While we gear up for our weekend residency at Tahoe Music Alive, let's take a deep dive into our program.
Insight Chamber Players' performance at the Fisk House September 2022
The program we will present is an encore of our very first Insight concert given in September 2022! It's hard to believe it's already been two years since we began sharing our "Insight"s with you 😉
J.S. Bach ⎹ Concerto for Two Violins BWV 1043
J.S. Bach was a German harpsichordist, organist, and composer born in 1685. He is most well known for his creation of the Brandenburg Concertos, the Well Tempered Clavier, and his Mass in B Minor.
His early life was difficult. By the age of 10, both his parents had died and many of the paternal duties were left to the eldest brother, Johann Christoph who was studying with Johann Pachelbel. This connection proved to be quite the silver lining as it was Pachelbel who gave J.S.Bach his first keyboard lessons.
By the time J.S. Bach was a young adult, he had devoted himself to keyboard music and had adopted the traditional forms of Lutheran chorales from spending significant periods of time in Anstadt and Mülhausen, beginning his large catalogue of church music.
He was eventually hired as the court organist in Wiemar (early 1700s). It was during this period that he was inspired by the innovations of the Italian Concerto produced by composers such as Antonio Vivaldi. He wrote many of his own instrumental secular concertos during this time period including the Bach Double Violin Concerto. However, because the pieces were secular they did not receive a grand debut. Instead, they were most likely performed in the city's coffee house by the Collegium Musicum musicians. He also produced many Toccatas and Fugues during this time including the "Great" Prelude and Fugue BWV 541.
After completing his position in Wiemar, he moved to briefly to Köthen and finally to Leipzig as the director of church music for the city producing 52 chorale cantatas each year.
As an introduction to our concert featuring the double violin concerto, we have selected a movement with the same key from his Solo Violin Partita No. 2 performed by Isabel Faust.
When listening, note the serpentine melody that's being decorated with a few ornamental runs. Even though Bach didn't have the full keyboard at his disposal for this piece, there are still intricate harmonies that are implied by use of the bass notes. This brief excerpt is able to capture many emotions in a short span of time, yet always maintaining a stoic and solitary nature.
This second listening exercise is Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor BWV 1041 and showcases a bit more of the brilliant flare you will hear in his double concerto next month. In this listening, pay close attention to the ways in which the soloist is able to stand out from the texture of the orchestra. Sometimes it is simply by playing alone but other times it is due to the fast and agile notes which dance around the rest of the ensemble.
This concludes our second sneak peak of our Tahoe Music Alive! Program. For more information and tickets, visit their ticketing website below.
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