Bach Cantatas To Be Featured

In St John’s Chorale Concert

WASHINGTON — The Saint John’s Chorale will present two cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach at its annual Christmas Candlelight Concerts on Friday, December 12, at 8 pm, and again on Sunday, December 14, at 4 pm.

The chorale, under the direction of Mark R. Scholtz, will be accompanied by a seven-piece chamber orchestra. Both concerts will be held at St John’s Church on Route 47 in Washington.

The program will open with one of the earliest of the more than 200 cantatas written by Bach, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Come thou Savior of Man). It was composed in 1714, shortly after Bach assumed a new position as concertmaster for the ducal palace church in Weimar, Germany.

The chorale will also perform Wachel auf, ruft us die Stimme (Sleepers Awake), written in 1731 when Bach had moved on to a position in Leipzig, Germany, as organist and/or music director of St Thomas Church and three other Leipzig churches.

“Bach’s cantatas still set the standard for the genre. The early cantatas and later cantatas are equally outstanding,” commented Mr Scholtz.

Rounding out the concert will be three shorter works, Richard Proulx’s setting of the ancient plainchant Rorate Coeli, John Amner’s “Life up Your Heads,” and Richard Lloyd’s “Drop Down Ye Heavens.”

The chorale’s 2003 spring concerts, featuring works of Antonin Dvorák and Leos Janácek, were warmly received. Local music critic Jim Pegolotti wrote, “There are some concerts you wish could just keep on going, such as Friday night’s performance by the Saint John’s Chorale. The blending was seamless and the tone always beautiful, never forced.”

The chorale’s 2004 spring program will feature Zoltán Kodály’s Laudes organi (1966) and Luigi Cherubini’s Requiem Mass in C minor, composed to commemorate the 24th anniversary of those who died in the French Revolution.

Founded in 1991 by Mr Scholtz, who is also organist and choirmaster of St John’s Church, the chorale is an auditioned group with members from Washington, Warren, Roxbury, Goshen, New Milford and Woodbury.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for students and may be purchased in advance from any chorale member or at the door. Call 860-868-2527 for additional information.