Bach Study Group
Conductor: Ellen Frye
We are an informal group which meets weekly at the Howe Library in Hanover to study the vocal music of J.S. Bach. We immerse ourselves in each work for 4 to 8 weeks, rehearsing movements, discussing musical and textual details, and performing a final run-through at the end of the study period. Founded in 1983, the group currently numbers around 50 and includes singers (SATB) and instrumentalists (flutes, recorders, oboes, oboe d’amour, English horn, bassoon, strings, and piano). We read from scores borrowed from the Drinker collection of the Philadelphia Free Library.
No auditions. Interested musicians are invited to contact Ellen Frye (802-295-9587 or ellen.frye@dartmouth.edu) or simply come to any meeting.
Rehearsal: Fridays, 10:00-11:45 a.m., beginning the first Friday after Labor day and running through June, excluding holidays, in the Mayer Room of the Howe Library in Hanover, N.H.
Current Cantata
BWV 41 Jesus, nun sei gepreiset, a cantata for New Year’s Day, was first performed on January 1, 1725. Listen to the second aria on You Tube; it is scored for violoncello piccolo, tenor, and continuo. Check out a photo of a Baroque violoncello piccolo, also called a viola pomposa.
Resources for Bach
- The Digital Bach Project features Bach’s Mass in B Minor with audio, video, and an interactive facsimile of the original manuscript.
- The Bach Cantata Website is a storehouse of information on Bach— recordings, texts and translations, scores, and references
Bach Concerts
- Bach Violin and Harpsichord sonatas, February 23–March 29 Emmanuel Church Thursday noon series, Boston, Mass.
- The Splendor of the Baroque, Emmanuel Music, March 18, Rockport, Mass.
- St. Matthew Passion, March 30 and April 1, Handel and Haydn Society, Boston, Mass.
- St. Matthew Passion, March 31, Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, New York City.
- Middlebury (Vt.) Bach Festival, April 27–29, 2012, in Middlebury, Vt.
- How Does Bach Do It? April 28, 2012, Berkshire Bach Society lecture and concert, Sheffield, Mass
- White Mountain Bach Festival, August 24, 25, 26, 2012, North Conway, N.H.
- Emmanuel Music, Bach cantatas during Sunday morning service, Boston, Mass.
- Bachtrack, a search engine for finding Bach concerts.
2011–2012 Season
- BWV 119 Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn
- BWV 130 Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir
- BWV 41 Jesu, nun sei gepreiset
- BWV 117 Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut
- BWV 4 Christ Lag in Todesbanden
- BWV 134 Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss
- BWV 30 Freue dich, erlöste Schar
November–December 2011. BWV 130 Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir, is a cantata for the Feast of St. Michaels and was first performed on September 29, 1724. It is a chorale cantata and its cantus firmus is the tune known to the English-speaking world as Old Hundredth. The original tune first appeared in the Geneva Psalter of 1551 for Psalm 134 but the Anglo Psalter of 1561 included the tune with the paraphrase of the Psalm 100. Download BWV 130 libretto and notes in pdf format.
September-October 2011. BWV 119 Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn is a festival cantata composed for the 1723 installation of Leipzig’s Town Council. Its two choruses call for an orchestra of four trumpets plus timpani, 2 flutes or recorders, 3 oboes, and strings. Download the P.J. Leusink recording in RAM format to listen on your computer. You can also view the Bach Gesellschaft edition in pdf format. Excerpts from the cantata are available on YouTube when you search on BWV 119. Download BWV 119 libretto and notes.
Librettos and Notes
Librettos with English translations plus Ellen Frye’s conductor’s notes are available as pdf downloads.
- BWV 24 libretto and notes (January–February 2011)
- BWV 33 libretto and notes (September–October 2010)
- BWV 34 libretto and notes (May–June 2011)
- BWV 43 libretto and notes (April–May 2011)
- BWV 97 libretto and notes (February–March 2011)
- BWV 99 libretto and notes (October–November 2010)
- BWV 130 libretto and notes (November–December 2011)
- BWV 105 libretto and notes November–December 2010)
- BWV 119 libretto and notes (September–October 2011)
- BWV 248 libretto and notes (September 2009–April 2010)
2010-2011 Cantatas
May–June 2011. BWV 34 O Ewiges Feue, O Ursprung der Liebe, a cantata for Pentecost. Although the cantata was first performed in 1746 or 1747, it is based on a wedding cantata composed in 1726. A number of recordings of the two choruses and the alto aria can be listened to from You Tube; or download the entire cantata conducted by P. J. Leusink onto your computer. For a copy of the libretto and English translation, along with notes on the cantata, download Ellen’s Conductor’s Notes.
April–May 2011. BWV 43, a cantata for Ascension Day, first performed on May 30, 1726. You can download a recording of this cantata by the Holland Boys Choir with the Netherlands Bach Collegium conducted by Pieter Jan Leusink. For a copy of the libretto and English translation, along with notes on the cantata, download Ellen Frye’s Conductor’s Notes.
February-March 2011. BWV 97 In allen meinen Taten is a chorale cantata composed for an unspecified occasion in July 1734. Paul Fleming’s 1642 text about trusting God’s will is presented in nine movements. The chorale tune, originally a secular song, first appeared in 1490 in a setting by Henric Isaac. Click here for a recording by Harnoncourt of the virtuosic fourth movement for solo violin, tenor and continuo. Download Ellen Frye’s Conductor’s Notes which include the libretto in German and in English translation along with notes on each movement.
January-February 2011. BWV 24 Ein Ungefarbt Gemute composed for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity in 1723. The opening movement of this cantata is an aria that has some strikingly similarities to the last movement of BWV 1014, sonata for violin and harpsichord. Click here for Ton Koopman leading the Amsterdam Baroque in the first movement of the cantata, and here for Reinhard Goebel, violin, and Robert Hill, harpsichord, playing the third and fourth movements of the sonata. Note that the allegro movement that is so similar to the aria begins at 3:17. Download Ellen’s Conductor’s Notes for the libretto with English translation and notes on the cantata.
November-December. BWV 105 Herr, gehe nicht ins gericht mit deinem Knecht composed for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity in 1723. Click here to listen to a 1952 recording of the soprano aria ” Wie zittern und wanken Der Sünder Gedanken” sung by Gunthild Weber, and here to listen to the tenor aria sung by Helmut Krebs, both with the Berlin Philharmonic, Fritz Lehman conducting. Download Ellen’s Conductor’s Notes for the libretto with English translation and notes on the individual movements.
October-November. BWV 99 Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, 2nd version. Compare these two opening movements: a very slow version by Nicholas Harnoncourt and a faster version by Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque. Download Ellen Frye’s Conductor’s Notes for the libretto with English translation, the Scripture for the day, and notes on the individual movements.
September-October. BWV 33 Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, a chorale cantata composed for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity in 1724. Listen to the beautiful alto aria under two different conductors: click here for Lorraine Hunt-Lieberman singing with the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music- Boston under the direction of John Harbison, and here for Julie Hamari singing with the Münchener Bach-Orchester under the direction of Karl Richter. Download Ellen Frye’s Conductor’s Notes for the libretto with English translation, the Scripture for the day, and notes on the individual movements.
2009-2010 cantatas
June 2010: BWV 151 Susser Trost, mein Jesus Kommt, composed for the third day of Christmas. Listen to a 1962 recording of the first movement with Teresa Stich-Randall with the Wienerkammerorchester under the direction of Wilfried Böttcher.
April 2010: BWV 65 Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, composed for the Feast of Epiphany.
September 2009-April 2010: BWV 248 Christmas Oratorio. Watch and listen to John Eliot Gardiner conduct the opening movement. Download a copy of Ellen Frye’s Conductor’s Notes for the Christmas Oratorio.
Bach Study Group, 2010
“Be not the first by whom the new is tried;nor yet the last to lay the old aside.” With advice like that how would anything ever get done? This webpage is an excellent start. I particularly like the hyperlinks that send one to the analyses Ellen has done of works we have studied,such as the Christnas Oratorio and various cantatas. You might list the cantatas we will be studying during the first half of 2011.
Best wishes,
Phil Porter