The next edition of the London Bach Society’s Journal ‘Bach Notes’ will be published early in March. This will be a special to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Leipzig’s world famous boys’ choir, the Thomanerchor, the history and everyday life “Once a Thomaner, always a Thomaner”.  The choir will receive the RAM/Kohn Foundation Bach Prize at the Royal Academy of Music on Sunday 11 March to complete their UK visit.  

Also featured…

Ruth Mariner catches up with violinist Rodolfo Richter to reflect of Bach’s Sonatas for solo violin and harpsichord and the recent meeting of the 18-30 Bach Club. There is also a tribute to Gustav Leonhardt and information ‘About the London Bach Society’.

Copies of the Journal will be posted on the Bach Notes page for easy downloading, or mailed by email and post. If you would like to receive either a printed or emailed copy then please send your postal and/or email address to lbs@lonbachsoc.demon.co.uk

1928-2012

The death of the distinguished harpsichordist and director Gustav Leonhardt in Holland on 16 January closes one of the most important chapters in the history of European Music over the last half century. He was perhaps the last living ‘true pioneer’ of historically informed performances of Bach, daring to challenge accepted thinking from the 1950s as Europe emerged from the austerity of the war years and into a new musical age that, along with others similarly curious, brought us  ‘Bach in its original form’.  With his wonderful keyboard dexterity and insight, it was a facet he brought to his performances that he never lost.

In 1996, Leonhardt accepted the first of two  invitations from me to come to our Bachfest. The first was to direct Steinitz Bach Players at the London Bach Society’s 50th anniversary concert – two seasonal Bach cantatas and a Lutheran Mass – to be given in the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, West Smithfield on Reformationsfest (31 October). We met to discuss the programme and its regime of rehearsals well in advance - BWV 180 and the Mass in A plus BWV 115,  a great Leipzig cantata  and one that Leonhardt had never directed before. While the interpretations were naturally different from those of my husband, his approach, how he thought through each recitative and aria and planned his rehearsals accordingly was exactly what I was used to. Placing the performers and music in such an historic setting prompted a phone call to his wife Marie, a distinguished violinist in her own right, to fly over.  She did. BBC Radio 3 thought the same – although Leonhardt was not too keen to have cables and microphones cluttering up the chancel and generally getting in the way.  He was finally pursuaded to allow a ‘discreet’ presence by Radio 3 when told that the concert was an important occasion for all concerned.  It worked out very well.  

Leonhardt’s second appearance with us saw him in his element. It was at Bachfest in 1999, a harpsichord recital that included some rarely heard early keyboard works by Bach (c.1700), given by candlelight in the chancel of St. Bartholomew-the-Great. This time he could not be pursuaded to allow a broadcast, but he did agree to be interviewed by my colleague Lindsay Kemp for Radio 3.   It was a stunning recital of some fairly recherché repertoire chosen to presage Bach’s 250th anniversary year, given by an artist who was not remotely concerned about anything except the music he was playing, its origins and his continuing curiosity about it. The audience, a distinguished one, was merely there.   Between the rehearsal and recital Leonhardt rested in the modestly furnished Vestry wearing his trademark mittens.  Just before he was due to come and play, I entered the  Vestry to give him his concert ‘call’ and found Leonhardt complete with mittens warming his hands around a candle he had lit, shunning the use of the modern electric fire standing by. That alone sums up a lot about him.

We send to Marie our fond remembrance and condolences, with thanks for the life and work of Gustav Leonhardt, true pioneer and kindred spirit.   Margaret Steinitz

For our 21st Bachfest last month we considered Bach’s life as a working composer, busily providing and preparing for his weekly commitments to the church and the town. The performances of the Goldbergs, Violin Sonatas, study of the Mass in B minor and the presentation of two cantatas both composed for a given Sunday for example, enabled us to reflect on Bach’s working life, its variety and environment.   

For our seasonal weblog to end the year we continue the theme and, like many Directors of Music today, we find Bach probably working ‘flat-out’  at whichever court or church he was employed, even though he was not required to provide quite so much music for church services in Advent. “Phew! that gives me a bit of time to prepare for the Christmas services” could have been his private mid-December thoughts, although outwardly as a good Lutheran, he would have been expected to join the congregation in the full spirit of the Advent season.

Offerings for the season

Inspite of less music being required for the weekly services, Bach provided no less than four cantatas for Advent -  BWV 36, 61, 62 for Advent Sunday and BWV 132 for the fourth Sunday in Advent.  He  gave full vent to his creative powers when providing what became over the years a substantial collection of cantatas for the busy Christmas and New Year church celebrations. Equal creative vigour is applied to the provision of the set of six cantatas each for a particular day over the festive season, his Christmas Oratorio BWV 248, composed for the appropriate seasonal services in 1734/1735.   Whichever, cantatas or oratorio,  here we find Bach at his most inventive and running the gamut of human emotions and sentiments through his music, from the majesty and splendour to be found in Cantata BWV 63 and Part 1 of the Christmas Oratorio for Christmas Day to his musical evocation of the Wise Men on camels journeying to present their gifts to the Christ-child in the manger, as depicted in the opening of BWV 65, and the joyous setting of the Passion chorale that ends Part six of the Christmas Oratorio, both these composed for Epiphany - his use of the Passion Chorale a portent of things to come perhaps?   

Full details of all the Cantatas composed for Christmas and New Year plus the Christmas Oratorio can be found by using our Database. Why not make your selection and immerse yourself in the music this Christmas season.

Details of Bach concerts near you can be found by using the following websites: www.concert-diary.com and www.bachtrack.com

A very Happy Christmas from us all in LBS

Another successful Bachfest has just been completed and plans are already underway for our 22nd Series in November 2012 entitled “About the St. Matthew Passion”.   Bach’s masterpiece, originally first performed at Leipzig on 11 April 1727, was presented with the musicians placed as usual in their Gallery at the rear of the church. Therefore they performed to the backs of the audience seated below. The annual Good Friday Passion performance was a tradition in 17th and 18th century Lutheran Germany when the people would flock to the churches and expect to hear a musical setting of Christ’s Passion and Crucifixion as part of the Meditation and Liturgy for Good Friday.  At Leipzig in Bach’s time, the venue for the performances alternated between the main church, the Nikolaikirche, and the more famous Thomaskirche. 

Bach’s setting of Chapters 26 and 27 of St. Matthew’s Gospel is a dramatic one, originally performed by his singers and players, but not staged or with any scenes acted out.   The St. Matthew doesn’t travel well  if it is presented in this way as many a Director who has tried it has found out. Compromise is inevitable and therefore performances will move away from Bach’s original and become a ‘version’  or even a parody. Those who are doubtful or critical of staged presentations are branded as ‘purists’. Is there something amiss then in keeping to the composer’s notes, text and intentions?

At Bachfest 2012 we  shall mark the 60th anniversary of the London Bach Society’s groundbreaking première of the St. Matthew Passion in its complete and original German form on 22 March 1952. We plan to explore the origins of the work, its 19th and 20th century revivals and its place in our community today. A recent production of it with the express purpose of bringing classical music to young people would have had greater resonance if the ‘young ambassadors ‘ actually took part in the live performances,  a feature that would have also stayed true to the spirit of Bach’s original  – the congregation took part in either all or at least some of the chorales.   Do we really have the right to tinker with great music in order for it to appeal to a young audience?  Let’s hope we find some answers.

We shall of course be presenting other events, including the 4th Bach Singers Prize competition, as part of the Festival .

Much fund-raising has to be done between now and then to ensure Bachfest can be promoted effectively next year and to the highest standards…watch this space.   If you would like to become a Donor then do get in touch - 01883 717372

Before Bachfest we have two editions of our Journal to come and  a spring meeting of the 18-30 Bach Club….    Watch this space

The fourth competitive Prize is scheduled to take place at Bachfest 2012. To keep up to date with the latest Prize news, email us your details to receive our regular updates lbs@lonbachsoc.demon.co.uk. The competition is open to undergraduate and postgraduate singers in the age range 21-32. For a taste of what is involved click on the Prize Entry Details for the 2010 competition.

SARAH POWER soprano (Ireland) who is pictured receiving her prize from Lord Avebury, Vice President of the London Bach Society

Sarah takes the £2,000 prize, which this year has been donated by members of the London Bach Society’s Members’ Circle. We are all truly grateful for their generosity and support.

The 4th Bach Singers Prize is scheduled to take place at Bachfest in 2012.

Sometimes I feel that this beloved country of ours has an Honours Degree, **First, in talking itself into the brimstone pit! OK, so we have a problem getting our young people into concert halls to hear Bach and Beethoven. That is accepted…but equally, we also have a problem getting them into the Polling Booths to vote! How many 18-25 year-old turned out at the last eneral Election, I wonder? Is it ignorance or general malaise? Indifference or sheer frustration because we just don’t hear them? So why should they vote or volunteer,  or attend concerts for that matter, bringing them into the realms of what is perceived to be as far away from their thinking as it could possibly be?

Anyone around the concert world in London at Easter 2009 was exposed to musical experience sufficient to dispel any perception of malaise or indifference by young people to anything at all, never mind classical music. It wasn’t our usual groups with their traditional Bach offerings making waves this passiontide but two world-famous musical institutions from abroad, both with significant 18th century connections and both offering us all hope for the future.

Bach’s old choir, the Thomanerchor (St. Thomas Boys’ Choir - pictured) joined the Tölz Boys and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Chailly on Palm Sunday (Barbican) in a sold-out performance of Bach’s Matthäus-Passion that prompted five-star press ratings and unqualified praise. The choir was actually founded in 1212, but the Cantor with whom it is most closely associated is none other than J S Bachhimself, Leipzig’s Thomaskantor from 1723-1750. Today’s generation numbers c.90 boys, whose ages range from 9-18, who live and study at their Alumnat, rehearse together for three hours every day, enjoy weekly individual vocal and instrumental tuition and maintain the musical traditions at the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas’ Church) where their illustrious former ‘boss’ is buried in the chancel. Weekly Bach cantatas complement the annual Passion performances and Christmas Oratorio in a punishing national and international schedule that leaves little free time after study and sleeping! Bach’s music is meat and drink to them, a friend for life and they know it better than most of us. The majority of boys eventually take up a variety of professions – the law, medicine, languages. However, tenor Christoph Genz, the vocal group amarcord and the German pop group Prinzen to name but a few, are all former Thomaner. The choir today is directed with total dedication by Professor Georg Christoph Biller- himself a former Thomaner – and his appointment in 1992, the first Thomaskantor in the unified Germany, is to me an expression of the value the choir places upon its alumni and musical traditions that stretches far beyond the politics going on all around them over the last century.

Simon Bolivar was a towering political and military figure in late 18th and early 19th century Latin America. His exploits to free many of these countries from Spanish rule earned him the title of El Liberador and even today, some two hundred years later, his name is revered and memory honoured throughout the continent. Therefore it is not surprising that it was given to a new youth orchestra created in 1975, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, that took London by storm thirty years later at its recent week-long South Bank residency. The enthusiasm of these young musicians, many drawn from some of the poorest districts, was infectious and the comparative ‘informality’ of their platform presence could eventually be the way forward for all of us here. That will require some real ‘thinking out of the box’ for many of us so used to the strict formality of Western European concert etiquette..but think out of the box we must and listen to the drumbeat of the young people in our own country to whom we ultimately entrust our priceless musical heritage.

MS

LBS Footnote: In 1994, the London Bach Society brought the Thomanerchor and their new Cantor to Britain for the choir’s first ever visit here – four performances of Bach’s Johannes-Passion (1725) with Steinitz Bach Players. BBC Radio 3 (Sony Awards – Station of the Year 2009) broadcast and interviewed. Then in 2006 the choir broke its UK tour schedule to join the LBS in London to help us celebrate our 60th anniversary….but we are mere beginners! In 2012 the Thomanerchor will celebrate its 800th. More Weblogs about them to follow…

Please note that this is an ARCHIVED page, and not the current festivals page. Click here For the latest festival information (and for links to previous archives).

BACHFEST ’08

2-18 NOVEMBER

“Ways to Bach”

This year’s festival reflects the 300th anniversary of Bach’s appointment at Weimar in 1708, the 40th anniversary of Steinitz Bach Players & its role in the community today.

Main Events

“Ways to Bach” I

Sunday 2 November at 7.30pm

Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP
Director John Gilhooley, The Wigmore Hall Trust.
Registered charity No. 1024838
www.wigmore-hall.org.uk
[Bond Street tube]

JSB at Heaven’s Castle
Gillian Keith, Michael Chance, Nathan Vale, Peter Harvey
Steinitz Bach Players leader Rodolfo Richter
Anthony Robson director

A programme of Bach’s cantatas composed for the Court Chapel at Weimar (Himmelsburg) to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Bach’s appointment (1708) and the 40th anniversary of Steinitz Bach Players. The cantatas to be performed,BWV 152, 54, 161 and 61, will be sung & played at the original pitch.

For more information about Bach’s Cantatas, and these in particular, visit our unique database.

Tickets: £25.00, £22.00, £18.00, and £12.00 from Wigmore Hall direct

Book in person or by telephone 020 7935 2141 (£1.50 admin fee) or online atwww.wigmore-hall.org.uk (50p admin fee). Fees for telephone and online booking include the return of your tickets by first class post.

Booking opens on 1 September

Press Review, April 2008

“Steinitz Bach Players are masters of this music and it showed in every bar, sympathetic and utterly meticulous under Elizabeth Bates’ direction.”

Bath Chronicle: Bach Cantatas with the Chantry Singers at Bath Abbey, April 2008

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“Ways to Bach” II

Wednesday 5 November at 7.00pm – The Semi Final
Friday 7 November at 7.15pm (NB time) – The Final

St. George’s Church, Hanover Square, London W1
[Oxford Circus tube]

2nd LBS BACH SINGERS’ PRIZE
The Semi-Final:
Each semi-finalist will sing a Recitative and Aria from a Bach Passion
The Final:
Each finalist will perform a mixed Bach programme with Steinitz Bach Players

Steinitz Bach Players, directed by Anthony Robson

The Jury:
Peter Harvey, Patrizia Kwella, Ian Partridge (Chairman), Anthony Robson

The Prize:
£2,000 generously donated by The Matthiesen Foundation
With the support of
The Fenton Arts Trust, The Lynn Foundation and private donors

Tickets: Semi-Final £10 at the door from 6.15pm
Tickets: Final £20, £15 (Students £5 with Student Identity Card) in advance from 01883 717372 (Credit cards accepted with booking fee of £1 including the return of your tickets by first class post) or at the door from 6.30pm

The Final will also be given in celebration of Lord Avebury’s 80th Birthday

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“Ways to Bach” III

Friday 14 November at 6.30pm

Room 20, National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE
[Leicester Square or Charing Cross tube]

Steinitz Bach Players in Recital
Anthony Robson director

For its debut at the National Portrait Gallery and as part of the Steinitz Bach Players 40th anniversary celebrations this special recital programme will include some delicious chamber music for woodwind and continuo by J S Bach, his friend and contemporary Telemann, and also by Henry Purcell whose 350th anniversary is in 2009. The distinguished soloists include Rachel Beckett and Anthony Robson (recorders)

The Programme:
:: Trio Sonata in G for two flutes and continuo BWV 1039 - J S Bach
:: Sonata in D minor for flute, oboe and continuo - Telemann
:: ‘Three Parts on a Ground’ for three recorders and continuo - Purcell
:: Quartet in D minor for ‘Tafelmusik’ Part II - Telemann

ADMISSION FREE
With the support of
The National Portrait Gallery
Given as part of the Friday Evening Music Series

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“Ways to Bach” IV

Tuesday 18 November at 2.30pm

St. Peter’s Church, Eaton Square SW1
[Victoria tube]

“Dancing to Bach 3″
Mary Collins dancer
Steinitz Bach Players
Anthony Robson director

Pupils from member-schools of the British-German Association’s Youthbridge join a party from Youthbridge Schools in Dresden for an interactive session on Bach and the Dance. The pupils will be taught 18th century dance steps, perform them with Mary and the orchestra, and enhance their knowledge of the composer, his life and times relating them to the 21st century. The session will reflect on Bach’s years at the Weimar Court.

Open to LBS & BGA Members only – for tickets please telephone 020 7235 1922 (11-4 Mon-Thurs)

With the support of
The German Embassy in London and British-German Association’s ‘Youthbridge’

Please note that this is an ARCHIVED page, and not the current festivals page. Click here For the latest festival information (and for links to previous archives).

BACHFEST ’07

11-20 NOVEMBER

“You play Bach your way, and I’ll play him his way”

– Pioneering Harpsichordist Wanda Landowska

Main Events

THE DUTCH CHURCH
7 Austin Friars, EC2
[Bank tube: off Old Broad Street]

Remembrance Sunday 11 November at 11.00am

BACH CANTATA SERVICE
English Voices
Steinitz Bach Players
Stephen Farr organ continuo
Timothy Brown director

Arnfinn Tobiassen organ

We are invited to join the community at The Dutch Church in London in which a Bach Cantata will be performed in the context for which it was originally written. The Service is lead by Pastor Henk ten Napel and given in Dutch and English.

Before the Service
Praeludium in g minor BuxWV 149 - Buxtehude

Bach’s Cantata
“Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen” BWV 146
Composed for Third Sunday after Easter (Jubilate) at Leipzig 1726 or 1728

Buxtehude’s Cantata (Anthem)
“Der Herr ist mit mir” BuxWV 15

Final Voluntary
Prelude & Fugue in a minor BWV 543 - Bach

ADMISSION FREE

All are welcome to attend
Early seat reservation is advised. Call 01883 717372
Or e-mail lbs@lonbachsoc.demon.co.uk
Reserved seats should be taken up by 10.45am

Access for the disabled

Given with the generous support of The Dutch Church in association with the London Bach Society

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THE PRIORY CHURCH of ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-GREAT
West Smithfield, EC1
[Barbican or St. Paul's tube]

Wednesday 14 November at 7.00pm for 7.15pm

LBS DIAMOND JUBILEE
This concert is a special celebration given before an invited audience to complete the Society’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Scroll down to find out how you can obtain your invitation.

Angharad Gruffydd Jones soprano
Ian Partridge reader
Choir of Clare College Chapel Cambridge
Timothy Brown director

Rachel Beckett & Anthony Robson recorders
David Blackadder natural trumpet
Rodolpho Richter violin
Steven Devine organ & harpsichord
Steinitz Bach Players
Anthony Robson & Rodolpho Richter directors

By The Bach Family
Sei lieber Tag willkommen - Joh. Michael Bach
Der Gerechte, ob er gleich - Joh. Christoph Bach
Das ist meine Freude - Joh. Ludwig Bach

By Johann Sebastian Bach
Sinfonia from Cantata BWV 49
Solo Cantata “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen” BWV 51
Brandenburg Concerto No 4 in G, BWV 1049
Chorale from Cantata “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben” BWV 147, with audience

By a church composer of today
The Lamb - John Tavener

ADMISSION IS BY INVITATION CARD

Applications are invited from the general public
Call 01883 717372 or E-mail us with your name and address to lbs@lonbachsoc.demon.co.uk and an invitation card will be issued (subject to availability)
Deadline: Monday 12 November

Access for the disabled

The evening is in aid of the London Bach Society’s development campaign for which voluntary Gift Aid donations are invited.

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ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH
Hanover Square, W1
[Oxford Circus tube]

Tuesday 20 November at 7.30pm

Introducing
PICCOLA ACCADEMIA di MONTISI

Narrated and led by
Laurence Cummings
with
Warwick Thompson

Featuring harpsichordists
Tamar Halperin - Israel
Matias Häkkinen - Finland
Maria Uspenskaya - Russia
Marcin Swiatkiewicz - Poland

Serafin Camerata

Programme
Concerto in C major for two harpsichords - Bach
Prelude non mesure in a minor - Louis Couperin
The Hunt - John Bull
Toccata Quarta from Il primo libro - Frescobaldi
Allemande pour deux claveçins (from 9ième ordre) - François Couperin
Sonata in e minor K402 - Domenico Scarlatti
Air and Variations - Handel
Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D - Bach

Piccola Accademia di Montisi has been founded to provide a centre of excellence for historic performance, with a special emphasis on the harpsichord. To close its 60th anniversary season, the LBS is delighted to introduce to London a new, imaginative and innovative academy that is located in a hilltop medieval village in Southern Tuscany.

Come and find out what this little gem is all about!

Tickets are: £18, £12. Student Tickets £5 each

Credit Cards accepted with booking fee – Telephone only – Call 01883 717372 – or send cheque (payable to London Bach Society) to LBS, 73 High Street, Old Oxted, Surrey RH8 9LN

Tickets on sale at the door from 6.45pm

Access for the disabled

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BACHFEST SCHOOLS PROJECT, 2007

(not open to the public)

Tuesday 13 November from 3.00pm-4.45pm
THE WAREHOUSE, 13 Theed Street, SE1

DANCING 2 BACH with BGA’s Youthbridge
Mary Collins - dancer
Steinitz Bach Players
Anthony Robson - director/recorder/oboe

This special project within the LBS Bachfest enables pupils to get to know more about the German musical language and heritage as part of their spoken language studies, to learn some 18th century dances and to perform them with Steinitz Bach Players, who play instruments of the period. For many pupils this is the first Bach experience.

This year Mary Collins, the UK expert in baroque dance, will teach the pupils assembled a contredanse and a minuet.

The Dresden Connection
This year we are inviting 22 pupils from schools in Dresden to join pupils from Youthbridge member-schools in Britain for our 2007 dance presentation. Bach visited the famous baroque city of Dresden many times to enjoy the rich musical life in this centre of good taste and fashion. As the newly appointed Dresden Court Composer, he also gave the inaugural recital on the Silbermann organ in the Dresden Frauenkirche on 1 December 1736.

Our Dance project with BGA’s Youthbridge is one of the London Bach Society’s Development Initiatives launched as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

While the 2007 project is not open to the general public, we hope to be able to open it up in 2008.

WATCH THIS SPACE

Given with the generous help of the Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Kultus, the UK Dresden Trust and the German Embassy in London.

Visit: www.britishgermanassociation.org

Margaret Steinitz awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

On Monday 11 December, Deputy Head of Mission Hans Henning Blomeyer-Bartenstein presented the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Margaret Steinitz, the Artistic Director of the London Bach Society (LBS).

Founded in 1946 by Margaret Steinitz’s late husband Paul, the LBS has not only introduced Bach’s vast corpus of music to several generations of musicians and audiences in the UK, but also changed the approach to performing the works, pioneering the use of period instruments and, since 1950, singing the choral works in their original language.

Under the guidance of Margaret Steinitz, the LBS has continued to entertain, experiment, uplift and inspire all lovers of Bach’s music, as well as to build an invaluable database for Bach studies and an imaginative educational programme. In presenting the Order, Mr. Blomeyer-Bartenstein said: “I know that you are just as modest about your own work with the Bach Society as Bach was about his organ playing. But we all know better. We know just how much hard work and tireless endeavour you give to bringing Bach’s music closer to people in both our countries.”

For further information, please contact the German Embassy Press Department.

ENDS