This is a busy and exciting week for Midsummer’s Music. We are opening two different programs almost simultaneously. “Bach to the Future,” featuring Will Healy and his friend, George Meyer, plays July 18, 19, and 21. “Grieg Piano Concerto and Jeannie Yu” opens in the middle of that on July 20. This makes for a rather hectic schedule, because those two programs have to be rehearsed almost simultaneously. That can mean that two different rehearsals are happening at the same time at different venues. However, if some of the same musicians are involved, it can also mean some very long days. However, for the listener, it means a feast of riches. Two great and entirely different programs to choose from or to enjoy concurrently. I should point out that the Grieg program continues on to the following weekend with additional performances July 25, 26, and 27, so there are ample opportunities to hear both programs.
The first of these two programs, “Bach to the Future,” was developed in conjunction with our Composer-in-Residence, Will Healy. It literally starts with the music of J. S. Bach and continues into the future with music by Will that was influenced by Bach. Then, Will and George will take things a bit further with a section of the program called “Upstream,” which will include some of their music and improvisation for violin and piano that will suggest something of a crossover approach. Flutist Heather Zinninger and Cellist Mara McLain will join Will and George for the Bach portion of the program, and violinist Sahada Buckley will be a part of Will’s composition, Root Position.
Will also is scheduled for a Coffee Talk at 1:00 pm on Friday, July 19 at Shepherd of the Bay Church in Ellison Bay, in which he will discuss the role of Bach in the development of music through subsequent generations. Without stealing too much of Will’s thunder, it is a rich subject to note the influence Bach had on composers like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms—really almost everyone. What is so amazing is that knowledge of Bach’s music all but died out after his death. In fact, even during his lifetime, he was not all that well known as a composer except in his hometown of Leipzig and a few other smaller places where he had worked. His greatest fame during his life was as a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist and as an authority on organ building. Few of his works were published during his lifetime, and his ornate Baroque style was quickly replaced in the mid-18th century by a much lighter and less complicated “Rococo” style. Even his son, the great composer, Carl Philip Emanuel Bach, referred to his father stylistically as “The Old Wig.”
However, within a generation or so after his death, thanks to the efforts of Godfried (Baron) van Swieten, an Austrian diplomat, librarian, and musician who encountered the works of J. S. Bach, especially during his tenure at the court of Frederick the Great, brought awareness of Bach’s works to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (Beethoven dedicated his First Symphony to van Swieten) in Austria. Mendelssohn, who became the leader of the Leipzig Gewandhaus in the early 19th century also played his role unearthing more of Bach’s works during his tenure there and spread Bach’s influence to Schumann, Brahms, and others. The result changed the course of music history. In fact, it is impossible to imagine the rich legacy of music over the last two centuries had Bach’s music continued to lie dormant and unknown beyond those first few decades after his death. Will’s Coffee Talk and his program “Bach to the Future” will give elegant testament to that proposition.
Meanwhile, Grieg’s Piano Concerto, featuring pianist Jeannie Yu, will headline a romantically tinged program that also includes a rare instrumental work by Puccini and a sumptuous string quartet from 1860 by the German female composer Emilie Mayer, which will be led by violinist David Perry. The Grieg Concerto will be presented in an arrangement by the award-winning Swedish pianist, Per Tengstrand, that amazingly captures the rich harmonies and Norwegian melodies of the original in this charming chamber music version. The Grieg Concerto was once a favorite on symphonic programs, but this masterpiece is not programmed very often today. When I heard the quality of this arrangement, and with the lack of chamber music by Grieg, the opportunity to present Jeannie Yu in this work seemed an obvious and tantalizing choice.
All concerts are at 7:00 pm except for the one at Hope Church (“Bach to the Future) on July 21st, which will be at 5:00. The Grieg program at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Saturday, June 20th, will be in memory of Marvin Ketterling, a former member of the Midsummer’s Music Board. For tickets or more information, please call (920) 854-7088 or visit www.midummersmusic.com. Masterworks and fascinating discoveries, compellingly performed by some of the nation’s finest musicians, await you in delightful settings. All concerts are followed by a reception. We look forward to having you join us.
Jim Berkenstock,
Artistic Director