Washington Bach Consort Noontime Cantata Trip

As you should know by now, we'll be taking a trip to see the Washington Bach Consort's Noontime Cantata performance on Tuesday April 2. To help you all get ready for that trip, I've added the two pieces we'll be hearing to the playlist. As a reminder, you can find the entire MUSC 320 playlist here.

Composer: J. S. Bach
BWV 540 - Toccata and Fugue in F Major
Score: HERE (it's a PDF)


It is thought that this piece was actually written originally as two separate works, the toccata sometime after 1714 and the fugue after 1731. Eventually, though, Bach joined them and created one of the more magnificent works in his organ oeuvre. The toccata begins with a quickly flowing canon for the two hands over an F pedal, which is then followed by a variation on the canon's theme in the pedals. This then is echoed, with the hands coming over the dominant pedal of C and the tonal center shifted a bit.

The toccata is so impressive that the fugue is often omitted in performance. It won't be at our concert, though. It is a sober contrast to the fireworks of the opening toccata. Here, we've got it performed by Ton Koopman.

Composer: J. S. Bach
BWV 6 - Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden
Score: HERE (it's a PDF)


Here you've got just the opening chorale, but the entire cantata is on the Spotify playlist.

And this is a pretty fun opportunity, to hear a Bach cantata on nearly the day it is supposed to be performed. BWV 6 was written in Leipzig in 1725 for Easter Monday, the day after Easter Sunday. We'll be hearing it, obviously, on Easter Tuesday. You can find a translation of the text here. You'll notice that, in addition to biblical quotations, the cantata is based on chorales by Nikolaus Selnecker and Martin Luther.

You'll notice that the second movement is an aria for alto, continuo, and oboe da caccia. The oboe fulfills what we call an obbligato role here, it is as important to the music as is the alto soloist. In obbligato passages, you can almost think of the singer and instrumentalist as members of a duet.

Laptop's Back, So Here Is Some Music for Spring Break

First thing's first, HERE is the link to our full playlist.

Now, I've finally gotten my laptop back which means that a lot of the music we've talked about for the past two week's can go up on our Spotify playlist. Below, I'll put some excerpts, but you can find everything on the actual full playlist. Let's get this show on the road:

Piece: Mystery Sonata, No. 15 "The Coronation of the Virgin"
Composer: Heinrich Biber


I've gone ahead and put the passacaglia that ends the set of 15 Mystery Sonatas here. The entire 15th sonata is on on Spotify though. Like I mentioned in class two weeks ago, this is a passacaglia for unaccompanied violin on a lamento bass. Way better than it has any right to be.

Piece: The Four Seasons, Spring, Mvmt. 1
Composer: Anotnio Vivaldi


I obviously don't have much to say about this, but I wanted to give you all a good version to make you give this piece a try again. I put "Spring" on the playlist, but the whole album is good.

Piece: The Four Seasons Recomposed, Winter, Mvmt. 1
Composer: Max Richter, recomposing (obviously) Antonio Vivaldi


Like I mentioned two weeks ago, this could have probably come next semester, but like Dawson, Pacey, and Joey, I don't wanna wait. This whole album is a really awesome re-imagining of the Four Seasons. Even if you hate the original, I imagine you'll like this. Recomposed as part of an initiative by Deutsche Grammaphon, and premiered in a German techno club.

Piece: Partita for Solo Violin No. 2, BWV 1004
Composer: J. S. Bach


An excellent recording of one of the pillars of the solo violin repertoire. I've put the first movement here, but the one to make sure to listen to is the last movement, the ciaccona. It's an absolutely breathtaking display of virtuosity in both composition and performance.

Piece: The Art of the Fugue
Composer: J. S. Bach


Here is the second movement, but I put on Spotify the first six movements as performed by six different ensembles. Remember that Bach didn't specify instrumentation, so all six versions are valid. I'd recommend finding one of these groups that you like, clicking on the album of their music and giving the entire piece a listen. It's like a masterclass in counterpoint, as Bach mutates a simple fugue subject in so many different ways that 12 variations of it never become boring.

Piece: Wir mussen durch viel Trubsal, BWV 146, Sinfonia
Composer: J. S. Bach


Anyone watch Avatar: The Last Airbender? This album cover makes me think of Aang. Anyhow, this is the sinfonia (orchestral opening) to Bach's cantata BWV 146 (Wir mussen durch viel Trubsal). Like we mentioned on Friday, this is really just a transcription of the first movement of Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor (which in turn seems to have been a transcription of a lost violin concerto). You'll find the harpsichord version on the playlist as well.

Alright, that's all. I hope you're enjoying spring break. Maybe this can be some fun music to listen to while you're out doing whatever it is you're doing. See you next week!

Corelli - Concerto grosso in g minor, Op. 6, No. 8

Concerto grosso in g minor, Op. 6, No. 8
Composer: Arcangelo Corelli
Score (opens to a PDF)

HERE is the link to our full playlist.


HERE is the link to our full playlist.

This is a really fantastic demonstration of how Corelli took the compositional techniques from his chamber and church sonatas and applied them to larger-scale works. You have here just the first movement, but all six are on the playlist.

This was published after Corelli's death but was likely composed in 1690. It is commonly known as the "Christmas Concerto," since Corelli composed it to be played on Christmas night. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't listen to the whole thing. You can hear some of what would influence Vivaldi - and therefore eventually Bach - in the writing. The contrast between the concertino (the group of soloists in a concerto grosso) and the ripieno (the larger instrumental group) in particular are very standard of Baroque concerto grosso style.

Corelli - Trio Sonata op. 3, no. 2

Trio Sonata Op. 3, No. 2
Composer: Arcangelo Corelli

HERE is the link to our full playlist.


HERE is the link to our full playlist.

If my old music history professor got wind of the fact that I was giving you a trombone quartet version of a Corelli sonata, she'd hate it. A lot of people take very strong views on performing these pieces with the correct instruments, but this is just an absolutely lovely version of an already gorgeous sonata. Notice what the transcription means for the continuo though: no chords! It's an entirely different sound.

Now, I don't know if this version is any better, it's just sort of fun. There's something to be said for this sonata played on period violins. The astringency of their timbre really accentuates the suspensions and makes the resolutions that much sweeter.

I'll have a more serious piece up in a bit, but what's the point of doing this if it isn't fun?

MUSC 320 - Purcell, "Come, let us drink," "Fie, nay, prithee John"

"Come, let us drink"
Composer: Henry Purcell (1659–1695)


"Fie, nay, prithee John" (also known as the Chiding Catch)
Composer: Henry Purcell (1659–1695)


These are both examples of British catches, the style of music that's pretty much like a round. It was hugely popular in 17th-century England, and Henry Purcell (of Dido and Aeneas fame) composed a ton of them. These are two of my favorites. What you get in these two pieces is a perfect example of the spirit of the catch, often a very bawdy type of music. For example, the lyrics of the second are:

Fie, nay, prithee John,
Do not quarrel, man!
Let's be merry and drink about;

[here, the character switches]
You're a rogue, you cheated me!
I'll prove before this company,
I caren't a farthing, sir, for all
you are so stout.

[back to the first]
Sir, you lie! I scorn your word
Or any man who wears a sword!
For all your huff who cares a damn,
And who cares for you?

You can practically hear the drunken people in an English pub yelling "Ohhhhh snap!" This music is delightful.

It's been added to the 320 playlist, too, which you can find here.

MUSC 320 - Schütz, "Johannes-Passion"

Johannes-Passion, SWV 481
Composer: Heinrich Schütz
Score



We're almost caught up with the course now. Plus, there will be a ton of music once we hit Bach and Handel. In the meantime here is that Passion by Heinrich Schütz that I mentioned two Fridays ago. You'll notice is a lot different from the Bach Passions, since it is a capella and includes plainchant for the Evangelist.

If you're having trouble subscribing to the playlist, here is a direct link to it (clicking this will open a tab in your browser which will ask you to open Spotify and bring you to the playlist).

MUSC 320 Playlist - "Possenti spirto"

"Possenti spirto" from L'Orfeo
Composer: Claudio Monteverdi
Librettist: Alessandro Striggio
Score (Takes you to IMSLP page, not PDF... they unfortunately only have the score for the full opera)


Here's the first piece on the MUSC 320 playlist for you all to enjoy. I know that we talked about L'Orfeo in class, but we sure missed a ton of good music. I'd highly recommend clicking on this album in Spotify and listening to the entire thing. This recording features Nigel Rogers as Orpheus, and you hear him here singing "Possenti spirto" (also sometimes spelled "Possente spirto"). In this scene, Orpheus is begging Charon, boatman of the River Styx in the underworld, to let him cross the river. It's a moment of heightened emotion, and one of the most beautiful arias that Monteverdi ever wrote. The interplay between the voice and the instrumental duets is especially fun.

Be sure to open the list in Spotify and subscribe to it, as that's where I'll be adding everything in the future. For the next few posts, I'll keep posting the whole playlist, but eventually that will get cumbersome and I'll just post individual pieces. If you go to the playlist, though, you'll find them all there.