programme
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229)
Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227)
Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (BWV 226)
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (BWV 225)
Supplementary:
Orgelpark: Pièce d’orgue (BWV 572)
Nijmegen, Delden:
Cello Suite No. 1 in G major: Allemande (BWV 1007)
Cello Suite No. 1 in G major: Sarabande (BWV 1007)
Cello Suite No. 2 in d minor: Präludium (BWV 1008)
Partita in a minor: Allemande (BWV 1013)
performers
Cappella Amsterdam
Daniel Reuss conductor
Pieter-Jan Belder organ
Maggie Urquhart bass
Robert Franenberg bass (in Utrecht, Nijmegen and Delden)
Rainer Zipperling cello
background
We have found a new date with De Vereeniging in Nijmegen: Wednesday, February 16, at 8:15 PM.
Stay tuned to our website for the most up-to-date information.
Motets existed before Bach’s time, but he brought a great wealth to the genre with his own signature.
Bach wrote motets for special occasions, and they were often performed only once. Therefore, they were not well archived. The chances are high that some have not been preserved. Fortunately, we can still enjoy the wonders of this music, as in this programme. We do not know exactly how many motets Bach composed. Currently, five motets are undisputedly attributed to him. We will perform four of these undisputed motets.
Daniel Reuss on the motets: “I also call them ‘the Bible of music.’ I have lived with these motets for about forty years, and I can almost dream them. There are no pieces I have studied more or feel more connected to. I find it fantastic to be able to conduct these works again after so many years.”
Commentary by Bach expert Eduard van Hengel
By the time Bach began to work, the genre of the motet had long passed its peak (Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, 1550); in the Baroque period, solo singing, song forms (chorales), homophony, and instrumental contributions emerged in Protestant church music. Cantatas became the main liturgical music, with motets relegated to a supporting role in the pre-program, sung from continuously reprinted early seventeenth-century collections.
Motets were still written as occasion compositions for funerals, memorials, and weddings, commissioned by the wealthy with modest budgets and serving as a side income for the cantor. In that role, Bach probably composed far more than the eight motets we still know of him today, four of which you will hear at this concert. This gave the outdated motet tradition a new impetus, as it were in injury time, ensuring that Mendelssohn and Brahms would also compose motets.
Motets were also Bach’s only compositions that (unlike, e.g., cantatas) maintained themselves permanently in the repertoire of the Leipzig Thomaner during the eighteenth century; as is well known, Mozart, on his visit to Leipzig in 1789, was greatly impressed by a performance of Singet dem Herrn and profoundly influenced when he allowed himself to be handed the parts. Bach’s motets were already printed as early as 1802. (see also eduardvanhengel.nl)