Concert Program

The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra
John Hsu, Artistic Director & Conductor
Music of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sunday 30 March 2008
3:00 p.m.
Peachtree Road United Methodist Church
3180 Peachtree Road NW
Atlanta, Georgia
Music of Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685–1750)
made possible by the sponsorship of an anonymous donor and Janie R. Hicks
Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043
For Two Violins, Strings, and Basso continuo
Spiritoso-Allegro-Spiritoso
Rondo: Allegro moderato e grazioso
Pastorale: Andante sostenuto
Valerie Arsenault & Martha Perry, solo violins
Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
For Flute, Violin, Harpsichord Concertato, & Strings
Allegro
Affettuoso
Allegro
Gesa Kordes, violin; Catherine Bull, flute; Daniel Pyle, harpsichord
intermission
Cantata no. 82 “Ich habe genug”
For Bass, Oboe, Strings, and Basso continuo
Richard Lalli, baritone; George Riordan, oboe
Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 in G, BWV 1048
For Three Violins, Three Violas, Three Violoncelli, Violone & Harpsichord
(allegro)
Adagio
Allegro
THE ATLANTA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
John Hsu, Artistic Director & Conductor
Violin
Karen Clarke
Gesa Kordes
Shawn Pagliarini
Stephen Redfield
Valerie Arsenault
Ute Marks
Viola
Melissa Brewer
Martha Perry
Ruth Johnsen
Violoncello
Stephanie Vial
Eckhart Richter
Martha Bishop
Violone
Joshua Lee
Harpsichord
Daniel Pyle
Flute
Catherine Bull
Oboe
George Riordan
"Ich habe genug" !BWV 82
1. Aria
Ich habe genug,
Ich habe den Heiland, das Hoffen der Frommen,
Auf meine begierigen Arme genommen;
Ich habe genug!
Ich hab ihn erblickt,
Mein Glaube hat Jesum ans Herze gedrückt;
Nun wünsch ich, noch heute mit Freuden
Von hinnen zu scheiden.
I have enough,
I have received the Savior, hope of the righteous,
into my eager arms;
I have enough!
I have seen Him,
my faith has pressed Jesus to my heart;
now I wish–today with joy–
to depart from here.
2. Recitative
Ich habe genug.
Mein Trost ist nur allein,
Daß Jesus mein und ich sein eigen möchte sein.
Im Glauben halt ich ihn,
Da seh ich auch mit Simeon
Die Freude jenes Lebens schon.
Laßt uns mit diesem Manne ziehn!
Ach! möchte mich von meines Leibes Ketten
Der Herr erretten;
Ach! wäre doch mein Abschied hier,
Mit Freuden sagt ich, Welt, zu dir:
Ich habe genug.
I have enough.
My only comfort is this:
that Jesus might be mine and I His.
I cling to Him in faith
and, like Simeon, already see
the joy of that other life.
Let us join this man!
Ah! if only the Lord would deliver me
from the chains of my body;
ah! if only my departure were here–
then with joy I would say to the world:
I have enough.
3. Aria
Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen,
Fallet sanft und selig zu!
Welt, ich bleibe nicht mehr hier,
Hab ich doch kein Teil an dir,
Das der Seele könnte taugen.
Hier muß ich das Elend bauen,
Aber dort, dort werd ich schauen
Süßen Friede, stille Ruh.
Slumber now, you weary eyes,
close gently and peacefully!
World, I stay here no longer–
I own no part of you
that could benefit my soul.
Here I heap up misery;
but there, there I will see
sweet peace, quiet rest.
4. Recitative
Mein Gott! wenn kömmt das schöne: Nun!
Da ich im Friede fahren werde
Und in dem Sande kühler Erde
Und dort bei dir im Schoße ruhn?
Der Abschied ist gemacht,
Welt, gute Nacht!
My God! when comes that glorious 'now'
when I will journey into peace
and in the cool soil of earth
there rest in Your lap?
My farewells are made;
world, good night!
5. Aria
Ich freue mich auf meinen Tod,
Ach, hätt' er sich schon eingefunden.
Da entkomm ich aller Not,
Die mich noch auf der Welt gebunden.
I delight in my death,
ah, if it were already here!
Then I would escape from all the suffering
that still binds me to the earth.
The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra was founded under the leadership of Lyle Nordstrom, along with
founding-members Catherine Bull, Jeanne Johnson, Daniel Pyle, and Eckhart Richter, who felt the
need for a permanent, professional, historical-instrument orchestra in the Southeast. The unique,
transparent sheen of “early” instruments, coupled with their capability of a delightful variety of
articulations, allows voices and instruments to blend into a unified, yet clear, sound that is very difficult
to achieve with “modern” instruments. Since its founding in 1997, the ABO has been applauded for its
freshness and verve, and for its delightful, convincing performances of a wide range of earlier works.
The Orchestra received initial generous support from the Atlanta Early Music Alliance and a variety of
individuals, and has also depended on donations of time and money from the musicians themselves.
The ABO is a not-for-profit corporation based in Atlanta, and is 501(c)3 (tax-exempt). Contributions,
which are tax-deductible, are greatly appreciated and are central to the survival of a venture such as
this. If you would like to support the ABO and its future programming, please send checks made out to
“The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra,” 303 Augusta Avenue SE, Atlanta, GA 30315. There is also a great
opportunity for friends of the arts in the community to serve on the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra board.
Please visit our website at www.atlantabaroque.org for more information on the ABO.
John Hsu is the Old Dominion Foundation Professor of Music Emeritus at Cornell University, where he
taught for 50 years (1955-2005). He was the founder and conductor of the erstwhile Apollo Ensemble
(a period instrument chamber orchestra) and a renowned virtuoso player of the viola da gamba and
baryton. As both a conductor and an instrumentalist, he has been awarded grants by The Fund for
U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, a public/private partnership of the National
Endowment for the Arts, the United States Information Agency, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the
Pew Charitable Trusts. He has performed throughout North America and Europe, and made awardwinning recordings. Among them are his CD of Haydn Baryton Trios (with violist David Miller and cellist
Fortunato Arico), which was chosen Winner in the Music Retailers Association's Annual Award for
Excellence in London, 1989; and his CD Symphonies for the Esterhazy Court by Joseph Haydn (with the
Apollo Ensemble), which was nominated for the 1996 International Cannes Classical Music Award. In
recognition of his edition of the complete instrumental works of Marin Marais (1656-1728), the most
important composer of music for the viola da gamba, and for his performances and recordings of
French baroque music for the viola da gamba, the French government conferred on him the
knighthood Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in May of 2000.
He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, which awarded him the Honorary Doctor
of Music degree in 1971, and the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2003. He is also Artistic Director
Emeritus of the Aston Magna Foundation for Music and the Humanities, the pioneering musical
organization in the historical performance movement in this country, founded by Albert Fuller in 1972.
Richard Lalli is Professor of Music (Adjunct) at Yale Univeristy, where he has taught since 1982. He has
recently been named Artistic Director of the Yale Baroque Opera Project, which is funded by the
Mellon Foundation and introduces undergraduates to aesthetic, stylistic and performative aspects of
seventeenth-century Italian opera. For the past six years he conducted the Yale Collegium Musicum,
an ensemble devoted to early music and started by Paul Hindemith in the 1940s; the Collegium
regularly performs works from manuscript in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in New
Haven.
Mr. Lalli also performs around the world as a singer. He has given solo recitals at Wigmore Hall, the
Spoleto Festival USA, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Merkin Hall in New York, Salle Cortot,
and the United States Embassy in Paris. During the Schubert bicentenary year the baritone presented
the three Schubert cycles at Yale Univeristy, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and in Paris. He has
been particularly active in the performance of chamber music, appearing with the Boston Camerata,
Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus chamber Orchestra, the Brentano String Quartet, the Folger Consort,
and with the new-music ensemble Sequitur. As a pianist he has participated in chamber music
programs in Weill Recital Hall, Town Hall, and in Paris, London, Stockholm, Basel, Edinburgh, and
Budapest. In recent seasons Lalli has premiered works of Gary Fagin, Yehudi Wyner, Kathryn
ALexander, Tom Cipullo, Christopher Berg, RIchard Wilson, Lewis Spratlan, Francine Trester, Ricky Ian
Gordon, Richard Pearson Thomas, Eric Zivian, Braxton Blake, Daron Hagen, Juliana Hall, Matthew Suttor,
and John Halle.
Mr. Lalli was recently awarded the top teaching prize in the humanities at Yale University, and his recording
of Yehudi Wyner's The Mirror was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005.
Program Notes
For many years, many Bach-scholars, starting with his first modern biobgrapher Philipp Spitta, associated
his different genres of composition with specific phases in the history of his employment. Thus, most of
the organ works were assumed to have been composed when he was organist of the ducal chapel in
Weimar (1708–1717), the orchestral works (concertos and overtures) and chamber music while he was
Kapellmeister at the ducal court of Anhalt-Cöthen (1718–1722), and the cantatas and other sacred choral
works during his tenure as Thomas-Cantor in Leipzig (1723–1750). Real life is rarely so orderly, and the
history of Bach’s composition is no exception.
The D-minor Concerto for Two Violins is a case in point. The few concertos by Bach that survive (only 19,
including the six “Brandenburg” concertos but not including four which are transcriptions for harpsichord
of violin-concertos — a small number by comparison with his 200 cantatas) come down to us in copies that
were made in the 1730’s, fifteen or more years after Bach left Cöthen, but when he was directing the
concerts of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum. Furthermore, this concerto for two violins was probably
composed originally during the Weimar years: for the last half of his tenure there, Bach bore the
additional title of “Konzertmeister” which required the production of occasional cantatas and concertos.
The D-minor concerto shows signs of having been composed shortly after Bach had the opportunity to
study first-hand the concertos of Vivaldi, which became possible in 1714 when his student Duke Johann
Ernst of Weimar brought him a copy of the newly-published L’Estro armonico, Vivaldi’s Opus 3, from
Amsterdam.
The history of the “Six Concertos for Several Instruments” (as Bach entitled the collection we call the
Brandenburg Concertos) is similarly complex. These are known primarily from a finely-copied score and set
of parts which Bach sent to the Margrave of Brandenburg in 1721, perhaps as a kind of job-application (the
previous year he had competed for a prestigious organ-position in the city of Hamburg, so we know he was
looking). But he did not compose all of them at that time. Some were revisions works from the Weimar
years, like the First, Third, and Sixth; and the others (Second, Fourth, and Fifth) came from earlier during
his employment in Cöthen. We know that the Third Concerto dates from Weimar because a copy made by
one of Bach’s students in Leipzig from a score that Bach must have kept in his possession bears a note to
that effect, undoubtedly copied from the master’s score, or else recording one of his verbal comments. The
Third is a highly complex and marvelous piece in having a nine-part string ensemble — three violins, three
violas, and three cellos — over the continuo-bass (violone and harpsichord). At times the three three-part
ensembles play in dialogue with each other, and at times one part in each plays a solo which is passed to
the corresponding part of the other ensemble. It has also the unusual feature of a second movement which
consists of only two chords. Some performers insist that Bach intended for nothing more than the two
chords to be played, just as they are (they argue that Bach took great care in the other concertos in the set
to write out everything just as he intended it to be heard); others believe that it is to be filled in by an
improvised cadenza by one of the leaders in the orchestra.
The Fifth Brandenburg, on the other hand, is undoubtedly the last of the six to be composed. It uses the
most modern instrumentation of the group: it is the first piece by Bach to use the transverse flute instead of
its vertical cousin (the recorder), and it is the first concerto — by any composer — for a keyboard
soloist. At first the harpsichord seems just a part of the solo-ensemble of flute, violin, and
harpsichord; but as the first movement progresses, the keyboard dominates the textures more and
more until all the other instruments fade away and leave the keyboard with a tremendous cadenza.
The second movement uses only the three soloists, with the harpsichord sometimes acting as the
basso-continuo in a trio-sonata, but sometimes contributing a fourth voice (violin, flute, plus a third
melody played by the harpsichordist’s right hand, over the fourth part, a bass line played by the left
hand). It seems almost certain that Bach composed this piece in 1719, when he delivered back to
Cöthen a new harpsichord of two manuals just completed by the Berlin-based builder Michael
Mietke, as a test and a celebration of the new instrument.
Cantata no. 82, “Ich habe genug,” was composed in 1727 for the Feast of the Purification of the
Virgin Mary (2 February). It is based on a passage from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke,
relating an incident when Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to
“present him to the Lord” in accordance with the Law of Moses. They met there an old man named
Simeon who had been told in a prophecy that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. When
he saw the baby Jesus, Simeon recognized that the prophecy was fulfilled in him, and he sang the
song that has since become known as the Nunc dimittis (“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in
peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation….”). The cantata leads us through Simeon’s reactions —
and, by extension, our own — upon seeing the Redeemer, through a series of three arias separated by
two recitatives: the first aria centers on Simeon’s weariness, the second is a kind of lullaby for
himself, and the last a dance-like rejoicing. Unlike almost all of Bach’s cantatas, this one does not use
any Lutheran hymn-tune, neither as a cantus-firmus in any movement nor a harmonized chorale as
the final movement.
Daniel Pyle
Embellish A Melody!
Bach Club ($1.000 +)
An anonymous donor
An anonymous donor
An anonymous donor
Cathy Callaway Adams
Dr. & Mrs. David Bright
Peter & Pat DeWitt
Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta
Janie R. Hicks
Martha J. R. Hsu
Douglas A. Leonard
William E. Pearson III
Lois Z. Pyle
Dr. & Mrs. Eckhart Richter
Donald E. Snyder
Larry Thorpe & Dr. Barbara Williams
Susan Wagner
Handel Club ($500-999)
Donald N. Broughton & Susan L. Olson
Dr. & Mrs. William P. Marks, Jr.
Dr. George Riordan & Karen Clarke
Telemann Club ($100-249)
Tom & Joan Althouse
John & Linda Austin
Mr. & Mrs. Roger S. Austin
Beth Bell & Stephen Morris
Mr. & Mrs. Roy B. Bogue
Stratton H. Bull
Susan K. Card
Moncure and Sandy Crowder
Jeffrey & Martha Freeman
Dr. Alan Goodman
Dymples E. Hammer
Suzanne W. Howe
Mr. & Mrs. Allan R. Jones
Virginia Ware Killorin
Hans & Christa Krause
Rich & Caroline Nuckolls
Rebecca M. Pyle
Hans & JoAnn Schwantje
Vivaldi Club ($250-499)
Anne P. Halliwell
Dr. & Mrs. Ephraim R. McLean
Daniel Pyle & Catherine Bull
Mary Roth Riordan
Season Sponsors ($2,500 or more)
Anonymous Donor
Anonymous Donor
Peter & Pat DeWitt
Janie R. Hicks
William E. Pearson III
Lois Z. Pyle
Donald Snyder
Larry Thorpe & Dr. Barbara Williams
The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra would like to thank the following persons and establishments
For contributing their time, talents, and energy in regard to the details of ABO concerts.
Atlanta Early Music Alliance (AEMA)
Janice Joyce & Chris Robinson
Janie Hicks
Peter and Pat DeWitt
Peachtree Road United Methodist Church: Scott Atchison
and Camilla Cruikshank
Eckhart & Rosemary Richter
Russell Williamson
Valerie Prebys Arsenault
Sid & Linda Stapleton
Susan Wagner
Linda Bernard & RyeType Design
Cathy Adams & The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta
The ABO would also like to acknowledge the several thousand dollars worth of rehearsal time that has been graciously given to the
orchestra by its members. These concerts could not be given without their enthusiasm and support.
ABO Board of Directors
President: Eckhart Richter
Vice President: William E. Pearson III
Vice President for Development: Janie Hicks
Secretary: Susan Wagner
Treasurer: Peter DeWitt
Resident Director: Daniel Pyle
Cathy Adams
Dr. Alan Goodman
Janice Joyce
Ephraim McLean
Melanie Punter
Larry Thorpe
Come Hear our last Concert
of the season!
11 May 2008, 3:00 pm
Classical Chamber Music for Strings and Winds
Haydn: String Quartet op. 77 no. 2; Feld-Parthie in F
Mozart: Divertimenti nos. 12 & 13 for Wind Sextet
sponsored by Peter & Patricia DeWitt
Visit our new web-site at
www.atlantabaroque.org
These concerts are made possible in part by a gift from
Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta
Presents
Jennifer Stumm, viola
Sunday 6 April 2008, 7:00 pm
Northside Drive Baptist Church (chapel)
3600 Northside Drive NW