Newswire | The Complete First Book of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier at Bourgie Hall

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Montreal, Monday December 12, 2022 – In collaboration with Les Idées heureuses, Bourgie Hall presents three events to mark the 300th anniversary of the complete First Book of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Renowned harpsichordist and musicologist Geneviève Soly will perform this monument of Western music in its entirety, from January 16 to 18, 2023, over the course of an introductory lecture and two concerts with commentary. Each concert, each two hours and fifteen minutes in duration (including the intermission), comprises 12 preludes and fugues performed on either harpsichord or organ. Thanks to Mrs. Soly’s pedagogical expertise, the public will have the opportunity to learn more about the 24 preludes and fugues that make up this unique corpus in the history of Western music. Rarely heard in concert in its entirety, complete performances of the collection in Montreal include those by the late Réjean Poirier over 35 years ago, by Mark Edwards in 2019 (both on harpsichord), and that by Bernard Lagacé on the organ in the mid-1970s.

Completed in 1722 while Bach was in Koethen, this First Book comprises 24 preludes and fugues, in all major and minor keys of Western music, in ascending chromatic order. The decision to add commentaries to these concerts is entirely in keeping with the spirit of the composer who, in the full title of the work, emphasized that it is intended in particular “for the benefit and use of young musicians eager to learn.” Bach thus sheds light on the pedagogical dimension of his personality, which constituted a fundamental aspect of his musical activities throughout his life.

Stemming from a carefully considered artistic approach as well as in-depth musicological research leading to a better understanding of this collection, the introductory lecture is divided into two parts. The first will address the work’s musical sources, and will discuss the term “keyboard”, the well-tempered tuning system during Bach’s time and the musical form of the fugue. The interpretation of the pieces that make it up will also be discussed from various angles: Bach’s spirituality as well as the rhetoric and the “Doctrine of Affects” which dominated musical discourse during the Baroque period. The second part examines the relationship between music and mathematics in light of various treatises from the Baroque period, and in particular the symbolism of numbers, the influence of which was considerable in Bach’s time.

These two fundamental aspects of Bach’s life, his spirituality and the influence of rhetoric, are transposed throughout his work. The insightful commentaries accompanying the interpretation of the diptychs “prelude – fugue” help the listener to grasp the essence of Bach’s musical and its spiritual discourse, with musicological research informing the musical interpretation of these works.

Some pieces are better suited to the organ and others, to the harpsichord. Therefore, two instruments from Bourgie Hall’s magnificent collection will be used during these concerts: the Flemish harpsichord by Keith Hill based on a model dating from the 17th century, as well as a large chamber organ (Opus 2) by Hellmuth Wolff.

Geneviève Soly

A major figure in Quebec’s Baroque music scene, Geneviève Soly is recognized for her talents as a musician, musicologist, communicator and teacher. With flair and determination, she leads Les Idées heureuses, the ensemble she founded in 1987. A specialist of German and French Baroque music, Ms. Soly has also taken an interest in recent years in the conventual repertoire of women’s congregations in Nouvelle-France, an area in which she has carried out research that enabled her to share part of our musical heritage with the public during Les Idées heureuses’ traditional Passiontide concert in a spirit of historicity of musical practices. The European repertoire transliterated into indigenous languages ​​also caught her attention. In addition, she is credited with the rediscovery of the music of German composer Christoph Graupner. Her seven recordings of Graupner’s harpsichord music and the four others of his vocal and instrumental music, which she recorded with Les Idées heureuses on the Analekta label, have earned awards all over the world. She is currently editing Graupner’s partitas for harpsichord with Breitkopf und Härtel while preparing Les Idées heureuses’ 36th season and the complete presentation of the First Book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier.

THE COMPLETE FIRST BOOK  OF J.S.  BACH’S WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER AT BOURGIE HALL

Monday, January 16, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. – Lecture (in French)

Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at 7 p.m. – Concert with commentary 1 /2

  • Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major, BWV 846
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 7 in E-flat major, BWV 852
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 8 in E-flat minor, BWV 853
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 21 in B-flat major, BWV 866
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 22 in B-flat minor, BWV 867
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 9 in E major, BWV 854
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 10 in E minor, BWV 855
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in G major, BWV 860
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 16 in G minor, BWV 861
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 6 in D minor, BWV 851
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in D major, BWV 850

Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 7 p.m. – Concert with commentary 2 /2

  • Prelude and Fugue No. 20 in A minor, BWV 865
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 19 in A major, BWV 864
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 14 in F-sharp minor, BWV 859
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 13 in F-sharp major, BWV 858
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C-sharp major, BWV 848
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 4 in C-sharp minor, BWV 849
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 11 in F major, BWV 856
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 12 in F minor, BWV 857
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 17 in A-flat major, BWV 862
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 18 in G-sharp minor, BWV 863
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 23 in B major, BWV 868
  • Prelude and Fugue No. 24 in B minor, BWV 869

All details available online at bourgiehall.ca.

BOX OFFICE

Three simple ways to purchase tickets

ONLINE : bourgiehall.ca

BY PHONE: 514 285-2000, option 1, or 1 800 899-6873

IN PERSON at the MMFA box office (during opening hours)

and at Bourgie Hall (one hour prior to the concerts)

The introductory conference on January 16, 2023 is free for MMFA members, students (with a valid student card), as well as for any ticket holder for any one of the two concert-conferences. In order to benefit from this free admission to the conference, simply call 514-285-2000, option 1, or send an email at sallebourgie@mbamtl.org mentioning your order number. Enjoy a 30% discount when purchasing simultaneously tickets for both concerts


Bourgie Hall

Inaugurated in September 2011, Bourgie Hall is a 462-seat concert hall at the heart of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Possessing exceptional acoustics, it has quickly made a name for itself as one of Canada’s most beloved venues for concert music. Located in the nave of the former Erskine and American Church, its spectacular architecture includes a collection of twenty Tiffany stained glass windows that is unique in the country. Bourgie Hall presents over a hundred concerts a year in various musical styles, ranging from jazz to classical works, from Baroque music to contemporary creations. Its high-calibre programming features some of the most prominent Canadian and international musicians of their generation, whether they be at the beginning of their careers or already well established. bourgiehall.ca

This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en: Francais (French)

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