Conference Reports: Bach Network, Other Bach Conferences, Publications

Conference Reports: Bach Network, Other Bach Conferences, Publications

William L. Hoffman wrote (August 5, 2022)\:
As the world emerges from the Covid 19 pandemic, periodic Bach conferences in English are resuming, beginning with the Bach Network in the UK (Bach Network), 10th Johann Sebastian Bach Dialogue Meeting, 18-23 July, at Madingley Hall, Cambridge University. The biennial event presenting discussions with roundtables and thematic presentations from a wealth of participants as well as Flash Announcements this year emphasized recent publications and on-going topics of special interest to network members. Here is the original full program subjected to changes and modifications: Bach Network. On the final, bonus day, two Detailed Research Discussions, Friday a.m. (22 July) involved embargoed material still under consideration and discussion. Some 60 network participants were involved, many regulars with on-going, important scholarly contributions on topics of vital interest.

A preview of the Bach Network meeting was held during the Bachfest Leipzig, June 13 with a public discussion of "Bach Cantata Texts, Poetic Techniques, and Meanings," chair Lawrence Molinaro, participants Michael Marissen, Ruth Tatlow, and Michael Maul. This same discussion was held at Cambridge 20 July, and taped for multimedia web-based publication on the Bach Network Discussing Bach as the fifth edition, begun in 2020 (Bach Network). The June 13 Leipzig event also had representative samples of Flash Announcements: Alan Shepherd, "Let's Calculate Bach" (book); Eberhard Spree, "Anna Magdalena Bach" (book), Tatiana Shabalina, Text zur Music, German libretti Discovered in St. Petersburg"; Peter Smaill, "The Subjective Perception of Bach's Chorales"; and Szymon Paczkowski: Musical Manuscripts purchased in 1713 Berlin by Jakob Heinrich von Flemming" (projected book on Polish-Saxon court patronage).

Meanwhile, two other English language Bach groups are fostering electronic, interactive on-line activities. Beginning in 2016, Bach Society Houston (Bach Society Houston) has produced periodic Apple Podcasts on Bach-related publications and topics, called "Notes on Bach," in its sixth season with Dr. Carrie Allen Tipton conducting interviews with authors, including scholars and performers (Apple Podcasts: Notes on Bach). It is a most-welcomed, veritable compendium of current Bach studies. The American Bach Society (ABS, American Bach Society:) has a new on-line feature, Tiny Bach Concerts, with video and programatic transcript American Bach Society: Videos). The ABS has just released its planned program for its 2022 Biennial Meeting at Temple University (Philadelphia PA), October 7-9 (American Bach Society: Post), program (Amarican Bach Society: Meetings 2022), with 10 scholarly presentations and one panel in six sessions on "Bach and Authority" (American Bach Society: Meetings Philadelphia 2022: Abstract).

Bachfest Leipzig

The Bachfest Leipzig and the Bach Arkiv have two on-line programs: Bach — We Are Family — Bachfest Leipzig discussion (BACH - We are FAMILY! - Bachfest Leipzig on Facebook), and Bach From Home/At Home concert videos as well as the Messiah Cycle (BML. Michael Maul, director of the Bachfest, was a special guest at the Bach Network Conference, beginning with a discussion with Marissen on his "Bach's Messiah" Cycle (BML) and other Bachfest projects. Besides imaginative, thematic programming, Maul is engaging Bach ensembles world-wide with "ring," Bach Family, and chorale cantata cycles (Netherlands Bach Society: Cantatas Leipzig), as well highlighting visiting Bach organizations such as the Bach Network. One concert area that could be explored is the Bach Passion music, the four oratorios (BWV 244-47), and the 1740s pasticcios (Graun-Altnikol, Keiser-Handel). Another is the music of other composers (Johann Ludwig Bach, Telemann, Fasch) that Bach presented.

Bach Network (UK)

At the Bach Network conference on July 20, Maul participated in two discussion sessions. "Kuhnau the Polymath," with Tomasz Górny and Stephen Rose, considered the project to record that some 30 extant Kuhnau vocal works (Europadisc Classical: Kuhnau - Complete Sacred Works Vol. 8). Bach's immediate Leipzig cantor predecessor, Kuhnau is best known for inaugurating in 1721 with his St. Mark Passion the annual Good Friday Vespers presentation of complete oratorio Passions alternating between St. Thomas and St. Nikolaus churches which Bach continued almost annually through 1750 (BCW). The other discussion session, "Bach Cantata Texts, Poetic Techniques, and Meanings," a continuation of the earlier Leipzig presentation, focused on 1725 Pentecost Monday Cantata BWV 68, “Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt” (God so loved the world), the soprano trio aria (No. 2), "Mein gläubiges Herze" (My faithful heart, BCW) which blends two dance forms, the gigue in the basso continuo and the bourrée in the melody.

Among the Bach Network sessions was Rethinking Bach Roundtable with essay authors Varwig, Stephen Rose, Wendy Heller, Jeremy Begbie, John Butt, and Marissen (see BCW). Another session on "Global Bach Transmission," a Bach Network specialty, featured Thomas Cressy on reception in Japan, Borghesi on "Italian Reception of J. S. Bach in 1950-2000," Jan Lech on reception in Leningrad 1926-52, and Gergely Fazekas, reception in Hungary. Another session, "Compositions of Bach’s Pupils and Admirers," offered Stephen Crist, ‘Johann Ludwig Krebs: The Complete Vocal Music’; Bernd Koska, ‘Early BACH-Fugues Revisited’; and Andrew Frampton, ‘Agricola’s Berlin Church Cantatas: Discoveries and Recoveries.’ The Bach Network also featured two established presentations, the Early Career Forum and two sessions of Flash Announcements.

The Bach Network profiled new research publications of Eberhard Spree, Die Frau Capellmeisterin Anna Magdalena Bach: Ein Zeitbild (BCW); Noelle Heber, J. S. Bach’s Material and Spiritual Treasures: A Theological Perspective (BCW); Alan Shepherd, Let’s Calculate Bach: Applying Information Theory and Statistics to Numbers in Music (BCW); Szymon Paczkowski, Bach and Chopin: Baroque Traditions in the Music of the Romantics (European Union: Bach and Chopin. Baroque Traditions in the Music of the Romantics); Michael Marissen, BachCantataTexts (electronic, on-line); and Chiara Bertoglio Bach & Italy (recordings, Bach & Italy (Chiara Bertoglio)). To be published are Bettina Varwig, Music in the Flesh: An Early Modern Musical Physiology (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming); Michael Marissen, Bach Against Modernity (Oxford University Press, 2023; BCW); Tatiana Shabalina, Text zur Music, German libretti discovered in St. Petersburg; Bach Network); and Stephen Roe, Johann Christian Bach at Work (Hewlett Packard, forthcoming; American Bach Society: Bach Notes 23: 7f).

American Bach Society.

The American Bach Society has just released the program and abstracts for its Biennial Meeting, with various perspectives on "Bach and Authority," American Bach Society. Maul will speak 'On a highly explosive political stage: Bach's trip to Potsdam, the "Musical Offering" and its context.' Other topics include: Daniel R. Melamed — "Christ lag in Todes Banden" BWV 4, a Weimar Easter Cantata; Cantatas as Reflections of Authority Structures: Vivian Tompkins — 'Deathly Devotion: Eighteenth-Century Capital Punishment and the Church Cantatas of J. S. Bach' and William Cowdery — 'Bach, Weimar, and the Hunt.' On Performing Authority, presenters are: Tanya Kevorkian — 'J. S. Bach: In a Web of Authority Relations' and Ray Erickson—'Bach and the False Authority of Tradition: The Case of the Violin Ciaccona BWV 1004/5'; Expanding Tradition: Bach in Modern Contexts: David Chin — 'Bach in the Far East' and Thomas Cressy — “Bach is My God”: Excess and Virtuosity in 1980s Metal; Panel on Biography—Author/Authority: Participants Ellen T. Harris, David Schulenberg, Christoph Wolff, Steven Zohn; and the final Session VI: "Bach as Authority": Arlan Vriens, — 'In the Image of Bach: Friedrich Wilhelm Rust’s Sonate a Violino Solo 10,' and Paul Walker — "How Bach’s Fugues Acquired Their Authority."

Works Catalogue BWV3: ABS On-Line Presentation

William L. Hoffman wrote (October 31, 2022)\:
This Thursday, November 3, 2-3:30pm ET, the American Bach Society Encounters with Eighteenth-Century Music series will host The New “Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis“ (BWV3): Principal features, background, and outlook; notice, Mail from The American Bach Society; register, Encounters with Eighteenth-Century Music.

Miguel Prohaska wrote (October 31, 2022)\:
[To William Hoffman] Thank you very much for sharing this information. Greatly appreciated.

Miguel Prohaska wrote (November 3, 2022)\:
Thank you again for the information. I listened/watched the presentation. Found it very interesting. How one composer can have such an influence on so many people three hundred years after he lived is amazing.