboard, Strings, Voice, Brass, Percussion Music Theatre Music Theatre Direction Music Theory Music Therapy
Bachelor of Music Education (BME) Bachelor of Arts (BA) Music: Liberal Arts (Academic or Applied)
BELIEVE IN YOUR NEXT NOTE... WE DO. CONSERVATORY Your determination. Our expertise. C ONSERVATORY Together, we’ll transform your passion into purpose of MUSIC and your creative expression into artistry. of MUSIC
Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, Ohio 44017
bw.edu/conservatory
Baldwin Wallace University does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, age, disability, national origin, gender or sexual orientation in the administration of any policies or programs.