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        • Feb. 5 - Winter's Chill - Dianna Morgan
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  • Bach's World
    • 2022-2023 Concerts >
      • Travels with Sebastian
      • The Old Bach Archive
      • Christmas with Bach
      • The Little Organ Book
      • Bachapella
      • Arnstadt & Mülhausen
      • Bach Through the Years
    • 2022-23 Educational Events >
      • BachTalks
      • Saturday Sings!
    • 2022-23 Virtual Offerings >
      • The Choir Loft >
        • Feb. 5 - Winter's Chill - Dianna Morgan
        • Feb. 12 - The Heirs of Bach: Charles Ives - Steve Osborn
        • March 12 - The Heirs of Bach: Hugo Distler - Steve Osborn
      • Repertoire Exploration Projects
    • Tickets
    • Donate today!
  • Who we are and What we do
    • Mission Statement
  • Our Ensembles
    • Sonoma Bach Choir
    • Circa 1600
    • Green Mountain Consort
    • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Sponsor a Singer!
    • Escrip & Amazon Smile
  • Resources
    • Virtual Offerings - Archive >
      • The Choir Loft
      • Virtual BachTalk
      • Adventures in Sightsinging
      • Parliamo Italiano! Language Workshop
      • Madrigal Mondays
      • Chorale Wednesdays
      • Motet Fridays
      • Virtual Recording Projects
      • Virtual Concerts >
        • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
        • Music for these Distracted Times - Barefoot All-Stars
        • Agave Baroque American Originals
        • Bach's Long Walk to Lübeck - Anne Laver, organ
    • Concert Programs
    • Scores & Parts
    • Rehearsal Recordings
  • Contact
  • Join our Mailing List!
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Sonoma Bach's 2022-2023 Season
Bach's World

In which we explore the remarkable life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach,
​with special attention to the diverse influences and conditions which shaped his music.
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When the eminent biologist Lewis Thomas was asked which terrestrial sounds he would choose to send into outer space in the Voyager spacecraft, possibly to be encountered by aliens, he replied, ‘I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.’ And then he added, ‘But that would be boasting.’
Why does Bach attract so much attention? Why do so many musicians from all walks of musical life revere his music? How did he transcend his parochial limitations to become a universal figure, the mother-ship of harmony, the all-time master of counterpoint, at once the most cerebral, the most emotional and the most spiritual of composers?
It’s been a while since we’ve focused upon our namesake. It’s not that we’ve forgotten him! It’s just that other projects about which we are also passionate—not to mention the pandemic—have intervened. And so we now joyfully embark upon an entire season devoted to J.S. Bach and his milieu.
We’ll perform a broad selection of his works, of course; but we’ll also explore the works of those who influenced him, we’ll delve into archives of music by others which we know he studied and performed, and we’ll seek in various ways to illuminate the world in which he lived and his special place therein.
We begin with a look at the international Bach: since he did not travel from Germany to other countries in Europe, how did he stay so up-to-date on styles and developments afar? In our Opening Recital, AgAve will examine the influence of French and Italian trends upon Bach’s music. In November, we turn to the incredible music of Bach’s forebears and others who influenced his development. We wrap up 2022 with our 9th Early Music Christmas, featuring four festive cantatas from Bach’s first years in Leipzig which collectively recount and celebrate the Christmas story.
In the new year, we’ll feature a treasure trove of chorale preludes for the organ; a profound profusion of works for the keyboard; a striking selection of a cappella music from Bach’s personal library and from the Leipzig archives; a set of early cantatas, brash and mercurial and thrilling. And we’ll wrap up our season with Bach Through the Years, a selection of great works from the epochs of Bach’s life, including the Magnificat and a late cantata drawing upon movements from the Mass in B Minor. Wrapped in among our eight concert sets, we’ll fill in the picture by presenting a number of illuminating Bach Talks, dives into diverse aspects of Bach’s life and career and into many of his works which we haven’t been able to fit into the overflowing cup of our season. Come join us in 2022-2023 as we adventure through Bach’s World!
 
—Robert Worth, music director

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Travels with Sebastian
AGAVE featuring Jennifer Paulino, soprano

Saturday, October 29th at 3 P.M.

Bachgrounder lecture 35 minutes before each performance
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Johann Sebastian Bach may have never physically left his native turf in eastern Germany, but his music provided a virtual vehicle to take him around Europe. His music not only captures the essence of French and Italian Baroque styles, but also integrates these with his German love of counterpoint so as to transcend earlier models. Grammy-nominated string ensemble AGAVE and soprano sensation Jennifer Paulino take you on a European tour, with music by French and Italian composers whose works were to be found in Bach’s library, as well as works by the master himself, including his only Italian cantata and an exceptional overture in the French style.
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The Old Bach Archive
Circa 1600 · Barefoot All-Stars · The Whole Noyse
Friday, November 18 at 8 P.M. & Saturday, November 19 at 3 P.M.
Bachgrounder lecture 35 minutes before performance
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Have you ever wondered how Bach came by his remarkable musical talents? He gave credit to his musical heritage: His family had been making music for nigh on 100 years before J.S. came upon the scene. In this concert we delve into the Altbachisches Archiv, a rich collection of music by Bach’s forebears, including his father’s cousins Johann Michael Bach and Johann Christoph Bach. We’ll also take a look at two important infuences from outside the family: Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), a friend of Bach’s parents and teacher of his brother; and Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707), who the young Bach admired so much that he undertook a 500-mile journey--on foot--to meet and hear and work with the older composer.
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Christmas with Bach
Sonoma Bach Choir 
· Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
Saturday, December 17 at 8 P.M. & Sunday, December 18 at 3 P.M.
Bachgrounder lecture 35 minutes before each performance
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In 1734, Bach turned his powers in earnest to the Christmas story, revising earlier occasional music and adding new arias, choruses and recitatives to create the Weihnachtsoratorium. For Christmas with Bach, we carve out one of many possible alternatives, drawing from the master’s works of the mid-1720s, especially from his second annual cantata cycle. We’ve chosen to begin not with the Nativity but with the luminous Cantata 1: Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, celebrating the Angel Gabriel and the startling news which he brings to the young Mary. We proceed with three additional cantatas--each featuring horns and oboes--which follow the tale through Advent, the Nativity, and a festive New Year.
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The Little Organ Book
Anne Laver, organ · Circa 1600
Saturday, January 21 at 3 P.M.
Bachgrounder lecture 35 minutes before performance
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During Bach’s years in Weimar (1708-1717) he conceived and began work upon the Orgelbüchlein, an enormous collection of 164 brief organ preludes on Lutheran chorales for the entire church year. These would have been used to introduce congregational singing of the chorales, or perhaps as occasional music to accompany various sections of the liturgy. In the event, 46 of the settings were completed. Together they form a magical compendium of techniques and creative solutions which bring to vivid life these beloved melodies. Anne Laver will play many of the preludes, adding several from the modern ‘Orgelbüchlein Project’, which aims to complete the set; Circa 1600 will introduce the chorale melodies.
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Bachapella
Green Mountain Consort

Saturday, March 11 at 8 P.M. & Sunday, March 12 at 3 P.M.
Bachgrounder lecture 35 minutes before each performance
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Bach had access throughout his life—especially in Leipzig, where he moved in 1723—to many works of music by other composers, in both manuscript and print form. There is no question that he made use of this treasure trove, performing and arranging many pieces and studying and playing others to glean musical ideas. The Green Mountain Consort will explore this repertoire, known to us from lists, catalogs and surviving scores. We’ll perform pieces for up to eight voices from the Florilegium Portense (1618 and 1621), a compendium of polyphonic music; we’ll feature motets from Schütz’ Geistliche Chormusik; and we’ll include pieces by Bach’s predecessors as Thomascantor, such as Sethus Calvisius and J.H. Schein.
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Arnstadt & Mülhausen
Circa 1600
· Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
Friday, May 12 at 8 P.M. & Saturday, May 13 at 3 P.M.

Bachgrounder lecture 35 minutes before each performance
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People tend to think of Bach as a serious older man, as in the famous portrait of him on the cover of our brochure. But of course he wasn’t always older! At the dawn of his career, when he lived in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen, he was dashing, full of beans, constantly discovering, questing, pushing limits and even getting into trouble. And his music! There seem to have been no limits for the brilliant young cantor from Eisenach. We’ll perform four of his early cantatas, in which he experimented with styles and moods and orchestrations: The famous Cantata 4: Christ lag in Todesbanden; Cantata 131: Aus der Tiefe, based upon Psalm 130; Cantata 150: Nach dir, Herr; and the delightful wedding Cantata 196: Der Herr denket an uns.
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Bach Through the Years
Sonoma Bach Choir
· Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
Saturday, June 3 at 8 P.M. & Sunday, June 4 at 3 P.M.

Bachgrounder lecture 35 minutes before each performance
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We wrap up ‘Bach’s World’ with a tour of the various epochs of Bach’s creative life, via a set of exciting works featuring trumpets and timpani. We open with Cantata 71: Gott ist mein König, premiered in Mühlhausen in 1708 at the inauguration of a new town council. We then offer a suite of ensemble movements from the stunning Cantata 21: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, written in the teens of the 18th century, when Bach was working in Weimar. After intermission, we present the famous Magnificat, written in 1723 in Leipzig and revised a few years later. And we close with the thrilling Cantata 191: Gloria in excelsis Deo, a 1742 re-working of several movements from the 1733 Missa which eventually was expanded into the Mass in B Minor.
Sonoma Bach  | 911 Lakeville Street #193 |  Petaluma |  CA  |  94952 
​707-347-9491 | info@sonomabach.org

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