Bach at Ewell on the vintage 'Father Willis' organ at St Mary's Parish Church, Jonathan Holmes
🎞️ · 10.05.2023 · 10:07:39 ··· MiTTwoch ⭐ 0 🎬 0
📺 Jonathan Holmes
🎬 · 10.05.2023 · 10:07:39 ··· MiTTwoch
😎 · 03.07.2024 · 15:40:29 ··· MiTTwoch
Bach Organ Recital Tuesday 9th May 2023, St Mary’s Ewell on the 1889 Willis
Jonathan Holmes plays
Prelude and Fugue in C major BWV 547
On 8 May 1747 Bach gave a recital on the Wagner organ in the Heiligegeistkirche, Potsdam. The Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 547, dating from around 1744, is the last of his works in the genre and may well have been performed on that occasion. The lilting prelude, over an ostinato (constantly repeating) bass figure, has melodic connections with Cantata 65 (1724), while the fugue is one of the most concentrated he wrote, replete with contrapuntal devices all stemming from the material of the first bar. A supreme climax is engendered by the very late entry of the pedals in augmentation (long note values), a series of declamatory chords (looking back to those in the prelude), and a notably long tonic(held) pedal coda.
The Schübler Chorales, BWV 645–650, are a collection of six chorale preludes for organ composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. They were published around 1748 and are named after their publisher, Johann Georg Schübler. Today we will hear the last three.
"Meine Seele erhebt den Herren" (My soul magnifies the Lord)
Bach uses the ancient Gregorian melody known as ‘Tonus Peregrinus’ in this prelude an arrangement of a movement from a cantata. It begins and ends with a pedal motif taken up by the accompaniment with the melody on a trumpet stop above.
"Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ" (Ah, stay with us, Lord Jesus Christ) The left hand plays continuous semiquavers rather in the manner of a cello with the pedals and right hand based on the chorale.
"Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter" (Come now, Jesus, from heaven to earth)
The right hand plays an elaborate violin-like melody featuring enormous leaps to mimic string crossing. The chorale is in the pedal on a high trumpet stop, the clarion.
BWV 544 Prelude and Fugue in B minor
Bach mourns the death of a beloved queen.
There is a good chance that Bach played this impressive piece for the first time in St Paul’s Church in Leipzig. That is where, on 17 October 1727, the university held a memorial service for the recently departed Christiane Eberhardine der Starke, who was the Electress of Saxony and the Queen of Poland. For this occasion, Bach wrote ‘funeral music in Italian style’: the cantata ‘Laβ, Fürstin, laβ noch einen Strahl’, BWV 198. During the ceremony, Bach played the organ himself. He opened with a prelude and ended with a fugue, and although nobody can prove it, it seems highly likely that it was this piece. It exudes the same atmosphere as the funeral music and is written in the same key of B minor. In those days, B minor was described as bizarre, listless, and melancholy. And Bach used it more often for stately and mournful occasions, such as the aria ‘Erbarme dich’ from the St Matthew Passion, for example.
The despair is almost tangible in the prelude. Bach comes straight to the point with a melancholy lament, which is followed by great leaps in the pedal, repetitive and stubborn, as if you must keep reminding yourself of what has happened. The whole piece seems to be filled with deep emotion. The fugue, logically, is more rational, although it is no less ingenious. Bach investigates every possibility of the relatively easy to sing theme. On the way to the end, when the pedal returns after a long absence, he adds a second element – once again with relatively large leaps – and so works towards a hopeful ending.
Mark Dancer plays the Willis organ
Saturday 20th May 7.30pm.
Suggested Donation £10 Under 18s free.
Overture to Athalia G F Handel
Trio Sonata III (BWV 527) J S Bach
Choral No 2 in B minor César Franck
Improvisation sur le Te Deum Tournemire
Sonata III (‘The Pastoral’) Josef Rheinberger
Kiwi Fireworks Paul Spicer
· 10.05.2023 · 10:07:39 ··· MiTTwoch
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