The West Jersey Chamber Music Society honors Johann Sebastian Bach, the composer who laid the foundation for the classical music era. Its annual Bach Festival in 2015 features four cantatas performed by the West Jersey Chamber Symphony & Chorale and the First Presbyterian Church Adult Choir. The concert — “Voices, trumpets and all instruments in jubilation” — will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 17 in the church sanctuary.
The program is especially suited to music director Joel Krott’s training. Krott, who is music director at First Presbyterian, is a leading practitioner of kantorei — the close interaction of instrumental and choral music. Baroque composers like Bach wrote music for liturgical performance, often unaccompanied by instruments, but oratorios celebrated great occasions on the church calendar.
The program:
Cantata 171 “Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm” (God, as Your name is, so is also Your praise) written to begin the new year. The first movement dealing with the universal praise of God’s name is a choral fugue with independent trumpets, the first trumpet also playing the fugue theme. Bach reworked this music into his Mass in B minor.
Cantata 172 “Ershallet ihr Lieder” (Ring out, you songs!) reflects different aspects of the Holy Spirit and the individual soul. Bach seemed to love the cantata’s Gospel text, “If ye love me …”, and the Pentecost hymn used in the duet, arranging its performance repeatedly.
Cantata 29 “Wir danken dir” (We thank you, God) composed in Leipzig for a municipal occasion. Bach The full orchestra accompanies the first choral movement — music Bach incorporated into his Mass in B minor.
Cantata 50 “Nun ist das Heil” (Now comes salvation), which has mystified scholars because the surviving version (for double choir) varies from Bach’s usual methods. It has been suggested that Bach arranged a lost original for five voices by an unknown, but talented composer.
The Bach Festival, May 17, will start at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 101 Bridgeboro Road in Moorestown. Tickets are $20 general admission, $15 for seniors, and $10 for students. Plenty of free parking.
For information visit WJCMS.org or email westjerseychambermusicsociety@comcast.net.
