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October 2000 Program Notes
Music of J.S. Bach
by Mary Burke
Tonight Lyra presents a program of secular works by Bach that spotlight various sections of the orchestra as well as the human voice. In all of them we can hear Bach's ingenious integration of complex counterpoint, dancelike simplicity, rhetorical sophistication, and lyricism.
The first of Bach's four orchestral suites is the most clearly French of the group, following most closely the scheme of dance types and styles used by Lully. The Overture is as grand as Lully could ever have wished, and the orchestration would also have been very much to the French taste, featuring two oboes and bassoon. Bach takes full advantage of the many possible textures and colors within this ensemble by shifting from more homogeneous four-part writing to polyphony among varying combinations of instruments.
The secular cantata Non sa che sia dolore (BWV 209) is somewhat mysterious as to its purpose and origins, though the text clearly implies that the occasion was someone's departure for Ansbach. Scholars have disputed its authenticity, suggesting that it contains little, if any, material by Bach. The text incorporates snippets of Guarini and Metastasio, cobbled together with material by an unknown German poet, and may not even have been the original text at all. Despite its Frankensteinian genesis, however, Non sa stands as a very attractive, lyrical work that allows the soprano and traverso to shine.
Tonight's second cantata, Ich bin in mir vergnügt (BWV 204), lies somewhere between the sacred and the secular. Although this work was not written for church use, its text by C.F. Hunold reiterates the theme of contentment, modesty, and peace in God. Some scholars believe that Ich bin may have been written as a sort of private devotional piece to be performed at home, in which case Anna Magdalena Bach would probably have taken the vocal part. The various arias feature showy obbligati for oboes, traverso, and violin, with the entire ensemble participating in the final movement. In keeping with the more reflective character of the work, the recitatives here are much lengthier than those in Non sa, but their "talkiness" is tempered by shifts from secco to accompagnato to arioso style.
Our closing work allows the strings to have the stage all to themselves. The six pieces that have come to be known as the Brandenburg Concerti are dated 1721, during Bach's years in Cöthen; they must have been written over a period of time, however, perhaps during his Weimar years, when he was especially intrigued by the Italian concerto form as well as the more modern French concert. The third concerto (or concert, if you prefer) exploits the kaleidoscopic textural possibilities of the concertino groups of strings: violins, violas, and cellos may play as a section or as soloists, as melodists or accompanists, tutti or in fugue. Despite the complexity of its architecture, however, Brandenburg 3 radiates tuneful Italianate brio throughout.
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