Lecture: Johann Sebastian Bach

The senior citizens' association is holding a lecture at the Community Center about Johann Sebastian Bach.

Famous works by J. S. Bach will be discussed and listened to in detail on April 2 at the Community Center in Beek en Donk. Violinist Boudewijn Hopman will take you into the world of Bach in a lecture, supported by various musical interludes. The senior citizens' association is holding a lecture at the Community Center about Johann Sebastian Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach. His parents died shortly after one another, leaving Johann Sebastian an orphan at the age of nine. Bach was temperamental and quick-tempered. He married twice and had no fewer than twenty children. Of these twenty children, ten died shortly after birth or at a young age. In 1703, Bach became court organist for the Duke of Weimar, Johann Ernst III. In 1717, he began working as Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen. In 1723, Bach moved to Leipzig, which was then the most important center of Protestant Germany. In Leipzig, he received an appointment as Cantor at St. Thomas Church and held musical charge of three other major churches in the city. Presumably on April 11, 1727, Bach performed his world-famous St Matthew Passion for the first time. After his death in 1750, the composition fell somewhat into oblivion. It would take until 1829 for the St Matthew Passion to be performed again. The Leipzig years constituted the most productive period of Bach's life: here he wrote approximately one hundred cantatas. During this time, a few years before his death, he also performed at the court of the Prussian Prince Frederick II, also known as Frederick the Great (1712-1786), in Potsdam.

During the lecture, the works of J. S. Bach will be discussed and listened to in detail. This afternoon's focus is on Cantata 'Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme', On Orchestras: from Baroque to Large Symphony Orchestra, The Coffee Cantata, Orchestral Suite No. 3, and the swinging Overture from the Easter Oratorio. The lecture will take place at the Community Centre. The cost includes coffee/tea. Please register the email address of the Beek en Donk Senior Citizens' Association.