Three-hundred years ago, in a city not so far away…

Introduction (Tetsuhiro Isaji)

The “Fifth Brandenburg Concerto” opens with one of the most unusual first movements in the orchestral repertoire of the period in which the harpsichord shares a soloistic role with the violin and flute which culminates in an enormous cadenza at the end. In the entire work, the harpsichord alternates between playing solo parts and accompanying the group as a continuo player by doubling the bass part in the left hand and playing extemporised chords in the right, the latter of which is the more standard function of a harpsichord in orchestral music. Some have even theorised that the work represented a sort of “revolt” against the “subservient” role of the harpsichord. However, did Bach, who directed many cantatas and passions while playing the harpsichord/violin/viola/organ himself, see a point in such a soloistic revolt? Did he see his continuo-playing as something subservient to the other musicians or fundamental to their performance? Why did he bother to literally spell out some chords for the right hand (some of which are exceptionally dense) when he could have simply indicated by shorthand the necessary notes like he did almost everywhere else in his oeuvre? What this seems to imply was that the continuo-playing was an absolutely integral part of the entire artistic agenda of the harpsichord part of the concerto, and that the act of “accompanying” at the harpsichord needed to employ full chords (with a minimum of four voices) in order to be genuinely useful to the ensemble. This work raises many questions that invite us to reflect on the performance aesthetic of Bach’s entire oeuvre, including his church music.

The cantata “Ärgre dich, o Seele nicht” (BWV 186a) by the same composer will be preluded by a brief segment of one of Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Trio Sonatas for oboes and continuo. Zelenka was known to Bach, who even had his compositions copied out by one of his sons, and his compositions are particularly virtuosic, inventive, and full of Italianate surprises and wit. Bach composed “Ärgre dich…” during his Weimar years for the Third Advent. The text was written by the poet Salomon Franck, and the entire work remains relatively concise. Several years later, in Leipzig, Bach reused the vast majority of this cantata, changed some of the text, and inserted new recitatives. As this revision was prepared for the seventh Sunday after Trinity and the original version is lost, we are presenting a reconstruction of the first state of the cantata, which is as close as possible to what he presented in Weimar.

Machet die Thore Weit, the second cantata of the program, dates from 1728 and is remarkable for its musical imagery which manages to reflect the text in a particularly vivid and concise manner. Its composer, Christoph Graupner, spent most of his career as Hofkapellmeister at Hesse-Darmstadt, and left a massive corpus of compositions which included almost fifteen-hundred church cantatas, eight operas, and forty-four concerti. He was another contemporary of Bach who played a major role in securing his appointment as music-master of Leipzig, a position that massively influenced Bach’s career and output. These two cantatas, which really set the tone for the rest of the festive period both spiritually and musically, will be complimented by a vocal motet by Michael Praetorius, a respected master from the generation before the three heroes of the programme. You will find the text to all of these pieces in this booklet.

To conclude, I would like to acknowledge everyone involved who made these concerts possible. We are grateful to Hugo de Jonghe, who gave us a wonderful opportunity to put together this programme in the first place, and his wonderful daughter Marieke whose experience and wisdom we could not have done without. We extend this gratitude to the people of LozerCultureel, and to Sigiswald Kuijken who put me in touch with Marieke for our “Johannes-Passion” in March. We would like to thank Église Notre-Dame des Victoires au Sablon, its conseil d’administration, and the titular organists including Benoît Mernier who have yet again offered us a platform in Brussels after our “Johannes-Passion”. Special thanks are also reserved for Hoofdstedelijke Kunstacademie who allowed us to rehearse in their facilities and borrow some equipment for this concert, and the fantastic Early Music Department of Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles and its president Benoit Douchy who have provided the organs for our concerts. Without the help of harpsichord builder Bas Neelen, we would not have had a harpsichord for these concerts – we are extremely indebted to him and wish him and his colleagues every success for their new early keyboards workshop in Ghent. We are absolutely delighted to be able to share this moment with all of you – it is our hope that the music refreshes your spirit and resounds with you as we approach the end of another year.