By -
The Glory of Bach at Christmas

For our Christmas concert this year, on 16 December at the beautiful church in Lavenham, we are performing four parts (I, II, III and VI) of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. We will be joined by the period instruments of the Suffolk Baroque Players and four outstanding soloists: soprano Fae Evelyn, mezzo-soprano Valerie Reid, tenor Anthony Gregory and baritone Tom Asher.

The Christmas Oratorio is a joyful experience, the perfect way to begin the celebration of Christmas. Bach designed the six parts (or cantatas) of the Christmas Oratorio to be performed at specific church services in Leipzig during the Christmas and New Year period of 1734/5. The work follows the familiar Christmas story in a glorious sequence of chorales, arias and powerful choruses.

Part I, for the first day of Christmas, relates Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, and the joy of the birth of Jesus. Part II, for the second day of Christmas, tells of the angels’ announcement to the shepherds of the birth of Christ. Part III, for the third day of Christmas, describes the shepherds’ journey to see the baby Jesus and their adoration and wonder.

Part VI, for the Feast of the Epiphany, depicts Herod’s commanding the Magi to search for the baby and tell him where he is, the Magi’s journey by following the star, their presentation of gifts to Jesus, and God’s commandment that they should go home another way and not return to Herod. The work concludes with a triumphant chorale: ‘Death, devil, sin and hell have utterly lost their sting, and mankind has its place beside its God and King’.

Music Director Philip Reed observes: ‘The Christmas Oratorio, composed after both the surviving Passions and the principal cycles of church cantatas, is one of Bach’s most uplifting choral pieces, with some of the most colourful orchestration Bach ever used. A trio of trumpets and timpani provide much of the brilliance and celebration, to which Bach adds pairs of flutes and oboes to the basic string band. In Part II, he can’t resist the rustic charm of a quartet of oboes and oboes da caccia to depict the shepherds. The arias and choruses range from the tender to the majestic. It’s a superb piece which will suit the special surroundings and fine acoustic of Lavenham Church. Bach and Christmas: they were made for each other.’

The concert will begin at 7.00pm and finish at about 9.20pm.

To find out about joining the choir or to get tickets for this concert visit burybachchoir.co.uk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By -
Image
Christopher Moore – Piano four hands secondo Christopher started his musical career when he was very young: ‘my grandmother played piano, organ and violin and sat me on her knee at the piano as a baby to get me interested!’ He started piano lessons when he was eight, oboe at eleven and organ at thirteen. He worked for a firm of organ builders for a year after school and then read music at Durham University, where he played the organ a lot.    Christopher taught in schools and churches in Dorset, London and Sussex before moving to Cambridge in 1986 to take up the post of Director of Music at Great St Mary’s. This was a great challenge, he says, ‘but I enjoyed it, I built up the choirs, had a new organ, very supportive vicars, a lot of autonomy and a lot of fun! It became quite a centre for music and still is’. In 1998 Christopher moved to Sudbury while he was working as an examiner for the ABRSM, ‘because I fell in love with a beautiful old house which I had gre...
Read more
By -
Image
Bury Bach Choir raise a record sum for the Samaritans The Bury Bach Choir raised £4,500 for the Samaritans at their successful fundraising concert on 21 October at St Mary’s Church. An audience of over 500 enjoyed Fauré’s beautiful Requiem and a selection of short pieces including John Tavener’s The Lamb and Song for Athene, Mozart’s Ave Verum and three ethereal Bruckner motets. 2017 is the year of ‘Sing for Samaritans’ as a flagship fundraising campaign. Presenting the cheque, Choir Chair Tess Wright said ‘We enjoyed singing for the Samaritans, who do such great work in the Bury area, and we’re delighted that we raised so much money from ticket sales’. Samaritans Deputy Directors Vivian Bewley (2nd from left) and Claire Couch é  (right) accepting the cheque from Tess Wright (left) and Pam Reed (2nd from right) of Bury Bach Choir Vivian Bewley, the Samaritans’ Regional Fundraiser, said ‘It was a wonderful evening, a lovely way to raise money, and we are so grateful...
Read more
By -
Image
Sarah Fox sings Mozart on 3 March We’re delighted that Sara h Fox will be singing one of the  solo soprano roles in our all-Mozart  concert at St  Edmundsbury  Cathedral on Saturday 3 March, including the ravishing  Laudate  Dominum  and , from the C Minor Mass,   Et  incarnatus   est , which Mozart’s wife Constanze reputedly  sang at its first performance in 1783. ​ Looking forward to the concert, Sarah s aid  ‘ I don't know how you can be  a singer and not love Mozart -  he loved the human voice and wrote such wonderful music for us ’ . Born in Yorkshire, Sarah  is one of the leading English  sopranos of her generation.  A former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the John Christie Award,  she was educated at  London Universit y and the Royal College of Music, and  is also an Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway College, London University. She is  equally at home ...
Read more