Organization

Draw On, Sweet Night - Concert

Presented by California Bach Society at All Saints Episcopal Church

March 17, 2012

The madrigal genre, with its different regional forms, reflected the rise of humanism in 16th century Europe, and with it, vernacular forms of music and poetry that flourished alongside Latin sacred music.

Composers such as Claudio Monteverdi, John Wilbye, Claudin de Sermisy, and Orlando di Lasso set the poetry of love and longing to music with distinctive word-painting and expressive harmonic turns, while drawing upon dance-like rhythms to convey more light-hearted

Chandos and Chapel Royal - Concert

Presented by California Bach Society at All Saints Episcopal Church

April 28, 2012

Tonight's program features the splendid works of GF Handel. The earliest anthems were written for the Duke of Chandos, whose palatial estate in Sussex boasted its own court musicians. Later, Handel wrote more elaborate anthems for the sovereign's private Chapel Royal.

In 1727, Handel was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation of King George II. Sir Thomas Beecham, 20th century British conductor, wrote, "Since Handel's time mankind has heard no music written for

A Belen (To Bethlehem) - Concert

Presented by California Bach Society at All Saints Episcopal Church

December 3, 2011

Today, the Spanish term villancico is synonymous with Christmas carol, but from the 16th to 18th centuries, this was an elaborate musical genre that attracted the leading composers of the day. Those villancicos are a pastiche of devotional fervor and witty secularity, with characters drawn from everyday life and folklore.

Tonight's program features the tender and beautiful Serafín che con dulce harmonia by Joan Cererols, as well as lively, rhythmic villancicos of Pedro

Magnificat - Concert

Presented by California Bach Society at St. Mark's Episcopal Church - Palo Alto

October 15, 2011

The California Bach Society season opens with two Bach Magnificats: Johann Sebastian's festive D major Magnificat (1733) for large orchestra, five-part choir, and vocal soloists, contrasting with the elegant C major setting (1760) by Bach's youngest son, Johann Christian.

The program includes music by two of Bach's Leipzig predecessors: Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele by Johann Schelle, and Sebastian Knüpfer's Ach Herr, strafe mich nicht in deinem Zorn, a

Johannes Brahms' German Legacy - Concert

Presented by California Bach Society at All Saints Episcopal Church

April 30, 2011

California Bach Society's final program showcases the beautiful motets and partsongs of Johannes Brahms and his musical forebears Bach, Schütz, Schein, and Hassler. Schütz's polychoral compositions inspired Brahms' celebratory motets of Fest und Gedenksprüche, opus 109.

Brahms' lovely Schaffe in mir, Gott displays imitative polyphony and canonic writing reminiscent of Schütz's Selig sind die Toten and Schein's Die mit Tränen

Dietrich Buxtehude - Concert

Presented by California Bach Society at All Saints Episcopal Church

March 5, 2011

Dietrich Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri (1680) is a set of seven short cantatas for Holy Week, its text attributed to medieval poet Arnulf of Louvain. It is a cycle of mystical contemplations on the body of the crucified Christ -- the feet, knees, hands, side, chest, heart and face. The cantatas are composed of concerti, solos and trios, and exquisite choral sections. Although rarely performed, Buxtehude's work is one of the most expressive and poignant vocal pieces of the Baroque

A Bach Celebration

Presented by California Bach Society at All Saints Episcopal Church

January 23, 2011

This all-Bach program features splendid arias, duets, and choruses in celebration of the California Bach Society's 40th Anniversary, and includes refreshments.

The afternoon begins with a complete performance of Cantata 196, Der Herr denket an uns. Then, popular Bay Area soloists soprano Jennifer Paulino, tenor Brian Thorsett, and baritone Jeffrey Fields join CBS artistic director and countertenor Paul Flight to delight you with favorite Bach arias and duets. After