program notes - Rockport Music

19
june
chameleon arts ensemble
Sunday
Deborah Boldin, Artistic Director & flute
Sooyun Kim, flute
Nancy Dimock, oboe
Robyn Bollinger, Eunae Koh,
Sean Lee, violin
Scott Woolweaver, viola
Rafael Popper-Keizer, cello
Erik Higgins, double bass
Sergey Schepkin, harpsichord
5 PM
BACH AND SONS
SINFONIA IN D MINOR, F. 65, FOR TWO FLUTES, STRINGS, AND CONTINUO
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784)
Adagio—Fuge: Allegro e forte
Kim, Boldin, Koh, Lee, Woolweaver, Popper-Keizer, Higgins, Schepkin
QUINTET IN F MAJOR FOR OBOE, VIOLIN, VIOLA, CELLO, AND
KEYBOARD, OP. 22 NO. 2
Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)
Allegro con moto
Tempo di Menuetto
Dimock, Bollinger, Woolweaver, Popper-Keizer, Schepkin
BRANDENBURG CONCERTO NO. 5 IN D MAJOR, BWV 1050
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Allegro
Affetuoso
Allegro
Schepkin, Boldin, Bollinger
Koh, Woolweaver, Popper-Keizer, Higgins
:: intermission ::
TRIO SONATA IN C MINOR FOR TWO VIOLINS AND CONTINUO,
H.579/WQ 161, “SAUGUINEUS AND MELANCHOLICUS”
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Lee, Bollinger, Popper-Keizer, Schepkin
The program continues on the next page
35TH SEASON | ROCKPORT MUSIC :: 45
WEEK 3
the program
BRANDENBURG CONCERTO NO. 4 IN G MAJOR, BWV 1049
Johann Sebastian Bach
Allegro
Andante
Presto
Lee, Boldin, Kim
Koh, Bollinger, Woolweaver, Popper-Keizer, Higgins, Schepkin
Notes
on the
program
by
Sandra Hyslop
SINFONIA IN D MINOR, F. 65, “ADAGIO AND FUGUE” FOR FLUTES, STRINGS
AND CONTINUO
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (b. Weimar, Germany, November 22, 1710; d. Berlin, July 1, 1784)
Composed 1740-45 (ca.); 9 minutes
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach was the second child, and eldest son, of Johann Sebastian Bach
and his first wife, Maria Barbara Bach (1684-1720), who bore seven children before her
early death. His fields of study—music performance, composition, philosophy, law, and
mathematics—indicate the wide range of his curiosity and intellect. His education in music
began with his father, and by the age of ten, Wilhelm Friedemann had begun assembling
his own “Little Keyboard Book.”
Wilhelm Friedemann’s professional posts included terms as organist and music director
at the Sophienkirche in Dresden and the Church of Our Lady, in Halle (modern references
sometimes name him “the Halle Bach”), where he also taught and served as director of the
city chorus. During his Dresden years (1733-1746), his official duties were sufficiently
proscribed (not to mention poorly compensated) that he had time to devote to composition.
The music practices in the Dresden church called for instrumental ensembles to perform
the Gradual of the Mass, music that Wilhelm Friedemann composed for the occasions.
The Sinfonia in D minor was among those works.
The Sinfonia in D minor, composed according to well-defined rules appropriate for
performance in a formal church setting, comprises two sections. The first part, Adagio,
serves as a prelude. The serious and stately voices of strings and keyboard support and
The over-lifesized monument complement the embellishing voices of the two flutes. The second part, Allegro e forte,
to J.S. Bach stands in the
emerges as a lively fugue, whose subject was predicted in the Adagio section.
place of honor before the
Thomaskirche in Leipzig,
where he served as cantor
from 1723 until his death
in 1750.
QUINTET IN F MAJOR FOR OBOE, VIOLIN, VIOLA, CELLO AND KEYBOARD, OP.
22, NO. 2
Johann Christian Bach (b. Leipzig, Germany, September 5, 1735; d. London, January 1, 1782)
Composed ca. 1780; 12 minutes
Seventeen months after the sudden and unexpected death of his first wife, Maria Barbara,
J. S. Bach married Anna Magdalena, with whom he had thirteen children. Born twenty-five
years after his older half-brother, Wilhelm Friedemann, Johann Christian Bach was his
father’s youngest and, some scholars believe, his favorite son. Like Wilhelm Friedemann,
Johann Christian received his earliest training in music from his father, Johann Sebastian.
46 :: NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
However, J. C. Bach was born into a musical environment that had changed significantly
since Wilhelm Friedemann’s youth.
Johann Christian developed as a true exponent of musical styles and interests that looked
forward to the sensibilities of the Classical era. His music made a real impact on Mozart,
who openly expressed his admiration. Johann Christian lived for many years in Berlin and in
Italy, and moved in 1762 to London (he is sometimes called “the London Bach”), where he
married, and enjoyed the public’s acclaim for his music. Fame is fleeting, as he discovered
late in his life. Twenty years later, he died in poverty in his beloved city.
The Quintet in F major was composed in 1780 and was published in 1785, the second in a set
of “Deux quintetts.” Because J. C. Bach was a prominent entrepreneur of public concerts,
scholars assume that these light-hearted instrumental works were composed for such
occasions. The fact that they were published posthumously, despite Johann Christian’s
fading reputation, indicates that the market for such entertainment was still strong.
Portrait of Johann Christian
Bach (sometimes called “the
London Bach”), by Thomas
Gainsborough
BRANDENBURG CONCERTO NO. 5 IN D MAJOR, BWV 1050
Johann Sebastian Bach (b. Eisenach, Germany, March 21, 1685; d. Leipzig, July 28, 1750)
Composed before 1721; 23 minutes
On March 24, 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote, in French, an ingratiating cover lettercum-dedication to accompany a precious stack of manuscripts that he was submitting to
the Margrave Christian Ludwig, of Brandenburg, near Berlin. Writing from Cöthen, Bach
addressed Christian Ludwig:
As I had the good fortune a few years ago to be heard by Your Royal Highness…and
as I noted then that Your Highness took some pleasure in the little talents which
Heaven has given me for Music, and as in taking leave of Your Royal Highness, Your
Highness designed to honor me with the command to send Your Highness some
pieces of my Composition, I have in accordance with Your Highness’s most gracious
orders taken the liberty of rendering my most humble duty to Your Royal Highness
with the present Concertos, which I have adapted to several instruments…
Bach had played before the Margrave sometime in the winter of 1718-19, and upon that thin
thread of introduction he was now submitting one of the most treasured calling cards in
music history. Unfortunately, whatever hopes Bach might have had for His Highness’s
attentions fell upon barren ground. Offering Bach acknowledgement of neither his letter
nor of the manuscripts, His Highness packed away the bundle of manuscripts, where they
lay for more than a century before being discovered, played, and published. The so-called
Brandenburg Concertos have brought the otherwise forgotten Margrave great fame-byassociation with Bach, as the brilliance of the concertos for “several instruments” has come
to epitomize the apex of early eighteenth-century instrumental writing.
Detail of the ingratiating
dedication that Johann
Sebastian Bach wrote when
he sent the six instrumental
concertos to Margrave
Christian Ludwig of
Brandenburg in 1721
Bach inscribed the title on No. 5 of the concertos: “Concerto the Fifth, for a transverse flute,
solo violin, violin and viola ‘in ripieno’ [meaning, as accompanying instruments], cello, violone
[a lower-voiced string instrument, such as a viola or cello], and cembalo [harpsichord].” In
this case, the harpsichord serves a dual function, sometimes as the continuo support for
the others, and more prominently as a solo instrument. No. 5 is particularly known for the
brilliance of the harpsichord writing, which no doubt reflected Bach’s own virtuosic talents
at the keyboard.
35TH SEASON | ROCKPORT MUSIC :: 47
Notes
on the
program
by
Sandra Hyslop
TRIO SONATA IN C MINOR FOR 2 VIOLINS AND CONTINUO, H.579, WQ.161
“SANGUINEUS AND MELANCHOLICUS”
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (b. Weimar, Germany, March 8, 1714;
d. Hamburg, December 14, 1788)
Composed 1749; 16 minutes
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the fifth child of Johann Sebastian and his first wife, Maria
Barbara, was the younger brother (by four years) of Wilhelm Friedemann, and the older
half-brother (by twenty-one years) of Johann Christian Bach. He studied law, and then,
concentrating on music, he became renowned as a brilliant harpsichordist. Like his younger
half-brother Johann Christian, Carl Philipp Emanuel enjoyed the attention of Mozart, who
admired not only his compositions, but also his published treatise on keyboard technique.
Carl Philipp Emanuel’s works list comprises nearly one thousand compositions, of which a
significant number were trio sonatas. The term “Trio Sonata” refers to the number of obbligato
instruments, not to the number of participants in the ensemble. Typically, the “obbligato”
ensemble would comprise two treble instruments (violin or flute, for example) and a bass
(viola da gamba or cello), accompanied by the “continuo,” instruments that would fill in the
harmonic materials and provide rhythmic impulse. The continuo part could be played by a
harpsichord alone, or it might comprise an ensemble of a keyboard instrument, plus a cello,
viola da gamba, and bassoon or double bass. Frequently, the parts for the “obbligato” ensemble
were written out, while the music for the “continuo” instrument(s) would be quasi-improvised.
From 1738 to 1767 Carl
Philipp Emanuel Bach was
the cembalist (the principal
keyboard player) at the
court of Frederick the
Great. Frederick, an
accomplished flutist, and
his harpsichord virtuoso
courtier C. P. E. Bach often
played together at the
Sanssouci summer palace
in Potsdam, near Berlin.
The well-known portrait
by Adolph von Menzel has
become an iconic image of
C.P.E. Bach’s era, even
though it was painted in the
romanticized style of 1852,
one hundred years after
the fact.
COMING NEXT
TUESDAY,
JUNE 21, 7 PM
FILM:
Talent Has
Hunger
Free, no tickets
required.
C. P. E. Bach based this C-minor Trio Sonata on an imitative, programmatic idea, an unusual
musical concept for his time. In the eighteenth century, four personality types were commonly
recognized: the sanguine (sociable and optimistic), the melancholic (quiet and introverted),
the phlegmatic (calm and patient), and the choleric (extroverted and impatient). Choosing two
of them, sanguinity and melancholy, C.P.E. composed a Trio Sonata that, upon its publication
in 1751, found enormous public favor for his vivid musical portraits.
BRANDENBURG CONCERTO NO. 4 IN G MAJOR, BWV 1049
Johann Sebastian Bach
Composed before 1721; 16 minutes
The diversity of instruments for which Johann Sebastian Bach wrote in the six concertos
provides a clue to the instrumental resources he had available in the court of Cöthen, where
he was Kapellmeister and where, it is widely believed, he composed most of the music of the
“Brandenburg” concertos. Judging from the musical and technical requirements of the six
pieces, Bach’s orchestra players in Cöthen possessed excellent professional skills.
Bach’s inscription at the head of the Concerto No. 4 designates a solo violin, two “Flauti
d’Echo” [usually interpreted as “recorders,” but also appropriate for modern flutes], two
violins, a viola and a violone [a lower-voiced stringed instrument, such as a cello or bass],
a cello and continuo [harpsichord]. Where the Fifth Brandenburg is a showpiece for the
harpsichord, the Fourth features the solo violin in a virtuosic display, especially in the outer
movements. Bach himself was reportedly a fine violinist. It is not clear whether the six
instrumental concertos were performed in Cöthen before Bach sent the manuscripts to
Margrave Christian Ludwig (see the note above, for the Concerto No. 5). However, the
leader of Bach’s orchestra there, the violinist Joseph Spiess, had the skills to perform
the virtuosic No. 4 with the requisite skill and flair.
48 :: NOTES ON THE PROGRAM