Johann Sebastian Bach: Easter Oratorio, BWV 249 – John Eliot Gardiner
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Easter Oratorio, BWV 249 (1725, 1735, 1740)
i. Sinfonia
ii. Adagio
iii. Aria. Kommt, eilet und laufet
iv. Recitativo. O kalter Männer Sinn
v. Aria. Seele, deine Spezereien
vi. Recitativo. Hier ist die Gruft
vii. Aria. Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer
viii. Recitativo. Indessen seufzen wir
ix. Aria. Saget, saget mir geschwinde
x. Recitativo. Wir sind erfreut
xi. Chorus. Preis und Dank
Hannah Morrison, soprano
Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano
Nicholas Mulroy, tenor
Peter Harvey, bass
Georg Philipp Telemann: The Paris Quartets (Pariser Quartette)
1. Concerto Primo in G major 0:00
2. Concerto Secondo in D major 10:13
3. Sonata Prima in A major 20:52
4. Sonata Seconda in G minor 32:31
5. Première Suite in E minor 43:34
6. Deuxième Suite in B minor 1:01:45
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767) was a largely self-taught German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. His contemporaries considered him to be one of the leading German composers of the time, and compared him favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to Georg Friedrich Händel, whom Telemann also knew personally.
The featured image shows the Telemann bench in the Polish town of Żary, located in the east of the historic Lower Lusatia region, in the borderland with the Silesian lowlands and Greater Poland, in other words, close to Germany’s eastern border. Telemann lived and worked in Żary for four years, from 1704 to 1708.
Dietrich Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri – René Jacobs, 2004
i. Ad pedes: Ecce super montes 0:16
ii. Ad genua: Ad uber portabimini 6:08
iii. Ad manus: Quid sunt plagae istae 14:02
iv. Ad latus: Surge amica mea 22:14
v. Ad pectus: Sicut modo geniti infantes 29:26
vi. Ad cor: Vulnerasti cor meum 37:58
vii. Ad faciem: Illustra faciem tuam 45:28
Dieterich Buxtehude, born 1637 or 1639 in Helsingborg (which belonged to Denmark at the time) and died 9 May 1707 in Luebeck, was a Danish-German Baroque organist and composer. Today, he is considered one of the most important composers in Germany of the mid-Baroque.
In 1705, J.S. Bach, then a young man of twenty, walked from Arnstadt to Lübeck, a distance of more than 250 miles (400 kilometers), and stayed nearly three months to hear the Abendmusik which was a series of evening musical performances, to meet the pre-eminent Lübeck organist, to hear him play, and, as Bach explained, “to comprehend one thing and another about his art”.
Getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, one of our favorite holidays.
Vivaldi, Händel, Bach, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky: That should do it for a fitting Thanksgiving atmosphere. Enjoy your Thanksgiving week, one and all!
Thanksgiving Day: Classical Music for Thanksgiving Dinner
Vivaldi — Concerto No. 1, I. E Major, Op. 8, RV 269: I. Allegro « Primavera »
Vivaldi — Concerto No. 2, I. G Minor, Op. 8, RV 315: I. Allegro Non Molto « Estate » ( 03:42 )
Vivaldi — Concerto No. 3, I. F Major, Op. 8, RV 293: I. Allegro « Autunno » ( 08:45 )
Vivaldi — Concerto Alla Rustica 1° mov ( 14:08 )
Vivaldi — Concerto Alla Rustica 2° mov ( 15:42 )
Vivaldi — Concerto Alla Rustica 3° mov ( 16:44 )
Händel — Messiah, HWV 56, Scene 3: “For unto us a Child Is Born” ( 18:21 )
Händel — Messiah, HWV 56, Scene 7: “Hallelujah” ( 22:25 )
Beethoven — Symphony No. 6 in F Major, op. 68 (Pastorale) ( 26:13 )
Händel — Suite No. 2 in D Major, HWV 349 “Water Music”: II. Alla Hornpipe ( 35:21 )
Bach — Badinerie ( 40:11 )
Tchaikovsky — The Nutcracker, Suite, Op. 71a: III. Valzer dei Fiori ( 42:53 )
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (18 August 1863 – 18 March 1930), the American painter who painted the painting the video and our post feature, was best known for his series of 78 scenes from American history entitled The Pageant of a Nation, the largest series of American historical paintings by a single artist. He also happened to be the nephew of Thomas Moran, who, as we have just discovered, lies buried in the same cemetery on Long Island as a number of our relatives.
Enjoy the change of the seasons. Autumn is summer saying good-bye in its most glorious garment.
Autumn Classical Music
Telemann – Viola Concerto in G Major, TWV 51:G9: I. Largo 00:00
(Orchestra Sinfonica Warmia, Giovanni Antonioni, Silvano Frontalini)
Saint-Saëns – The Carnival of the Animals: XIII, The Swan 03:36
(Sarah Joy, Kathy Hohstadt)
Rachmaninoff – Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini: Var. XVIII 06:15
(Luke Faulkner)
Barrière – 6 Cello Sonatas: No. 4 in G Major: I. Andante 09:14
(Mr & Mrs Cello)
Vivaldi – The Four Seasons, Concerto No. 3 in F major, RV 293 “Autumn”: I. Allegro 13:59 II. Adagio molto 18:49 III. Allegro 21:09
(Metamorphose String Orchestra, Yuliya Lebedenko, Pavel Lyubomudrov)
Bach – Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: IV. Sarabande 24:25
(Massimiliano Martinelli)
Beethoven – Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 “Pastoral”: I. Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside 31:47
(Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, Giuseppe Lanzetta)
Bach – Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068: II. Air on the G String 42:39
(Otri Trio)
Corelli – Concerto Grosso No. 9 in F Major, Op. 6: I. Preludio. Largo 45:59
(Kiev Chamber Orchestra, Liviu Buiuc)
Litvinovsky – Suite for Strings “Le Grand Cahier”: I. La Foret et la Riviere 48:06
(Metamorphose String Orchestra, Pavel Lyubomudrov)
Beethoven – Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor “Für Elise” (Cello Version) 50:52
(Sarah Joy)
Grieg – Holberg Suite, Op. 40: IV. Air 55:40
(Metamorphose String Orchestra, Pavel Lyubomudrov)
[00:00] Tomaso Albinoni – Oboe Concerto in D minor, op.9 no.2
1. I Allegro e non presto [4:11]
2. II Adagio [5:24]
3. III Allegro [2:54]
[12:29] Alessandro Marcello – Oboe Concerto in D minor
4. I Andante e spiccato [3:30]
5. II Adagio [4:22]
6. III Allegro [3:43]
[24:06] Antonio Vivaldi – Oboe Concerto in C major, RV 446
7. I Allegro [3:15]
8. II Adagio [3:36]
9. III Allegro [1:59]
[33:00] Tomaso Albinoni – Concerto for 2 Oboes in C major, op.9 no.9
10. I Allegro [4:08]
11. II Adagio [3:18]
12. III Allegro [3:42]
[44:12] Georg Philipp Telemann – Oboe Concerto in E minor
13. I Andante [2:30]
14. II Allegro molto [2:39]
15. III Largo [3:59]
16. IV Allegro [2:16]
[55:38] Johann Sebastian Bach – Oboe Concerto in D minor, BWV 1059
17. I Allegro [6:05]
18. II Siciliano [3:08]
19. III Presto [3:43]
Not very well-known anymore, maybe, but worth knowing nonetheless.
Max Reger: Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Bach, Op.81
00:00 – Theme, Andante
01:58 – Variation 1: L’istesso tempo
03:43 – Variation 2: Sempre espressivo ed assai legato
05:13 – Variation 3: Grave assai
08:43 – Variation 4: Vivace
09:52 – Variation 5: Vivace
11:26 – Variation 6: Allegro moderato
13:00 – Variation 7: Adagio
15:00 – Variation 8: Vivace
16:13 – Variation 9: Grave e sempre molto espressivo
18:54 – Variation 10: Poco vivace
19:54 – Variation 11: Allegro agiato
20:58 – Variation 12: Andante sostenuto
23:18 – Variation 13: Vivace
24:07 – Variation 14: Con moto
25:52 – Fugue
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 1873 – 11 May 1916), commonly known as Max Reger, was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Leipzig University Church, as a professor at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, and as a music director at the court of Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen.
Reger first composed mainly Lieder, chamber music, choral music and works for piano and organ. He later turned to orchestral compositions, such as the popular Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart, and to works for choir and orchestra such as Gesang der Verklärten (1903), Der 100. Psalm (1909), Der Einsiedler and the Hebbel Requiem (both 1915). (…)
Reger produced an enormous output in just over 25 years, nearly always in abstract forms. Few of his compositions are well known in the 21st century. Many of his works are fugues or in variation form. (…)
Reger was particularly attracted to the fugal form and created music in almost every genre, save for opera and the symphony (he did, however, compose a Sinfonietta, his op. 90). A similarly firm supporter of absolute music, he saw himself as being part of the tradition of Beethoven and Brahms. His work often combined the classical structures of these composers with the extended harmonies of Liszt and Wagner, to which he added the complex counterpoint of Bach. (…)
His works could be considered retrospective as they followed classical and baroque compositional techniques such as fugue and continuo. The influence of the latter can be heard in his chamber works which are deeply reflective and unconventional.
Denney Home Place 