Bachwoche Ansbach

Last updated
Logo Bachwoche Ansbach.jpg

The Bachwoche Ansbach (Ansbach Bach Week) is a biennial music festival in Ansbach, Germany, dedicated to the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach, held since 1947. The main venues are the Orangerie and the great hall of the palace Residenz Ansbach, and the churches St. Johannis and St. Gumbertus. Renowned international have performed in Ansbach, including Yehudi Menuhin, Gidon Kremer, Mstislav Rostropovich, Ludwig Hoelscher, Ferdinand Leitner and Karl Richter. In recent years, guests have included John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, Andreas Staier, Martin Stadtfeld and Masaaki Suzuki.

Contents

History

In the first year, in 1947, the festival was held at the palace Schloss Weißenstein in Pommersfelden. [1] In 1948, it was moved to the Ansbach and its palace. [2] the Residenz Ansbach (also called Markgrafenschloss), where concerts were held at the Orangerie in the garden Hofgarten and in the Festsaal (Great hall).

Festsaal of the Residenz, painting by Carlo Carlone Festsaal der Residens Ansbach.JPG
Festsaal of the Residenz, painting by Carlo Carlone

Other main venues are the churches St. Gumbertus and St. Johannis. [3] A few concerts are offered in other halls. In the beginning the Munich art dealer Carl Weymar, the cellist Ludwig Hoelscher and the conductor Ferdinand Leitner invited friends to perform. They were able to attract guests such as violinists Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Yehudi Menuhin, [4] pianist Wilhelm Kempff, [5] flutist Aurèle Nicolet, [6] singers Peter Pears and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. [7] An orchestra of soloists formed the backbone of the festival week. In 1955, Peter Pears was one of the first non-Germans invited, he appeared again in 1959, 1963 and 1964. [8]

From 1955 to 1964 the festival was directed by harpsichordist and conductor Karl Richter, originally an organist here. [8] His successor Rudolf Hetzer was able to win the city as a sponsor of the festival and began a biennial cycle in 1967. [1] Artist during this period included Nathan Milstein, Mstislav Rostropovich and Neville Marriner, orchestras The English Consort and the London Baroque Soloists, introducing historically informed performances. Saturday Review said in 1958, "The choir of the Bachwoche Ansbach is good, the recording excellent." [5] Helmuth Rilling conducted Bach's Mass in B minor in 1969 and again 40 years later, both times with the Gächinger Kantorei and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart at St. Gumbertus. [9]

From 1979, Hans Georg Schäfer took over as director and led the festival for almost 20 years. He included music by Bach's sons, Claudio Monteverdi, Henry Purcell and Heinrich Schütz. He also showed contemporary composers in relation to Bach, such as Paul Hindemith, Witold Lutoslawski and Arvo Pärt. He established an extra festival in 2000, the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, solely dedicated to Bach's music. [10] From 2001 Lotte Thaler was artistic director. [11] She set new standards by set themes ("Bach und Stravinsky"), included more music of the 20th century and included talks, children's concert and jazz.

St. Gumbertus, interior Ansbach Gumbertus 4350.jpg
St. Gumbertus, interior

Since 2006, Andreas Bomba has been the director, leading the 60 anniversary season in 2007. [12] The 2011 Bachwoche was opened with a Bach cantata service in St. Gumbertus, including a performance of Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, BWV 93 . [13] Cantatas BWV 1, BWV 48, BWV 78, BWV 117, BWV 124, BWV 140 and BWV 147 were performed in concerts by the Windsbacher Knabenchor, conducted by Karl-Friedrich Beringer, with soloists Sibylla Rubens, Ingeborg Danz, Rebecca Martin, Markus Schäfer and Klaus Mertens. Artists have included Andreas Scholl, the Münchner Kammerorchester and the Ensemble Resonanz. [3] The week was concluded with a performance of Bach's Mass in B minor by the Dresdner Kammerchor and the Dresdner Barockorchester, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Gott soll allein mein Herze haben</i>, BWV 169

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169, a solo cantata for an alto soloist, in Leipzig for the 18th Sunday after Trinity, and first performed it on 20 October 1726.

Rodion Shchedrin

Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin is a Soviet and Russian composer and pianist, winner of USSR State Prize (1972), the Lenin Prize (1984), and the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1992), and is a former member of the Inter-regional Deputies Group (1989–1991). He is also a citizen of Lithuania and Spain.

Partita for Violin No. 2 (Bach)

The Partita in D minor for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach was written between 1717 and 1720. It is a part of his compositional cycle called Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin.

Troels Svane is a Danish cellist. He is a part of the Zapolski Quartet. He studied with David Geringas at the Lübeck Academy of Music in Germany. He graduated from the soloist class with distinction and the highest grade in all subjects. He was taught by Anner Bylsma, Frans Helmerson, Ralph Kirshbaum, György Ligeti, Yo-Yo Ma, Siegfried Palm, Boris Pergamenschikow, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniil Shafran, Paul Tortelier and the Amadeus Quartet.

Klaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach for bass voice.

Dorothee Mields is a German soprano concert singer of Baroque and contemporary music.

Jan Kobow

Jan Kobow is a German classical tenor in concert, Lied, and Baroque opera.

The chamber orchestra Kammerorchester Basel was founded in Basel, Switzerland, in 1984. In the tradition of Paul Sacher's Basler Kammerorchester, its focus is on both early music and contemporary classical music. The orchestra plays regularly without a conductor with their leading concertmasters Julia Schröder, Daniel Bard and Baptiste Lopez. The Basel Chamber Orchestra is recognised as one of the leading chamber orchestras in the classical music scene. Invitations to the most important worldwide concert houses and festivals shape their agenda, as well as their own subscription concerts in Basel.

Hans Thamm was a German choral conductor, the founder and for more than three decades director of the boys' choir Windsbacher Knabenchor.

Ansbach Residence

Residenz Ansbach, also known as Markgrafenschloß, is a palace in Ansbach, Germany. It was the government seat of the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Today it is the administrative seat of the government of Middle Franconia. The Great Hall and the Orangerie in its garden serve as venues for the biennial music festival Bachwoche Ansbach.

St. Gumbertus, Ansbach

The church St. Gumbertus is one of the central city churches of Ansbach, Bavaria, together with the neighboring St. Johannis. Located in the Altstadt of Ansbach, St. Gumbertus, now a Lutheran church, was originally the church of a monastery that was founded by St. Gumbert around 750. Today it serves as a venue for concerts of the music festival Bachwoche Ansbach. The church contains the oldest structures in Ansbach and is considered Ansbach's city symbol.

St. Johannis, Ansbach

The church St. Johannis in Ansbach, Middle Franconia, Germany, is a Lutheran parish church and a concert venue of the Bachwoche Ansbach.

Karl-Friedrich Beringer

Hans Karl-Friedrich Beringer is a German choral and orchestral conductor, who was from 1978 to 2011 the conductor of the Windsbacher Knabenchor.

Non sa che sia dolore, BWV 209, is a secular cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and first performed in Leipzig in 1747. With Amore Traditore, it is one of the composer's only two settings of a text in Italian.

Knut Schoch is a German tenor in opera and concert as a specialist in the field of historically informed performance, and an academic voice teacher.

Georg Poplutz is a German tenor, a soloist in Baroque music, opera and oratorio, and a Lied singer. He has been a member of vocal ensembles such as Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble and Cantus Cölln, and has participated in a project to record the complete works of Heinrich Schütz.

Antonia Fahberg was an Austrian lyric soprano in opera and concert. Her career focused on the Bavarian State Opera where she sang for 25 years. She performed regularly in concerts and recordings with Karl Richter and the Münchener Bach-Chor, and appeared at major opera houses and festivals in Europe.

Johannes Hill

Johannes Hill is a German baritone in concert and in oratorios, who has performed internationally. Singing in choirs from age 10, he has performed major roles in oratorios, such as both Jesus and Pilate in Bach's Passions, and Pope Francis in the premiere of Laudato si'. He has also performed in vocal ensembles such as Kammerchor Stuttgart and Collegium Vocale Gent.

Kieth Engen

Kieth Engen was an American operatic bass who was a member of Munich's Bavarian State Opera for decades. Although his career was based in Munich, he appeared internationally as a guest singer at major opera houses and festivals and performed and recorded many of Bach's Passion oratorios and cantatas, primarily with the conductor Karl Richter. He was born Keith Sheldon Engen in Frazee, Minnesota, and died in Murnau am Staffelsee, Germany at the age of 79. He was given the title of Kammersänger in 1962 and was a recipient of the Bavarian Order of Merit. In the mid-1950s he also had a brief parallel career as a pop singer under the pseudonym Stan Oliver.

Anne Bierwirth is a German contralto, focused on concerts and recordings of sacred music, appearing internationally. Besides the standard repertoire such as Bach's Christmas Oratorio, she has explored rarely performed Baroque music such as Bach's St Mark Passion and Reinhard Keiser's Passion oratorio Der blutige und sterbende Christus.

References

  1. 1 2 "Bach Festivals & Cantata Series / Bachwoche Ansbach". bach-cantatas.com. 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Britten, Benjamin (6 December 2004). Letters From a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Volume Three, 1946-1951. Boydell Press. p. 330. ISBN   978-1-84383-382-6 . Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Bachwoche Ansbach / 3 Konzerte, u.a. mit Countertenor Andreas Scholl". Deutschlandradio . Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  4. ↑ Universität München. Institut für Bayerische Literaturgeschichte (2000). Bach in Bayern: Beiträge zu einer Geschichte der Rezeption Johann Sebastian Bachs im oberdeutschen Raum : aus Anlass der 250. Wiederkehr seines Todestages am 28. Juli 1750. Institut für Bayerische Literaturgeschichte der Universität München. p. 66. ISBN   978-3-9804213-8-6 . Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  5. 1 2 Voto, Bernard Augustine De (October 1958). Saturday review. Saturday Review Co. p. 50. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  6. ↑ Mackenzie, Sir Compton; Stone, Christopher (1960). The gramophone. C. Mackenzie. p. 393. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  7. ↑ The consensus and review. Henry Stave & Co. 1965. p. 5. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  8. 1 2 Pears, Peter; Reed, Philip (1 September 1999). The Travel Diaries of Peter Pears, 1936-1978. Boydell Press. p. 73. ISBN   978-0-85115-741-2 . Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  9. ↑ "Bachwoche: Messe h-Moll" (in German). Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. 8 August 2009. Archived from the original on 6 August 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  10. ↑ Der Literat. 1999. p. 16. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  11. ↑ Egon Bezold. "Bachwoche Ansbach – neue Aspekte für 2007 / Fantastische Klanglandschaften" (in German). magazin.klassik.com. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "Dr. Andreas Bomba". Bachwoche Ansbach. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  13. ↑ "Eröffnungs- und Kantatengottesdienst zur Bachwoche Ansbach 2011" (in German). St. Gumbertus, Ansbach. 1 August 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  14. ↑ "Festspielzeit: Bachwoche Ansbach Live aus St. Gumbertus" (in German). Bayerischer Rundfunk. 7 August 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.