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R
e p e r t o i r e:
Cantata
#63, “Christen ätzet diesen Tag”
(Christians, inscribe this day)
Magnificat
in D
L
o c a t i o n:
Campus
Theatre, Denton, Sunday
December 3, 2000
7:30 p.m.
Tickets:
Adults $12
Students and Seniors $8
Orchestra:
23 players
Choir: 40 singers
After
a series of significant but secondary posts, Johann Sebastian
Bach was chosen as successor to Johann Kuhnau as Cantor of the
city of Leipzig in 1723. For
him, this was an opportunity to pursue the loftiest aspirations
of his art on a scale and with a visibility heretofore unknown
to him. Because
he began his Leipzig service in the middle of the summer, toward
the end of the liturgical year, his first opportunity to display
the full measure of his craft as a composer came with the festivities
surrounding the celebration of Christmas. And
so, for Christmas Day he composed the first large scale work
of his Leipzig period, the five-voice Magnificat, with its full
compliment of instruments, including three trumpets and timpani,
to produce a most spectacular effect.
The
Magnificat is the principal musical event in the service of Vespers,
both in the Catholic liturgy and in Martin Luther’s revised protestant
order of service, and on special festival occasions, such as
Christmas, it was traditionally performed in Latin. For
this occasion Bach crafted a very concise but expressive setting
of the Marian Canticle, alternating chorus and soloists in sharply
contrasting settings that exploit every nuance of this vibrant,
exuberant text. In addition, he set four additional Christmas texts (Vom
Himmel hoch, Freut euch und jubiliert, Gloria in excelsis Deo,
and Virga Jesse floruit) and interpolated them into the performance
of the traditional Magnificat. This
original version, in E-flat, is rarely performed today, not only
because of the difficulty of finding instruments in that key,
but also because at a later time Bach revised his work, modernizing
the instrumentation, and changing the key to the more universal
D major; he also eliminated the Christmas interpolations, so
that it would be usable for any festive Vesper service. We are performing the revised version, but with the Christmas
interpolations transposed and reinserted, as Bach might have
done had he the occasion once again to present his “Christmas” Magnificat.
This
first Christmas was a busy day for Bach and his musical establishment. Two
services in the morning required a cantata, for which purpose
Bach resurrected an earlier work written during his service at
the court of Weimar, BWV 63, “Christen aetzet diesen Tag.” Like
the Magnificat, it too calls for a festive array of oboes, trumpets
and timpani. It
is an unusually joyous work, focusing on celebrating the gift
of light through the birth of the Savior, and it avoids the didactic
references to misery, sin, and redemption that lie at the core
of many of his cantata texts. Following
the two morning services, the service of Vespers took place in
mid afternoon, where the cantata was repeated yet again, followed
by the first performance
of Magnificat.
The
Denton Bach Choir will be joined by the musicians of Fort Worth
Early Music in an orchestra of 23 players. Our
vocal soloists include soprano Lynn Eustis, of the UNT music
faculty, soprano Elizabeth Jackson, alto Katrina Kledas, tenors
Jonathan Gibbons and Kevin Sutton, and bass Timothy Tucker.
So,
take yourself back in your imagination to a cold Christmas day
in Leipzig (but in the warmth and comfort of our own lovely Campus
Theatre!), and come and share the anticipation and excitement
of hearing, for the very first time, this glorious music of our
distinguished Cantor, Johann Sebastian Bach!
--
Henry Gibbons, Music Director
Commentaries:
Rev. R. Roy Baines, St. David's Episcopal:
"The
Birth of the Messiah."
Sally Cunneen, Catholic feminist scholar
"In
Search of Mary": A mosaic in the Jewish
tradition of justice and prophecy.
Brother Barnabas: Ronald D. Curley
Of St. Anthony's Retreat; Florence,
Montana
"The
Magnificat of Mary, Our Mother"
Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis; Kol Ami Congregation, Flower Mound
"Luke's
rendering recalls Old Testament traditions."
Rev. Alton Donsbach, ret. pastor of St. Paul Lutheran:
Reflections
on the Magnificat
Kay Kolb & Pat Miller, School Sisters of Notre Dame:
"Its
many themes touch people's real lives."
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