Making music in the Bach household (from a painting by Toby Rosenthal). J.S. Bach’s family tree included more than 50 musicians. Image credit.
Motets from the Bach and beyond
VOICES & INSTRUMENTS
Tutor: Peter Syrus
Location: Didsbury Baptist Church, Manchester
Reviewer: Sheila Livesey
It was with a small amount of trepidation that I braved the deluge of rain and attended Peter Syrus’s workshop. I have not studied music since the mid 1990s and I wondered how my sight reading would cope with eight strands of music and also the pronunciation of German. However, I was quite put at ease from the moment I walked into Didsbury Baptist Church. There was a friendly atmosphere immediately as I was greeted with a friendly face and offered refreshments on arrival. The venue was comfortable, being warm, spacious and well lit.
At the beginning Peter coaxed the sopranos in choir 1 (of which I was a member) to be more dynamic. I didn’t think I would be hitting top Bb and top A on a Saturday afternoon! Instrumentalists played for a couple of the works and the collective sounds took me to another century. I feel the voices were also well balanced – but that judgement must come from Peter. Peter certainly packed in a lot of interesting musicology information and we managed to cover a good selection of music demanding not only conducting of one choir but two choirs. I was amazed to find out how many Bach’s there were and the fact that some compositions had incorrectly been attributed to a different member of the family.
The workshop was very well organised and delivered. Peter is very much hands on – he doesn’t need recordings or PowerPoint and entertains and informs to all level of listeners. Very enjoyable, pleasant venue, good company, good music, surprising background information – what more could you want?
New member Sheila Livesey
For the record (Ed. and Peter Syrus) the eight pieces sung and played at the Bach family day workshop, 13 April, are listed below:
Johann Bach (1604-73) or Jonas de Fletin (d. 1665): Sei nun wieder zufrieden (2-choir à 8; c.1650)
Adam Drese(?) (c.1620-1701): Nun ist alles überwunden (à 4; 1686)
Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703): Der Gerechte, ob er gleich zu zeitlich stirbt (à 5 + organ; 1676)
Johann Michael Bach (1648-94): Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe (à 5; 1690); Ich weiß, daß mein Erlöser lebt (à 5 + continuo); Nun hab ich überwunden (2-choir à 8; 1679)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn (BWV Anh.159; 2-choir à 8; 1713?); Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229; 2-choir à 8)
First published in June 2013 Newsletter.
