July 14th 7:00pm Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Cedar Falls

Bach to Auerbach

Our season opening event is a 70 minute program, without intermission, that mixes together Bach’s The Art of the Fugue (1749) with more current preludes and fugues by Dmitri Shostakovich (1951) and Lera Auerbach (1999).

A program that explores the “art” of possibilities

More than two centuries after its composition, Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugue is still shrouded in mystery. It was left incomplete and Bach left no indication how is should be scored. From what we know, Bach’s Die Kunst der Fugue (its German title) was considered too “modern” to many late Baroque listeners and was a completely a “bizarre enigma” to many 19th century Romantics. For musicologists of the last century it was regarded as a purely theoretical treatise. Now it is recognized as one of the highest musical achievements of its time. Consisting of fourteen fugues and four canons, the work is a masterclass in counterpoint where one single musical subject is treated to increasing complexity exploring every possibility inherent in it’s 12 notes. A new edition, by scholar Hans-Eberhard Dentler, seeks to realize a possibly scoring for the work and is what will be performed on this concert.

Juxtaposed with Bach are selections from two works inspired by Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier” of 1722. One if the “24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, Op. 46 (1999) by Russian-American composer Lera Auerbach and the other are slsections from the 24 Preludes and Fugues of Dmitri Shostakovich (1950-1951). Composing preludes in every major and minor tonality is nothing new and indeeds all pay homage to Bach’s. The most famous of these are the 24 preludes of Frederic Chopin (1839), but many other composers who have paid homage to this work (Busoni, Scriabin, Hindemith, Liszt).

Like Bach, the works of Shostakovich and Auerbach both follow the circle of fifths thus covering the entire tonal spectrum. Shostakovich took on the challenge after sitting on a jury for the first International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition that was held in Leipzig following World War II.

For Auerbach, “re-establishing the value and expressive possibilities of all major and minor tonalities is as valid at the beginning of the twenty-first century as it was during Bach’s time..”

Program

  • Bach: Die Kunst Der Fugue (arr. Dentler)
  • Shostakovich: Five Preludes and Fugues (arr. Wesly)
  • Auerbach: 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano

Meet the Artists on this Concert

  • Sean Botkin, piano
  • Julia Bullard, viola
  • Hunter Capoccioni, double bass
  • Ben Coelho, bassoon
  • Max Geissler, cello
  • Heather Armstrong, oboe
  • Theo Ramsey, violin
  • Erik Rohde, violin