For the convenience of concertgoers 

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

Music Department

National Gallery of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000B South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-sixth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lamrnot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,681st Concert

Washington Bach Consort

}. Reilly Lewis, conductor

Scott Dettra, organist

June 22, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Music ofthe Bach Family

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) 

Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie, bwv 672-674

Johann Sebastian Bach

Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren, bwv 231

Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714-1788)

Fugue on bach

Johann Bach (1604-1673)

Unser Leben ist ein Schatten

Johann Sebastian Bach 

Pastorale: Final Movement, bwv 590

Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694)

Das Blut Jesu Christi

Johann Sebastian Bach

Fantasia: Christ lag in Todesbanden, bwv 695

Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731)

Gott, sei uns gnadig

INTERMISSION

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784)

Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht

Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703)

Lieber Herr Gott, wecke uns auf

Heinrich Bach (1615-1692)

Erbarm dich mein, 0 Herre Gott

Johann Ludwig Bach

Uns ist ein Kind geboren

Johann Ernst Bach (1722-1777)

Fugue in F Major

Johann Sebastian Bach

Der Geist hilfi unserer Schwachheit auf, bwv 226
The Musicians

WASHINGTON BACH CONSORT

Founded in 1977 by J. Reilly Lewis, the Washington Bach Consort is a

professional chorus and period-instrument orchestra noted for its command

of eighteenth-century music. The consort’s mission is to perform the music

ofJohann Sebastian Bach and his baroque contemporaries to the highest

artistic standards. Acclaimed as one ofthe nation’s outstanding performing

arts institutions, the ensemble has appeared at numerous festivals and has 

made three European tours. Recordings include the complete motets of

Johann Sebastian Bach, the first American recording of his F Major and G

Minor Masses, a soon-to-be-released compilation of his solo soprano cantatas featuring Elizabeth Futral, and the Magnificat settings of both Johann 

Sebastian and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The Music Division ofthe Library

ofCongress has incorporated the Washington Bach Consort’s archive of

performance recordings and concert programs into its permanent collection.

J. REILLY LEWIS

Washington Bach Consort founder and music director J. Reilly Lewis is

recognized internationally as an accomplished conductor and keyboard

artist, as well as a leading specialist in baroque music, particularly the 

music ofJohann Sebastian Bach. A native ofWashington, DC, Lewis is an

organist and harpsichordist whose background includes study in Germany 

as a Fulbright scholar. He has been the featured soloist with the National

Symphony Orchestra, has presented numerous solo organ recitals in the 

United States and abroad, and has performed Bach’s complete Goldberg

Variations in recital on multiple occasions. Lewis’ festival appearances 

include the American Music Festival in Taipei, the Aspen Music Festival,

the Cologne New Music Festival, the Handel Festival in Halle, and the

4

Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City. In addition to regular appearances

as conductor and music director ofthe Washington Cathedral Choral Society,

he has guest-conducted the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in Bach’s

B Minor Mass, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah.

Among Lewis’ many honors and awards are the Special Recognition Mayor’s

Arts Award for contributions to the arts and cultural community ofWashington, the University Club ofWashington’s Distinguished Washingtonian

Award for the Arts, and Washingtonian Magazine’s 2005 Washingtonian of

the Year and Music Hall of Fame.

SCOTT DETTRA

Scott Dettra is the organist and associate director ofmusic at Washington

National Cathedral. He is responsible for the organ playing at more than 350

services per year and assists Cathedral music director Michael McCarthy

with the direction ofthe Cathedral choirs. Dettra is also assistant conductor

and keyboard artist ofboth the Cathedral Choral Society and the Washington Bach Consort. A prize-winning organist, he has performed at national

conventions ofthe American Guild of Organists and the Association of

Anglican Musicians, and has appeared at many notable venues throughout

the world. Locally, he has appeared as a harpsichord soloist with the Washington Ballet and the Washington Bach Consort. Dettra appeared at the 

2004 Lincoln Center Festival as organist for the North-American premiere

ofJohn Tavener’s seven-hour work The Veil ofthe Temple. He holds two

degrees from Westminster Choir College and has also studied at Manhattan

School of Music. His principal organ teachers have been Joan Lippincott,

Dennis Keene, and his father, Lee Dettra.

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Performing members ofthe Washington Bach Consort

Soprano

Joellen Brassfield

Kate Vetter Cain 

Sarah Berger

Robin Smith

Alto

Marjorie Bunday 

Barbara Hollinshead

Naomi DeVries Pomerantz

Jay Wilcox

Tenor

Gary Click

Jerry Kavinski

Dustin Lucas

Jason Rylander

Bass

Jon Bruno

Steven Combs

Richard Giamsso

Thomas Stork

Patrick Walders

Caroline Kang, cello

Jeffrey Koczela, bass

Scott Dettra, organ

6

The Program

In tire history ofmusic in central Germany from the sixteenth to the nineteenth

century, no family name was more important than that ofBach. The Bach

family produced an unparalleled number ofmusicians of eveiy kind, from

fiddlers and town musicians to organists, court musicians, and conductors. The

outstanding figure among them was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), and

three ofhis sons rank high among the famous Bachs, but a great many other

distinguished musicians were bom into earlier and later generations ofthe

family. Nine ofthe great composers with the surname Bach are represented

on this evening’s program, which is the National Gallery’s contribution to the

2008 Washington Early Music Festival.

Johann(es) Bach (1604-1673) was born in Wechmar. After spending

five years as an apprentice and two years as a journeyman to the town piper

ofWechmar, he became a town musician and church organist. His career

eventually took him to Erfurt, where he presided over the installation of

a church organ that was reputed to be the largest and finest in the town.

Heinrich Bach (1615-1692) was a younger brother ofJohann Bach. He

was taught music by his father, Hans Bach, and by Johann. In 1641 he became

a court and town musician in Amstadt, where he was also the organist oftire

Liebfrauenkirche. The sermon that was preached at his funeral, which was

printed and has been preserved, describes him as an “organist who touched

the heart” and a “musicus practicus” famous for his art.

Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703), a son ofHeinrich Bach, was probably 

the most important member ofthe family before Johann Sebastian. He received

a thorough musical grounding from Iris father, and at age nineteen he was

appointed organist ofthe Monplaisir Palace Chapel in Arnstadt. He also served 

as organist in Saint George’s Church in Arnstadt and as harpsichordist in the

court orchestra ofthe Duke of Eisenach. As a composer, he was ahead ofhis

time, producing music in the galant and cantabile style, which was simpler and

more direct than the polyphonic style ofhis contemporaries.

7
Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694) was another son of Heinrich Bach who 

received his early training from his father. Johann Michael also studied with 

Jonas de Fletin, the choir director ofthe Liebfrauenkirche in Amstadt, who 

encouraged his interest in vocal music. In 1665 Johann Michael succeeded his

brother Johann Christoph as organist ofthe Monplaisir Palace Chapel. In 1673

he was appointed town organist in Gehren, where he expanded his activities to

include instrument manufacture and functioned as the town clerk as well.

Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731) probably received some early instruction

from his father, Johann Jacob Bach, before attending the Gotha Gymnasium.

From 1699 until the end ofhis active career, he was the principal court musician at Meiningen, serving Duke Ernst Ludwig, for whose funeral in 1724

Johann Ludwig wrote the music. The preservation ofthis work and many of

his other cantatas is due primarily to Johann Sebastian, who is known to have

performed eighteen ofthem. Some ofJohann Ludwig’s works were attributed

for many years to Johann Sebastian, either by mistake or due to the chicanery 

oflater publishers.

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784) was the eldest son ofJohann

Sebastian Bach. Trained by his father and endowed with brilliant gifts,

he expressed himselfin the genres of his time in a sensitive and highly

cultivated musical language. Friedemann attended the Lutheran Latin

School in Cothen until the family moved to Leipzig, where he continued his

schooling at the Thomasschule (Saint Thomas’ Church School), where

his father taught both music and Latin. One ofthe most famous relics of

his education is the Clavier-Biichlein von W.F. Bach (1720-1726), which

contains inventions, sinfonias, and preludes that Johann Sebastian probably

wrote specifically for tutorial purposes, as well as several pieces by other

composers (Johann Caspar Richter, Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel, Georg

Philipp Telemann, and Friedemann Bach himself). In 1731 Friedemann

applied for the post of organist at the Dresden Sophienkirche. Documents

pertaining to the audition state that the jury members praised “the skill of

the younger Bach....He was the best ofthree well-qualified candidates.” In

Dresden Bach was also active as a composer. In addition to choral music

for performance at the Sophienkirche, he wrote five harpsichord concertos,

several sinfonias and trio sonatas, and a number of harpsichord sonatas and

smaller keyboard works.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), the second surviving son of

Johann Sebastian Bach, was the most important composer in Protestant

Germany during the second half ofthe eighteenth century, and his music

influenced his younger contemporaries in both Germany and Austria.

Thanks in part to his father’s intervention on his behalf, Philipp Emanuel

was hired as court composer, conductor, and harpsichordist by Prince 

Frederick 11 of Prussia, an avid amateur musician as well as a lavish patron. 

Frederick’s orchestra—40 members strong at its peak—was one ofthe

largest in Germany at the time. Frederick, who took flute lessons from his 

court flutist, Johann Joachim Quantz, and studied composition as well,

usually played in his own court concerts. The years between 1740 and 1755

were a “golden age” for Philipp Emanuel and the other musicians who

worked in Sans Souci, Frederick’s palace in Postdam, but with the onset of

the Seven Years’ War in 1756, the prince’s preoccupation with warfare led

him to neglect his other interests, and one by one the musicians left for

other opportunities. Philipp Emanuel Bach took on a huge assignment as

music director of Hamburg’s five principal churches. According to a report

made after his death, the number ofmusical performances was almost

200 a year, all sung, when they included choral music, by a small choir 

consisting of pupils from the Johanneum (the city’s first grammar-school, 

which was already 200 years old when Bach took over its choir) and a few

professional singers.

Johann Ernst Bach (1722-1777) was a pupil of his uncle, Johann Sebastian Bach, at the Saint Thomas’ Church School in Leipzig. After studying 

law at Leipzig University, he returned to his native Eisenach to assist his 

father in his church music post, in which he eventually succeeded him. He

continued to practice law, even while adding to his duties the music at the 

ducal court in Weimar. As a composer, Johann Ernst was familiar with the 

stylistic innovations of his time (galant and cantabile), although he did not

exclude contrapuntal writing. His vocal works are often highly chromatic

and full ofsyncopated rhythms.

9
Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt

National Gallery Chamber Players String Quartet

Music by Haydn, Patino, and Schubert

June 29, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

The Sixty-seventh Season of Concerts

at the National Gallery ofArt

October-December 2008

All concerts in the West Building, West Garden Court*

OCTOBER

3 Frederic Yonnet, harmonica player

Music for jazz harmonica and small

ensemble

• Friday at 5:30 pm and 7:15 pm

Sculpture Garden

5 musica(aperta

Spanish music and art from 1300 to the

present. Presented in honor of Hispanic

Heritage Month

12 Gilles Vonsattel, pianist

Music by J. S. Bach, Liszt, Muhly, Rorem, 

and Schubert. Presented in connection

with the Swiss Cultural Festival

15 Michele Campanella, pianist

Music by Domenico Scarlatti

Presented in honor of Pompeii and the

Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the

Bay ofNaples

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall

19 Festival Strings Lucerne

Music by Brahms, Mendelssohn, and

Sarasate. Presented in connection with

the Swiss Cultural Festival

22 Brazilian Guitar Quartet

• Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall

26 Vienna Piano Trio

Music by Haydn, Schubert, and Smetana

29 Musica ad Rhenum

Music for recorder, cello, and harpsichord

Presented in honor ofJan Lievens: A Dutch

Master Rediscovered

• Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall

NOVEMBER

2 National Gallery Vocal Arts Ensemble

Music by seventeenth-century composers

Presented in honor ofJan Lievens:

A Dutch Master Rediscovered

9 The Coast Orchestra

Live music for the film

In the Land ofthe Head Hunters

Presented in honor of George de Forest

Brush: Indian Paintings

16 Euclid String Quartet

Quartets by Ades, Beethoven, 

and Chernin

23 The Singers’ Companye

Samuel Gordon, conductor

Music by Native American

and other American composers

Presented in honor of George de Forest

Brush: Indian Paintings

30 Verge Ensemble

Music by Elliott Carter and

Jeffrey Mumford

DECEMBER

7 Till Fellner, pianist

Beethoven Sonata Cycle

14 New York Opera Society and

Soloists from Norway

Presented in connection with the Norwegian Christmas Festival at Union Station

21 Alessandra Marc, soprano

With the National Gallery Strings

Christmas Concert

28 National Gallery Orchestra

Manfred Knoop, guest conductor

New Year Concert

* unless otherwise indicated