Musica Bella Concerts
December 17 & 18, 2005

Musica Bella Orchestra Season Series Concerts Nos. 23 and 24

Conductor: Phillip Gaskill

Saturday and Sunday, December 17 and 18, 2005
Church of the Blessed Sacrament

OUR BASICALLY BACH SERIES:
AN ALL-BACH CONCERT

Bach: Double Violin Concerto in d minor, BWV 1043
Stanichka Dimitrova and Claire Smith, violins

Bach: Selected Arias from Cantatas and Oratorios
Marie Ann Chenevey, soprano; Joan Barton De Caro, mezzo-soprano; Sarah Kapustin, violin
LISTEN: "So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen" (St. Matthew Passion)
LISTEN: "Ich ende behende mein irdisches Leben" (Cantata 57)
LISTEN: "Ich bin vergnügt in meinem Leiden" (Cantata 58)

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, BWV 1051
Steven Frucht and Sarah Kapustin, violas; Anahit Harutyunyan Gaskill, cello

Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D, BWV 1068
Sarah Kapustin, violin; Ron Pamposa, principal trumpet
PROGRAM NOTES (Excerpt)
by Thomas Crane
(Please click here for complete program notes,
as well as bios and photos of the musicians)

Arias. The duet for soprano and alto or mezzo-soprano (“So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen”) occurs near the end of the first part of the St. Matthew Passion. As Jesus is led away after his arrest, the two soloists mourn the event while the chorus (not used in today’s concert) interrupts with angry outbursts of “Let him go! Stop! Don’t bind him!”

    So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen
    Mond und Licht
    Ist vor Schmerzen untergangen;
    Weil mein Jesus ist gefangen.
    Sie führen ihn, er ist bebunden.

    My Jesus is a captive now.
    Moon and light
    have gone for sorrow,
    because my Jesus is a captive.
    They lead him away, he is in chains.

Each of Bach’s church cantatas (he composed an estimated 500, of which 200 survive) is keyed to the scripture reading for a particular day of the church year, and serves as a musical commentary on that text. Cantata 57, for the second day of Christmas (the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr), expresses a longing for union with Jesus through death in the aria “Ich ende behende mein irdisches Leben” (“I quickly end my earthly life”).

    Ich ende behende mein irdisches Leben,
    Mit Freuden zu scheiden verland ich itzt eben.
    Mein Heiland, ich sterbe mit höchster Begier,
    Hier hast du die Seele, was schenkest du mir?

    Forever to sever the shackles that bind me,
    Light-hearted depart I with troubles behind me.
    My Savior, I perish, from care I am free,
    My soul do I give Thee; what givest Thou me?

Cantata 58, for the Feast of the Circumcision (January 5), conjures up the terror attendant on Herod’s pursuit of the infant Jesus and the flight into Egypt; the aria “Ich bin vergnügt in meinem Leiden” (“I take pleasure in my pain”) affirms confidence in God’s protection.

    Ich bin vergnügt in meinem Leiden,
    Denn Gott ist meine Zuversicht.
    Ich habe sichern Brief und Siegel,
    Und dieses ist der feste Riegel,
    Den bricht die Hölle selber nicht.

    Content am I in mine affliction
    For God is all my trust and joy.
    I have it writ in clearest letters,
    Far stronger than a thousand fetters,
    Which Hell itself cannot destroy.

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