WEIHNACHTSFEST
December 9 & 10, 2011
Program Notes by Sanford Dole
Program Notes by Sanford Dole
The Bach family formed a long line of esteemed musicians living and working around central Germany for nearly 250 years. Social conditions, such as the practice of training one’s offspring in the profession of the father, combined with heredity, talent, and craftsmanship led to a true musical dynasty. In fact, by the turn of the 17th century, the musical family was so widespread that the name “Bach” became synonymous with “musician.” The burgeoning musical needs of courts, towns, and churches in the late 16th century to those of high society in the late 18th century and beyond provided ample opportunity for members of the Bach family to thrive.
The most important of these, Johann Sebastian, was not the first. In fact, his own genealogical research produced a family tree that lists professional musicians in four generations prior to his own. Famously having sired 20 children himself, Sebastian was father to several musicians who in turn produced yet more. Among these, Carl Philipp Emanuel, the second surviving son of those born to Sebastian’s first wife, Maria Barbara, became the most famous and prolific.
It seems that the primary instrument for everyone in the family was the keyboard. Sebastian’s virtuosity at the organ led to unrivaled fame in his lifetime, far overshadowing any widespread recognition of his genius as a composer. It was Emanuel’s dexterity at the harpsichord that led to a long career in music. But the younger Bach is even more famous today for his instructional writing. His “Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments,” which combines technical advice about ornamentation, improvisation, and the importance of correct fingering, remains the most famous treatise of its kind, and is still in print today.
Emanuel followed his father, the only music teacher he ever had, into the family profession. But this was after taking the advice of his godfather, Georg Philipp Telemann, from whom he gets his middle name. Like Telemann, Emanuel qualified as a lawyer before deciding to settle into a life of music. This was due, in part, to Sebastian’s determination to give his children the university education that he lacked. Higher education allowed Emanuel to rise above 18th-century society’s view of musicians as ordinary, perhaps even ignorant, servants. Throughout his life he preferred the company of literati to that of musicians. And his legal background led to carefully worded letters regarding financial matters full of dry and boring legalese as well as scrupulously accurate accounting records. Nonetheless, he was also known as enjoyable company with a ready wit, and was quite the punster.
All of this was sure to have served Emanuel well in his first major position. In 1740 he was hired as harpsichordist in the court of Frederick the Great, whom he served for nearly 30 years. His primary duties were to play in bi-weekly chamber music concerts, often accompanying Frederick, who was an exceptionally proficient flutist. As a result he had plenty of time to compose, producing several flute sonatas, but also reams of keyboard music, which sold very well. The latter served a hungry market and produced a significant second income.
Working in the court during this period meant he had no reason to write music for the church. However, the years of “frustration and hardship,” as he referred to that period in a later autobiography, led to his first large-scale sacred work, composed in 1749. Magnificat was Emanuel Bach’s application for the title of Court Musical Director to Princess Amalie of Prussia, the sister of Frederick the Great. But it is probable that the piece did not receive a performance until after he arrived in Hamburg, in 1768 at age 54, to take a new job teaching at a boy’s school.
C.P.E. Bach is considered to be a key figure in the transition from the Baroque to the Classical eras. Some scholars consider him to be the progenitor of the classical style. In fact, Mozart’s comment, “He is the father. We are his children,” refers to Emanuel Bach, not Sebastian. Stylistically the Magnificat clearly pays tribute to his father, who was still alive at the time. Yet after the propulsive energy of the first movement, the sections that follow are more concerned with melody and gracefulness. Only in the final extended fugue does he display his skill at counterpoint so carefully taught by his father.
Amazingly, this composer also presaged the Romantic era. Near the end of his life he composed a new version of the fourth movement, Et misericordia, which we will be performing tonight. Listen for the sudden harmonic shifts and lush harmonies that sound much more akin to Brahms than the esthetic of the Baroque era.
J. S. Bach spent the last 27 years of his life as the Kantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. This was a job he fell into after it had been turned down by Telemann and a second candidate, Christoph Graupner, who was unable to relinquish his previous job. Bach was unknown in Leipzig at the time, and the council offered him the job out of desperation. For his part, Bach felt he was taking a social step down in the move from Kapellmeister to Kantor. However, the prestige of working in a prominent position in Leipzig propelled him to make the move from Cöthen in 1723. Indeed the “Kantor of St. Thomas and Leipzig Director of Music” was the most important musician in town. He was responsible for the music at the four principal Lutheran churches in Leipzig—St. Thomas, St. Nicolas, St. Matthew, and St. Peter—as well the musical education of the pupils at the boarding school attached to St. Thomas.
The amount of work was tremendous, but Bach threw himself into the tasks with thoroughness and extreme energy. In the early years the focus was on composing music for Sundays and feast days, usually a cantata with a text related to the Gospel, a practice inherited from previous Kantors. These cantatas played an integral part in the Lutheran liturgy, following the reading of the Gospel and preceding the Creed and the sermon. From 1723 to 1725 he created two complete cycles, each containing around 60 cantatas; eventually he went on to complete five such cycles. In the next decade he was to write the majority of his sacred choral works, including the Passions of St. Matthew, St. John, St. Mark (now lost) and St. Luke (of doubtful authorship), the Magnificat, the Mass in B minor and, of course, the Christmas Oratorio.
The Oratorio is a set of six sacred cantatas, each depicting a different scene from Christ’s birth. Often performed today as one unified whole (sometimes over two nights), the cantatas were originally intended to be presented on different holy days from Christmas day until Epiphany (January 6) at St. Nicolas and St. Thomas churches. They are great examples of the technique of parody, the reworking of older pieces. Introduced during the Christmas season of 1734, much of the score recycles music from cantatas composed in the preceding two years, as well as parts of the St. Mark Passion. In fact, the sixth cantata is a nearly complete recycling of his now-lost Cantata BWV 248a.
Tonight we will perform the first and last of these cantatas. While the intervening cantatas employ different forces, the outer two include the full orchestral color that Bach had available, including three trumpets in D, horns, woodwinds, timpani, strings, and continuo. The first announces the birth of Christ and reflects on the Holy Child. Cantatas II–V continue the story. In the second, the angel appears to the shepherds in the field. In the third, the shepherds go to find the Holy Family, then return to their fields rejoicing. The action then moves forward, celebrating the circumcision and naming on the eighth day, followed by the arrival of the Wise Men in cantatas IV and V. We will jump directly to the conclusion of the story. Cantata VI describes Herod sending the Wise Men away, asking that they return to him with information so that he too might go and worship “the King.” The Wise Men follow the star to lowly Bethlehem, and rejoice in finding the Child. They offer him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. God warns them in a dream not to return to Herod, and they return home by another route. Interspersed throughout the entire work, the chorus sings chorales that evoke the inner emotions of the common person awed by the mystery of this miraculous birth.
The text of the Oratorio consists of biblical passages (the Evangelist’s recitatives), German hymns (the chorales), and new text believed to be written by his frequent librettist Picander (the pen name of Christian Friedrich Henrici) to seamlessly fit the earlier music that Bach was recycling. While the choice of texts was influenced by the gospel passages read in church that year, it is clear that Bach thought of the various cantatas as being part of a continuous whole. However, knowing that the original audience only heard parts of the story on a given day, I felt there was precedent for excerpting the first and last sections in our program. This music is near and dear to me, as it is for many around the world. It is such a privilege to be performing this work of genius with an orchestra of period instruments creating a sound that is close to what Bach would have heard. This is music of great joy and celebration. We hope you will leave the church tonight full of Christmas spirit and hope for the future of our world.
The most important of these, Johann Sebastian, was not the first. In fact, his own genealogical research produced a family tree that lists professional musicians in four generations prior to his own. Famously having sired 20 children himself, Sebastian was father to several musicians who in turn produced yet more. Among these, Carl Philipp Emanuel, the second surviving son of those born to Sebastian’s first wife, Maria Barbara, became the most famous and prolific.
It seems that the primary instrument for everyone in the family was the keyboard. Sebastian’s virtuosity at the organ led to unrivaled fame in his lifetime, far overshadowing any widespread recognition of his genius as a composer. It was Emanuel’s dexterity at the harpsichord that led to a long career in music. But the younger Bach is even more famous today for his instructional writing. His “Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments,” which combines technical advice about ornamentation, improvisation, and the importance of correct fingering, remains the most famous treatise of its kind, and is still in print today.
Emanuel followed his father, the only music teacher he ever had, into the family profession. But this was after taking the advice of his godfather, Georg Philipp Telemann, from whom he gets his middle name. Like Telemann, Emanuel qualified as a lawyer before deciding to settle into a life of music. This was due, in part, to Sebastian’s determination to give his children the university education that he lacked. Higher education allowed Emanuel to rise above 18th-century society’s view of musicians as ordinary, perhaps even ignorant, servants. Throughout his life he preferred the company of literati to that of musicians. And his legal background led to carefully worded letters regarding financial matters full of dry and boring legalese as well as scrupulously accurate accounting records. Nonetheless, he was also known as enjoyable company with a ready wit, and was quite the punster.
All of this was sure to have served Emanuel well in his first major position. In 1740 he was hired as harpsichordist in the court of Frederick the Great, whom he served for nearly 30 years. His primary duties were to play in bi-weekly chamber music concerts, often accompanying Frederick, who was an exceptionally proficient flutist. As a result he had plenty of time to compose, producing several flute sonatas, but also reams of keyboard music, which sold very well. The latter served a hungry market and produced a significant second income.
Working in the court during this period meant he had no reason to write music for the church. However, the years of “frustration and hardship,” as he referred to that period in a later autobiography, led to his first large-scale sacred work, composed in 1749. Magnificat was Emanuel Bach’s application for the title of Court Musical Director to Princess Amalie of Prussia, the sister of Frederick the Great. But it is probable that the piece did not receive a performance until after he arrived in Hamburg, in 1768 at age 54, to take a new job teaching at a boy’s school.
C.P.E. Bach is considered to be a key figure in the transition from the Baroque to the Classical eras. Some scholars consider him to be the progenitor of the classical style. In fact, Mozart’s comment, “He is the father. We are his children,” refers to Emanuel Bach, not Sebastian. Stylistically the Magnificat clearly pays tribute to his father, who was still alive at the time. Yet after the propulsive energy of the first movement, the sections that follow are more concerned with melody and gracefulness. Only in the final extended fugue does he display his skill at counterpoint so carefully taught by his father.
Amazingly, this composer also presaged the Romantic era. Near the end of his life he composed a new version of the fourth movement, Et misericordia, which we will be performing tonight. Listen for the sudden harmonic shifts and lush harmonies that sound much more akin to Brahms than the esthetic of the Baroque era.
J. S. Bach spent the last 27 years of his life as the Kantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. This was a job he fell into after it had been turned down by Telemann and a second candidate, Christoph Graupner, who was unable to relinquish his previous job. Bach was unknown in Leipzig at the time, and the council offered him the job out of desperation. For his part, Bach felt he was taking a social step down in the move from Kapellmeister to Kantor. However, the prestige of working in a prominent position in Leipzig propelled him to make the move from Cöthen in 1723. Indeed the “Kantor of St. Thomas and Leipzig Director of Music” was the most important musician in town. He was responsible for the music at the four principal Lutheran churches in Leipzig—St. Thomas, St. Nicolas, St. Matthew, and St. Peter—as well the musical education of the pupils at the boarding school attached to St. Thomas.
The amount of work was tremendous, but Bach threw himself into the tasks with thoroughness and extreme energy. In the early years the focus was on composing music for Sundays and feast days, usually a cantata with a text related to the Gospel, a practice inherited from previous Kantors. These cantatas played an integral part in the Lutheran liturgy, following the reading of the Gospel and preceding the Creed and the sermon. From 1723 to 1725 he created two complete cycles, each containing around 60 cantatas; eventually he went on to complete five such cycles. In the next decade he was to write the majority of his sacred choral works, including the Passions of St. Matthew, St. John, St. Mark (now lost) and St. Luke (of doubtful authorship), the Magnificat, the Mass in B minor and, of course, the Christmas Oratorio.
The Oratorio is a set of six sacred cantatas, each depicting a different scene from Christ’s birth. Often performed today as one unified whole (sometimes over two nights), the cantatas were originally intended to be presented on different holy days from Christmas day until Epiphany (January 6) at St. Nicolas and St. Thomas churches. They are great examples of the technique of parody, the reworking of older pieces. Introduced during the Christmas season of 1734, much of the score recycles music from cantatas composed in the preceding two years, as well as parts of the St. Mark Passion. In fact, the sixth cantata is a nearly complete recycling of his now-lost Cantata BWV 248a.
Tonight we will perform the first and last of these cantatas. While the intervening cantatas employ different forces, the outer two include the full orchestral color that Bach had available, including three trumpets in D, horns, woodwinds, timpani, strings, and continuo. The first announces the birth of Christ and reflects on the Holy Child. Cantatas II–V continue the story. In the second, the angel appears to the shepherds in the field. In the third, the shepherds go to find the Holy Family, then return to their fields rejoicing. The action then moves forward, celebrating the circumcision and naming on the eighth day, followed by the arrival of the Wise Men in cantatas IV and V. We will jump directly to the conclusion of the story. Cantata VI describes Herod sending the Wise Men away, asking that they return to him with information so that he too might go and worship “the King.” The Wise Men follow the star to lowly Bethlehem, and rejoice in finding the Child. They offer him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. God warns them in a dream not to return to Herod, and they return home by another route. Interspersed throughout the entire work, the chorus sings chorales that evoke the inner emotions of the common person awed by the mystery of this miraculous birth.
The text of the Oratorio consists of biblical passages (the Evangelist’s recitatives), German hymns (the chorales), and new text believed to be written by his frequent librettist Picander (the pen name of Christian Friedrich Henrici) to seamlessly fit the earlier music that Bach was recycling. While the choice of texts was influenced by the gospel passages read in church that year, it is clear that Bach thought of the various cantatas as being part of a continuous whole. However, knowing that the original audience only heard parts of the story on a given day, I felt there was precedent for excerpting the first and last sections in our program. This music is near and dear to me, as it is for many around the world. It is such a privilege to be performing this work of genius with an orchestra of period instruments creating a sound that is close to what Bach would have heard. This is music of great joy and celebration. We hope you will leave the church tonight full of Christmas spirit and hope for the future of our world.
