Overture Magazine - 2015-2016 Season March-April 2016 | Page 17

About the concert:
Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068

Johann Sebastian Bach

Born in Eisenach, Thuringia (now Germany),
March 21, 1685; died in Leipzig, July 28, 1750

In the intellectual rigor of his fugues and
the spiritual depth of his passions and
cantatas, J. S. Bach seems to represent the
loftiest state to which music can aspire.
But this formidable German had his
lighter side as well, and his four orchestral suites show him as a master entertainer, wielding the courtly dance forms
of his day with wit and panache.
Scholars are still not sure when and
where the suites were written. Their
secular nature and courtly style would
seem to place them in the period of 1717 to
1723, when Bach served as kapellmeister
at the princely court of Cöthen and
primarily created secular instrumental
works, notably the six Brandenburg
Concertos. But Prince Leopold’s orchestra
was of modest size and presumably
unable to provide the exceptionally
sumptuous complement of three trumpets
required by Suites 3 and 4. Therefore,
most likely the work we hear tonight was
created in the late 1720s or early 1730s,
during his long service in Leipzig.
In addition to his primary duties
providing music for the services of St.
Thomas Church, from 1729 to 1737,
Bach directed that city’s Collegium Musicum, a voluntary association of professional musicians and university students.
Here Bach could put aside sacred texts
and exercise his secular genius.
Like its three siblings, the Suite No. 3
in D Major is an amalgamation of two
forms very popular in this period: the
French overture and the dance suite,
based on traditional French courtly dances.
Taking up more than half the work, the
opening movement follows the traditional French-overture form with slow

OPERA | CONCERTS | COMEDY | DANCE | THEATRE & More!
ROSSINI’S
Il

BARBIERE
di

SI IGLIA

Sleeping
Beauty
The Lyric and
Ballet Theatre
of Maryland are
proud to present
a new ballet
collaboration.

THE BARBER
OF SEVILLE

MARCH 11 & 13

7:30pm | 3:00pm

Starring:
Steven LaBrie | Emily Fons | Alek Shrader
Conducted by: Maestra Sara Jobin
Stage Director: Jeffrey Buchman
Artistic Director: James Harp
Featuring: The Concert Artists of Baltimore Orchestra
Sung in Italian with English surtitles

MARYLAND’S PREMIER
PROFESSIONAL BALLET COMPANY

MARCH 19 7:00pm
GOUNOD’S

LYRIC OPERA BALTIMORE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JAMES HARP
Starring: Sarah Joy Miller | Jonathan Boyd
Luis Alejandro Orozco | Kevin Langan
Conducted by: Maestro Adam Turner
Stage Director: Bernard Uzan
Featuring: The Concer