<music: J. S. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 1>
Sunday, November 3rd at 4 o’clock, Bach in Baltimore continues its 32nd season with a world premiere of a piece by Hollis Thoms’ “Adam and Eve.” This is a fascinating work for solo singers and a chamber orchestra accompanied by an imaginative, beautiful, tonal setting. We look forward to the privilege of being the first people to bring it to life.
We are pairing that world premiere with a piece written by our namesake: Johann Sebastian Bach. For this concert, I choose Cantata 165, a splendid piece that focusses on water and the Holy Spirit. The text is “O heilges Geist und Wasserbad” “Oh Holy Bath of Spirit and Water.”
Cantata 165 is one of Bach’s first, written in 1715 when Bach was a twenty-year old young man. At that time, Bach was living in Weimar. Like most of the music he wrote while he was in Weimar this cantata is for small forces. It is short in length and modest in scope. This work calls for strings, a continuo group and a bassoon. Cantata 165 makes imaginative use of four soloists (no choir). Despite Bach’s youth at the time that he wrote this work, the arias are all quite beautiful and very memorable.
This concert will feature two works: the world premiere of an opera by Hollis Thoms based on the story of Adam and Eve and Bach’s Cantata 165. The program will be held on the first Sunday of November at 4 o’clock at Christ Lutheran Church, 701 South Charles Street in the inner harbor. There is a large parking garage at the concert site available to all patrons. The church is gorgeous. Like all Bach in Baltimore concerts, this one will be a beautiful marriage of architecture and sound. Join us on November the 3rd.
<music: J. S. Bach, Brandenburg
Concerto No. 1>