PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ST. MATTHEW’S MUSIC GUILD DECEMBER 13 HOLIDAY CONCERT
MUSIC OF BACH, VIVALDI AND A HANDEL SING-ALONG
The 2013 – 2014 season of Music at St. Matthew’s continues on Friday, December 13 with a performance by The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s with Yi-Huan Zhao, violin, Phil Feather, oboe, and The Choir and Soloists of St. Matthew’s Parish. The concert takes place at 8pm at St. Matthew’s Church, 1031 Bienveneda Ave., Pacific Palisades (info: MusicGuildOnline.org)
Featured on the program will be Bach’s Magnificat in D major, the Magnificat in G minor by Antonio Vivaldi and Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor. The concert will conclude with an audience sing-along of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”
Bach first composed a setting of the Magnificat during his first year in Leipzig, 1723. The original version was set in the key of E-flat and was performed at Christmas Vespers at St. Thomas Church, where Bach was employed. In 1733 he reworked the piece, transposing it into the key of D major and making some minor modifications. It is a festive work for five-part chorus (SSATB), soloists, and full orchestra with flutes, oboes, bassoon, trumpets, strings and timpani.
On a much more intimate scale is Vivaldi’s setting of the same text, dating from 1717 or 1719. Vivaldi was the maestro di cappella at the Ospedaledella Pietà in Venice and much of his music was written for the young orphaned girls who lived there and made up the orchestra and choir. Like Bach’s more imposing work, Vivaldi’s setting of the Song of Mary is divided into multiple parts, allowing for expressive solos, in this case primarily for women. The work is scored for a smaller orchestra of strings, oboes and harpsichord and will be sung by an eight-member chamber choir of professional singers from the Choir of St. Matthew’s Parish.
Bach’s Concerto in C minor for violin and oboe is based on an earlier concerto for two harpsichords. Most of Bach’s concertos date from the years 1717 – 1723 when he was employed as Kapellmeister at the court of Anhalt-Cöthen where he led a small ensemble that provided entertainment for court functions. The work may have been recast for violin and oboe solo when Bach was in Leipzig and affiliated with a group of professional and amateur musicians, the Collegium Musicum, that performed regular concerts at Zimmerman’s coffee house. It is cast in the usual three movements with the middle slow movement being memorable for its exchange between the two solo instruments of a number of beautifully lyrical melodies.
For more information: 310-573-7422 or MusicGuildOnline.org. Admission: $35 ($10 students with valid I.D.). Children under 16 are free.
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Contact: Thomas Neenan, Music Director
310-573-7787