Behind the Musik: Choral Splendours

Directed by Ivars Taurins
Myriam Leblanc soprano
Nicholas Burns countertenor

Performances:
March 28–30, 2025 at Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre

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Program

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Tafelmusik Chamber Choir

Ivars Taurins, Director

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

Access full bios for core orchestra members at tafelmusik.org/orchestra

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Program Notes

by Charlotte Nediger

This week’s concerts celebrate the musical friendship of Johann Sebastian Bach and Jan Dismas Zelenka. Bach was born in Thuringia in the town of Eisenach in 1685, the son of the director of the Stadtpfeifer (town musicians). Zelenka was born six years earlier in the Bohemian village of Louňovice, the son of the local organist. Their meeting ground, some 40 years later, was the artistically vibrant city of Dresden. Zelenka was one of several Bohemian musicians hired to work in the church of the newly Catholic court there in 1708, taking up the job of double bassist. Except for a period of study in Vienna, he remained in Dresden for the rest of his life, working as Kirchen-Compositeur (church composer). Bach’s close connection with Dresden began after he settled in Leizpig in the 1720s. He travelled to Dresden on numerous occasions, well known there as an organist. It was undoubtedly on one of these trips that he met Zelenka, although it is possible that their friendship predated that meeting. Zelenka and Bach both had extensive music libraries, but Zelenka had access to a much broader range of composers who worked in or visited cosmopolitan Dresden. We know of a few pieces he loaned to Bach, and the actual list would have been much longer. Zelenka probably visited the Bachs in Leipzig, and supported Bach’s eldest son Wilhelm Friedeman in gaining a post of organist at the Sophienkirche in Dresden. Bach’s second son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel, includes Zelenka on his list of the composers his father most admired, and it’s clear that the admiration was mutual. They shared a passion for complex counterpoint, for the study of styles both old and new, and a deep commitment to the power of music to affirm their faith and to move the human spirit.

We begin the concert in Bach’s Lutheran churches. Cantata 45 was written in Leipzig in 1726. The opening movement is titled Concerto rather than the more usual Coro (Chorus), in reference both to the extended instrumental opening, and to the concerto-like character of the choral sections. It is written in the bright key of E Major, a key used quite rarely in the baroque period (too many sharps!), but a key that Bach seems to associate with joy and a certain assuredness (I’m thinking of his Concerto for violin in E Major, and the third Partita for solo violin with its brilliant Prelude and delightful Gavotte). All of these qualities are evident in this chorus, with a text extolling love and humility.

From this choral concerto we turn to two more intimate works of Bach. The first is a piece considered by many to be his earliest surviving cantata, written in Arnstadt. Members of the Bach family had held posts as organist in this small Thuringian town for almost a century before Johann Sebastian arrived in 1703 at the age of 18. It is no surprise then that the writing and structure of Cantata 150 harkens back to the works of his ancestors. Scored for just two violins, bassoon and continuo, it opens with a short but poignant sinfonia. The chorus “Leite mich” opens with the text “Lead me” repeated in a scale that rises unbroken through the voices to the word “Wahrheit” (truth). In the following movement, the cellist evokes cedars buffeted by stormy winds in rolling arpeggios below a reassuring, lilting trio of solo voices. The final chorus is in the form of a chaconne, built over a repeating bass line, very much in the style of instrumental chaconnes written by 17th-century German composers. The entire cantata is evidence of the creative and eager mind of a young composer, keen to explore the ability of music to express texts.

Written some 20 years later in Leipzig, Cantata 151 was first performed on the third day ofChristmas in 1725. It opens with a tender ariafor soprano and flute, accompanied by a stringensemble to which Bach adds an oboe d’amore.Bach indicates that it is to be played “molto adagioe sempre piano” (very slowly and always softly);the result is a translucent radiance that beautifullypaints an intimate scene at the manger. As timeslows, we are invited to take sweet comfort.

Before leaving Leipzig, we turn to a piece that we know with certainty Bach performed there: the “Amen” from Zelenka’s Magnificat in D Major. A short piece, just over two minutes long, it is nonetheless a double fugue, which means that the composer takes not one but two distinct themes through their contrapuntal paces. Bach would have smiled at Zelenka’s ability to accomplish this so economically, especially as he would have been aware that his friend was generally prone to “going on a bit!”

The second half of the concert is dedicated to Zelenka’s Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis, the first of five High Masses written in the last decade of his life. Composed in 1736, it has a particular link to Bach. In 1730 Bach wrote a diatribe to his Leipzig employers about the shortcomings of his position, and noted that they should strive to emulate the conditions in Dresden, where musicians were respected and adequately paid. It seems that his interest in Dresden increased—the church, court, and opera instrumentalists and singers there were among the best in Europe. In 1733 he decided to petition the new Elector for a title, or possibly even a post, including in the application a score of a newly composed Kyrie and Gloria (a so-called Missa Brevis). The Lutheran Bach had scores of at least two Zelenka Masses on his library shelves, and it seems that he turned to Zelenka for advice in broaching a Catholic Mass that not only showed his own mastery, but also incorporated elements of Dresden orchestration and style. It is thought that Zelenka organized a performance of the work in Dresden.

Three years later we find Zelenka’s homage to his friend in the second Kyrie of the Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis. He takes the theme of Bach’s opening Kyrie and inverts it, literally turning it upside down. Bach’s is one of the most challenging fugue themes to sing and play, the ultimate expression in counterpoint of the plea for mercy that opens every Mass. By inverting it, Zelenka is acknowledging Bach’s mastery by taking on the challenge. This is by no means a case of one-upmanship: rather it is at once a most personal and most public expression of admiration of his colleague.

The intensity of the fugal Kyrie is heightened by the contrast of the preceding Christe for solo alto, as elegant and charming as the Kyrie is severe.

As to the remainder of the Missa, the brevity of Zelenka’s Magnificat “Amen” is tossed aside. Singers and instrumentalists are presented with thousands of notes, and the listener with a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes. There are few pastels here: the music is bold and inventive. Dresden was famous for the star power of their soprano soloists, headed by “Faustina” Bordoni, and Zelenka clearly had one of them in mind when writing the two demanding soprano arias. If the soprano takes top billing, it is the choir and orchestra who carry this Mass. The gritty determination of the Gloria is followed by the brilliant affirmation of the Credo. An electrifying Sanctus and Osanna frame the second of the soprano arias, in which the singer is paired with a flute. The most intimate moment of the Mass comes at the Agnus Dei, scored for solo oboe and chalumeau in dialogue with tenor and bass soloists. The chalumeau is a predecessor of the clarinet, with a sweet, warm sound. Dominic Teresi will be putting down his bassoon to play both a soprano and alto chalumeau, both built by Eric Hoeprich and generously donated by Monica Armour. The instruments are being premiered this week. We don’t know with certainty whether Bach heard Zelenka’s Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis or the four Masses that followed, though given Bach’s interest in the Catholic Mass and their ongoing friendship, it seems likely. Bach returned to his Dresden Kyrie and Gloria at the end of this life, extending it to a full High Mass in B Minor, now one of his most revered works. His friend Zelenka never say the completion—he died a few years earlier.

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Text & Translation

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Bach Cantata 150 (Excerpts)

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Credo

Sanctus

Agnus Dei