​by Rebecca Cochran
 
It is really interesting to learn that Bach’s first child was a girl. Born in 1708, Catharina Dorothea Bach was known to be a gifted singer who often assisted her father with his compositions.
 
Unlike many of the Bach children, Catharina lived a long life, passing away in 1774. It is fun to dream about what she might have accomplished if she had been able to devote her life to composition!

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach’s sacred cantata, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (BWV 150), was composed for an unknown occasion. The librettist is also unknown. Bach’s original manuscript is lost.
 
Nonetheless, scholars say that it may be Bach’s first cantata, composed in 1707 in Arnstadt, where he was organist. The scoring is for a small ensemble of two violins, bassoon and continuo, plus four vocal parts.
 
Johannes Brahms adapted the bass line of the closing chaconne of this cantata for the theme of the finale of his Symphony No. 4. Interestingly, Bach may have borrowed the ground bass line from Pachelbel!

by Rebecca Cochran
 
I’m thinking about my father as today is his birthday. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 85. By comparison, Johann Sebastian Bach’s father, Johann Ambrosius Bach lived to be only fifty years old. The young Bach was only nine years old at the time of his father’s death.
 
Johann Ambrosius was a musician, as were his father and grandfather. Over the course of his life, Ambrosius worked as a violinist, a trumpeter and as director of the town musicians in Eisenach. Not much more is known about his musical career.
 
Although my father was not a musician, he loved music and instilled that love in me. Thanks, Dad!

by Rebecca Cochran
 
In 1941, choreographer George Balanchine set Bach’s Concerto in D minor for Two Violins (BWV 1043) to a ballet which became known as Concerto Barocco. The work was premiered in Rio de Janeiro during American Ballet Caravan’s South American tour. In 1948, the ballet had its New York premiere as part of the inaugural program of the New York City Ballet.
 
Balanchine understood Bach. In the first movement of Concerto Barocco, the two lead dancers personify the roles of the two violin soloists.
 
I’ll never forget the live performance of this ballet I enjoyed many years ago during New York City Ballet’s summer residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. While the orchestra performed from the pit, the two violin soloists prominently played their parts on stage. Balanchine never let his audiences forget that without great music (and great musicians), there would be no dance!
 
Enjoy this short video clip here.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Alessandro Marcello’s Concerto for Oboe and Strings has become a staple of the oboe repertory. Bach arranged the piece for harpsichord (BWV 974). Today, the piece is performed not only by oboists and keyboard players, but trumpet virtuosi have adopted it, as well.
 
Enjoy this recording of the slow movement, performed by Alison Balsom, trumpet.