by Rebecca Cochran

It's official! I'll be participating in Bach in the Subways 2017!

March 21 is Johann Sebastian Bach's 332nd birthday. From March 18-21, musicians around the world will share the music of Bach by performing in subways, public spaces and concerts open to all. The goal is to celebrate Bach's work and to sow the seeds for future generations of classical music lovers.

View details here.

by Rebecca Cochran

As a recap on My Year of Bach project:
 
At the beginning of 2016, I began a personal experiment. I decided to challenge myself by writing a short daily blog post on my favorite composer, J.S. Bach.
 
My original goals were these:
Post daily (I never missed a day!)
Learn as I go
Share what I learn
Enjoy myself
 
Some of the other benefits I’ve enjoyed as a result of regular blogging are:
Learning to write more quickly
Becoming more adept at conducting research online
Making interesting new friends all over the world
Having thoughtful conversations with other Bach-lovers via social media
 
I was even contacted by American Public Media and invited to do a couple of interviews as to why Bach is my favorite composer. The result is two features being streamed nationwide on APM’s YourClassical.org.
 
Anyone can be a blogger. My best advice is to start with a topic that you’re passionate about. Set a few goals. Make blogging a part of your routine. It doesn’t have to be daily. A weekly or monthly schedule is totally acceptable.
 
There are many, many more benefits to blogging. The #1 benefit: having fun!
 
Thank you to all who have read, listened, followed, shared and commented all year.  Your unwavering support has been humbling and inspiring, to say the least!
 
P.S. Be sure to watch this space for more content related to J. S. Bach!
 

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach’s Cantata 152, Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn (Step upon the path of faith), was composed in Weimar in 1714 for the Sunday after Christmas. It is one of his earliest examples of a dialogue cantata, or Concerto in Dialogo (concerto in dialogue). The dialogue, often between Jesus and the soul (bass and soprano), resembles a miniature opera.
 
This cantata is unique in that it is the only one in which Bach used viola d’amore, a 6- or 7-stringed instrument with sympathetic (or resonance) strings.
 
Enjoy this recording featuring the American Bach Soloists with Jeffrey Thomas, conductor, Christine Brandes, soprano and William Sharp, bass.

​by Rebecca Cochran
 
Listening to and learning about Bach has become my passion!

​by Rebecca Cochran
 
The first time I recall hearing a work by J.S. Bach was in high school. (I’m a flutist.) We had a guest conductor that day and he brought in a piece for our wind ensemble to sight-read. It was an arrangement of Bach’s Fugue in E-flat, the St. Anne’s Fugue.

​This is how I begin my classical story.

Hear Part I of my interview on American Public Media as to why Bach is my favorite composer.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
"I wanted to have a piece of Bach with me as a sort of talisman because I didn't know what was awaiting us." — harpsichordist, Zuzana Ruzickova
 
(From The 'miraculous' life of Zuzana Ruzickova by Rebecca Jones, arts correspondent, BBC News). Read the story here.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach’s Cantata 151, Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt (Sweet comfort, my Jesus comes), was written for the third day of Christmas and first performed on December 27, 1725 in Leipzig.
 
One of my favorites of all the cantatas, I love the intimate scoring that Bach chose. In particular, the opening lullaby instills a special sense of calm for the Christmas season. Read more about the obbligato flute part in my earlier post.

And, enjoy this recording of the opening aria featuring Concerto Copenhagen with Maria Keohane, soprano, Katy Bircher, flute and Lars Ulrik Mortensen, organ and direction.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach’s Cantata BWV 40, Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes (For this the Son of God appeared), was composed in Leipzig and first performed there on December 26, 1723. For the festive occasion, Bach scored the work for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), four-part choir, two horns, two oboes, two violins, viola and basso continuo.
 
Enjoy this lively rendering of the opening movement featuring Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
The Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) is unique. Rather than a single work, Bach wrote six separate cantatas to be performed between Christmas Day and Epiphany. Although each of the cantatas uses a different instrumentation, today, the piece is often performed as a whole or in two parts.
 
Bach performed the first cantata twice in Leipzig on December 25, 1734: early in the morning at St. Nicholas Church and, again, in the afternoon at St. Thomas Church. This part, describing the birth of Jesus, is scored for chorus and a festive instrumental ensemble consisting of three trumpets, timpani, two transverse flutes, two oboes, two oboes d’amore, two violins, viola and continuo!
 
Enjoy this stellar recording of Cantatas 1-3 with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Concentus Musicus Wien with Peter Schreier, tenor, Robert Holl, bass and soloists of the Tolzer Knabenchor.

​by Rebecca Cochran
 
In dolci jubilo (In sweet rejoicing) is a traditional Christmas carol. Bach set the melody several times. His Fantasia on In dolci jubilo (BWV 729) was written to accompany congregational singing in Arnstadt.

Hear the work performed here on the restored organ at Christchurch Priory by organist, Andrew Post.

​by Rebecca Cochran
 
The Sinfonia from Bach’s Cantata 156 is one of my all-time favorites. Employing the vocal arioso form, Bach originally scored the movement for oboe, strings and continuo, creating a sort of instrumental aria. He later used it for harpsichord solo. Either way, the result is lovely.   
 
Enjoy this recording featuring organist, Christian Mouyen and oboist, Pascal Jean in the Église de Saint-Astier, Dordogne, France.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach’s Canonic Variations for organ (BWV 769) are based on the Christmas hymn, Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her (From Heaven above to Earth I come). Martin Luther composed the words and melody in 1539. Bach also set this famous hymn in his Christmas Oratorio, in the Magnificat and in several early chorale preludes.
 
The Canonic Variations were offered to solidify Bach’s entry to the Society for Musical Sciences in Leipzig in 1747. Soon afterwards, the work was engraved in copper.
 
Hear these incredible variations performed here by Helmut Walcha on the Silbermann Organ in the Church of St. Pierre le Jeune, Strassbourg.

by Rebecca Cochran

The aria for voice and continuo, Bist du bei mir, geh ich mit Freuden (When you are near, I go with joy), is among the pieces included in Bach’s second notebook for his wife, Anna Magdalena. This version (BWV 508), arranged in 1725, is Bach's setting of an opera aria composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel in 1718. The librettist is unknown.

The work was a favorite in Leipzig in the early 18th century. It remains a worldwide favorite to this day.

Enjoy this exquisite recording featuring Klaus Mertens, baritone and Ton Koopman, organ.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach’s Pastorella in F major for organ (BWV 590) has often been described as a four-movement Christmas concerto. Bach chose four Italian genres — pastorale, allemande, aria and giga — imparting an uplifting and lively mood throughout.

Each of the four movements makes use of a drone-like figure, similar to a hurdy-gurdy or a bagpipe used in the meadow, thus explaining the pastoral connotation of the work.

Enjoy this recording of the Pastorella featuring organist, Karl Richter.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
The Prelude and Fugue in E minor (BWV 548) is a work Bach composed for organ during his years in Leipzig. The fugue’s interesting structure has resulted in the piece being nicknamed “The Wedge.”

Enjoy this short video by Duke University Chapel Organist, Christopher Jacobson explaining and demonstrating “The Wedge.”

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach composed his Cantata 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and mouth and deed and life), in Weimar for the fourth Sunday of Advent in 1716. He later reworked and expanded the cantata for the feast of the Visitation in Leipzig.
 
The expanded version, in two parts, closes with the now famous chorale, Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Jesus shall remain my joy). Today, we know the chorale as Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.

Enjoy this version for piano solo featuring Glenn Gould.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
On this day, in 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized. (There exists no authentic record of the date of his birth.)
 
What we do know is that Beethoven was greatly influenced by Bach. He regularly studied the preludes and fugues of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, even copying out several of them to sort of reenact the process of composing them. He was also fond of playing these works in the salons of the nobility in Vienna.
 
When Beethoven learned that the Leipzig publishers, Hoffmeister and Kühnel, had plans to publish a complete edition of Bach’s clavier work, he stated, “That you want to publish Sebastian Bach’s works delights my heart, which beats wholly for the great and lofty art of this father of harmony, and I wish soon to see the enterprise in full swing.”

by Rebecca Cochran

I know it’s not quite Christmas yet, but I cannot resist sharing the Sinfonia Pastorale from Part II of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248).
 
This performance by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under Garcia Navarro is just what I needed this morning!

by Rebecca Cochran
 
A few years ago, the venerable Canadian Brass created a beautiful compilation for Christmas. Entitled Bach’s Bells, it draws inspiration from Bach’s Cantata 29 and Carol of the Bells. The piece, for brass quintet, was composed by Canadian Brass trumpeter, Chris Coletti.

Enjoy Bach’s Bells here.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
“All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hubbub.” — J.S. Bach

​by Rebecca Cochran
 
Johann Sebastian Bach the Younger (1748-1778), named for his grandfather, was the son of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach. J.S. Bach the Younger was a painter who was renowned in his lifetime. His works consist mostly of brush drawings of landscapes and mythological themes. His collections reside in Coburg, Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig and Vienna.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
“If Bach is not in Heaven...I am not going!” — William F. Buckley

by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach’s Cantata 186a Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht (Do not be confounded, o soul), originally composed in 1716 for the third Sunday in Advent in Weimar, is another of those that was since lost. Luckily, Bach had reworked and expanded the cantata during his Leipzig years. The later 1723 version still survives.
 
Bach’s expanded version (BWV 186) includes recitatives and the addition of taille (tenor oboe). Have a listen to a recording by Ton Koopman and The Amsterdam Baroque Choir.

​by Rebecca Cochran
 
Bach composed his Cantata 21, Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (I had much grief) in Weimar, possibly in 1713. He marked the work as e per ogni tempo (and for all times) to indicate its suitability for any occasion. Bach revised this cantata several times: during his Köthen years and again, in Leipzig, changing the instrumentation to suit the occasion.
 
The soprano aria in Part 1, Seufzer, Tränen, Kummer, Not (Sighs, tears, anguish, trouble) is gut-wrenchingly beautiful. It is one of the first arias in Italian style in a Bach cantata, accompanied by an obbligato oboe.
 
Enjoy this recording by The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir with Ton Koopman, conductor and Barbara Schlick, soprano.

by Rebecca Cochran
 
“I always find Bach to be an expression of a love of life. There's an enthusiasm that's absolutely contagious.” — Itzhak Perlman