Bach festival

A Bach festival is a music festival held to celebrate the memory of the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Various locations throughout the world hold festivals dedicated to Bach. A notable example is the Bachfest Leipzig, held each year in the city of Leipzig, where the composer worked as Thomaskantor for the last 27 years of his life.

Historical festivals

Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival

The Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music at Baldwin Wallace University is home to the BW Bach Festival, the oldest collegiate Bach festival in the nation. The festival was founded in 1932 by Professor Albert Riemenschneider (longtime director of the College Conservatory) and his wife Selma. The then Baldwin-Wallace Festival Choir and Orchestra presented the first Bach Festival in June 1933 and has continued since then.[1][2] The oldest Bach Festival, The Bethlehem, and Baldwin Wallace performed together for BW's 75th anniversary of the festival.[3][4][5][6]

Winter Park Bach Festival

The Bach Festival Society was founded in 1935 at Rollins College to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's birth by presenting the composer's orchestral and choral music to the public "for its enlightenment, education, pleasure, and enjoyment"[7] at Knowles Memorial Chapel. Isabelle Sprague-Smith, a former New York artist and school principal, was the president and driving force behind the Bach Festival from 1935 until her death in 1950.[8] At Sprague-Smith's death, the future of the Bach Festival was uncertain. Rollins President Hugh F. McKean (husband to Jeannette Genius McKean) asked John M. Tiedtke, the treasurer of the College, to fulfill the obligation and he accepted.[9] Tiedtke served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees until his death in December 2004. The festival has been presented each year since 1935, and has expanded to a multi-week event including chamber music, lectures, master classes, and community events.

Notable Bach festivals

See also

References
  1. Rosenberg (April 17, 2011). "B-W Bach Festival serves up inspiration on intimate and grand scales". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  2. "Bach Festival History". BW history conservatory. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  3. Oestreich, James R. (May 7, 2007). "Bach's Captains and Foot Soldiers of Musical Industry". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  4. "Oldest Bach Festivals Combine for Anniversary Celebration". PR newswire. July 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  5. "The Bach Choir of Bethlehem". The Bach Choir of Bethlehem history. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  6. Gehman (July 9, 2006). "America's oldest Bach choirs joining to make history [Second Edition]". Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  7. "Rollins Magazine | Spring 2010". Issuu. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  8. "Sprague-Smith Collection | Berea College Special Collections and Archives hosted by LibraryHost". berea.libraryhost.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  9. "Oral Histories of Winter Park Residents: John M. Tiedtke". archive.wppl.org. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  10. "Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival". Archived from the original on 2006-05-03. Retrieved 2006-05-04.
  11. Kennedy, Michael and Kennedy, Joyce Bourne (1996) "English Bach Festival". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. Oxford University Press. Retrieved online via Encyclopedia.com 4 October 2016
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