Baroque Period

Handel’s “Gloria”: A Musical Treasure, Lost and Found

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In 2001, a long lost work by Handel was miraculously discovered. The manuscript for Handel’s Gloria in excelsis Deo had been hiding in plain sight in the library of London’s Royal Academy of Music. Bound in a collection of Handel arias that had been owned by singer William Savage (1720-1789), the manuscript was not in the composer’s hand. It was authenticated by Hamburg University professor Hans Joachim Marx. The Academy’s principal, Curtis Price, …

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Vivaldi’s “Sonno, se pur sei sonno” from “Tito Manlio”: Lucio’s Lament

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Antonio Vivaldi’s opera, Tito Manlio, composed over the course of five days in December of 1718, centers around a turbulent moral dilemma. Love and loyalty to family come into conflict with duty and rigid adherence to the law. Here is a brief synopsis, provided by Naxos.com: Titus Manlius is engaged in war with the people of Latium. Conflicts of love and duty arise with his daughter Vitellia, in love with the Latin …

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Remembering Joan Lippincott

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Joan Lippincott, the American organist and esteemed teacher, passed away last Saturday, May 31 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. She was 89. For nearly four decades, Lippincott served as Professor of Organ and Head of the Organ Department at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. A recent statement released by the College honors her contribution: With an unerring ear, a fierce dedication to musical integrity, and deep personal kindness, she was both a …

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Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C-Sharp Minor, BWV 849: “Holy of Holies”

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The 19th century commentator, Hugo Riemann, described Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor, BWV 849 as the “holy of holies.” The phrase, found in the Hebrew Bible, refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle, where the Shekhinah (God’s presence) appeared. The fourth piece from Book 1 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 849 is solemn, meditative music filled with wrenching melancholy. The Prelude is a loure, a French Baroque dance which resembles …

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Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543: “The Great”

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It was during his youthful tenure in Weimar (1708-1713) that J.S. Bach composed the “Great” Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543. Only a few years earlier, the 20-year-old Bach walked north 200 miles to Lübeck to hear the celebrated organist, Dieterich Buxtehude, and “to comprehend one thing and another about his art.” The influence of Buxtehude’s style, along with the Italian music of Corelli, can be heard in BWV 543, …

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Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 944: Warmup and Herculean Feat

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Composed in Weimar, circa 1713, J.S. Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, BWV 944 amounts to a warmup, followed by a herculean feat of athleticism. The warmup, for our ears, the players fingers, and the instrument alike, comes with the brief ten-bar Fantasia. Bach notated this opening as chords, with the instruction, “arpeggio.” The player is free to improvise on a harmonic progression which is at once melancholy, mysterious, and sensuous. …

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Shunske Sato Plays Vivaldi: “Spring” from “The Four Seasons”

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Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni) is one of the earliest and most iconic examples of programmatic music. Vivaldi composed the collection of four violin concerti, each depicting a season of the year, during his tenure as music director at the court chapel of Mantua. Together with eight additional concerti, the works were published in Amsterdam in 1725 under the enticing title, Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (“The Contest Between Harmony and …

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