De Nederlandse Bachvereniging
Encyclopedia
De Nederlandse Bachvereniging is the oldest ensemble for Baroque music
in the Netherlands
, and possibly in the world. Choir and orchestra are internationally known as the Netherlands Bach Society. The ensemble was founded in 1921 in Naarden to perform Bach
's St Matthew Passion (Matthäus-Passion) on Good Friday
and has performed the work annually since then in the Grote of Sint-Vituskerk (Great Church or St Vitus Church). Jos van Veldhoven
has been Artistic director and conductor since 1983.
After Schoonderbeek's death in 1927, Evert Cornelis, conductor of the Utrechts Symfonie Orkest, took over and was the first to conduct the complete work. He died in 1931.
s and tried to keep close to the composer's intentions. In great contrast Willem Mengelberg
conducted regularly on Palm Sunday
in the Concertgebouw
a shortened version of the St Matthew Passion, in a romantic approach with choirs of 450 singers. Nevertheless the performances in Naarden and Amsterdam were similar at first, because orchestra players of the Concertgebouworkest and soloists were the same.
. The historically informed performance
, initiated by Nikolaus Harnoncourt
among others, won friends within De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, who pursued performances with smaller ensembles on period instruments. Therefore De Wolff left the Bachvereniging in 1983, to work with the Bachkoor Holland.
, his contemporaries and predecessors, such as Buxtehude, Carissimi
, Charpentier
, Grandi
, Handel, De Koninck
, Kuhnau
, Mazzocchi
, Monteverdi
, Padbrué, Ritter, Scheidt
, Schein, Schütz
, Sweelinck
, Telemann
and Weckmann
.
The artistic director since 1983 has been Jos van Veldhoven
, who conducts about half of the concerts. Guest conductors have included Gustav Leonhardt
, Paul McCreesh
, Philippe Herreweghe
, Frans Brüggen
, Iván Fischer
and Masaaki Suzuki
. To keep the experience of the St Matthew Passion "fresh not only for himself but also for the players and for audiences", guest conductors have been invited every other year. Some of them conducted the work for the first time in Naarden, such as Ton Koopman
and René Jacobs. Atzo Nicolai
, minister of the Netherlands who regularly attends, stated: "St. Matthew’ during Holy Week is bigger in the Netherlands than Messiah
at Christmas anywhere else".
as the Evangelist
, Geert Smits as Vox Christi
, Johannette Zomer
, Andreas Scholl
, Hans Jörg Mammel and Peter Kooy
, released on Channel Classics Records
.
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and possibly in the world. Choir and orchestra are internationally known as the Netherlands Bach Society. The ensemble was founded in 1921 in Naarden to perform Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's St Matthew Passion (Matthäus-Passion) on Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
and has performed the work annually since then in the Grote of Sint-Vituskerk (Great Church or St Vitus Church). Jos van Veldhoven
Jos van Veldhoven
Jos van Veldhoven is a Dutch choral conductor. He studied musicology at the Rijksuniversiteit of Utrecht, and choral and orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatory, the Hague. He has been artistic director of De Nederlandse Bachvereniging since 1983...
has been Artistic director and conductor since 1983.
First years
De Nederlandse Bachvereniging was officially founded on 13 September 1921. Johan Schoonderbeek was one of the founding members and the first conductor. He had already conducted the St Matthew Passion with the Koninklijke Oratorium Vereniging Excelsior (Royal Oratorio Society Excelsior) in Den Haag. De Nederlandse Bachvereniging performed the St Matthew Passion first on Good Friday, 14 April 1922. Following the praxis of the period, the work was not performed completely. Performances of the work became a tradition which has been kept since.After Schoonderbeek's death in 1927, Evert Cornelis, conductor of the Utrechts Symfonie Orkest, took over and was the first to conduct the complete work. He died in 1931.
Anthon van der Horst
His successor was Anthon van der Horst, who also was the organist of the church. He established regular performances of the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor from 1931 until shortly before his death in 1965, attracting listeners from the Nederlands and abroad. He studied facsimileFacsimile
A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in terms of scale,...
s and tried to keep close to the composer's intentions. In great contrast Willem Mengelberg
Willem Mengelberg
Joseph Willem Mengelberg was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.- Biography :...
conducted regularly on Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
in the Concertgebouw
Concertgebouw
The Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building"...
a shortened version of the St Matthew Passion, in a romantic approach with choirs of 450 singers. Nevertheless the performances in Naarden and Amsterdam were similar at first, because orchestra players of the Concertgebouworkest and soloists were the same.
Charles de Wolff
Charles de Wolff was in 1965 the successor of Van der Horst. During this period the Concertgebouw tradition was continued by Eugen JochumEugen Jochum
Eugen Jochum was an eminent German conductor.Born in Babenhausen, near Augsburg, Germany, Jochum studied the piano and organ in Augsburg until 1922. He then studied conducting in Munich...
. The historically informed performance
Historically informed performance
Historically informed performance is an approach in the performance of music and theater. Within this approach, the performance adheres to state-of-the-art knowledge of the aesthetic criteria of the period in which the music or theatre work was conceived...
, initiated by Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Nikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
among others, won friends within De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, who pursued performances with smaller ensembles on period instruments. Therefore De Wolff left the Bachvereniging in 1983, to work with the Bachkoor Holland.
Program
Since 1983 the Bachvereniging has a group of instrumentalists and singers specialized on music of the 17th and 18th century. The Bachvereniging performs about 50 concerts a year, concentrating on works of Bach and his familyBach family
The Bach family was of importance in the history of music for nearly two hundred years, with over 50 known musicians and several notable composers, the best-known of whom was Johann Sebastian Bach...
, his contemporaries and predecessors, such as Buxtehude, Carissimi
Giacomo Carissimi
Giacomo Carissimi was an Italian composer, one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque, or, more accurately, the Roman School of music.-Biography:...
, Charpentier
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Marc-Antoine Charpentier, , was a French composer of the Baroque era.Exceptionally prolific and versatile, he produced compositions of the highest quality in several genres...
, Grandi
Alessandro Grandi
Alessandro Grandi was a northern Italian composer of the early Baroque era, writing in the new concertato style...
, Handel, De Koninck
Servaes de Koninck
Servaes de Koninck, or Servaes de Konink, Servaas de Koninck or Servaas de Konink was a baroque composer from the Netherlands, of motets, Dutch songs, chamber and incidental music, French airs and Italian cantatas....
, Kuhnau
Johann Kuhnau
Johann Kuhnau was a German composer, organist and harpsichordist.-Biography :Kuhnau was born in Geising, Saxony. He grew up in a religious Lutheran family. At age nine, he auditioned successfully for the Kreuzschule in Dresden...
, Mazzocchi
Domenico Mazzocchi
Domenico Mazzocchi was an Italian baroque composer of the generation after Claudio Monteverdi. He was a composer of only vocal music, motets, oratorios and madrigals which have continuo, similar to the late Monteverdi's ones....
, Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
, Padbrué, Ritter, Scheidt
Samuel Scheidt
Samuel Scheidt was a German composer, organist and teacher of the early Baroque era.-Biography:...
, Schein, Schütz
Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...
, Sweelinck
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard composers of Europe, and his work as a teacher helped establish the north German organ...
, Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually...
and Weckmann
Matthias Weckmann
Matthias Weckmann was a German musician and composer of the Baroque period. He was born in Niederdorla and died in Hamburg.- Life :...
.
The artistic director since 1983 has been Jos van Veldhoven
Jos van Veldhoven
Jos van Veldhoven is a Dutch choral conductor. He studied musicology at the Rijksuniversiteit of Utrecht, and choral and orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatory, the Hague. He has been artistic director of De Nederlandse Bachvereniging since 1983...
, who conducts about half of the concerts. Guest conductors have included Gustav Leonhardt
Gustav Leonhardt
Gustav Leonhardt is a highly renowned Dutch keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. Leonhardt has been a leading figure in the movement to perform music on period instruments...
, Paul McCreesh
Paul McCreesh
Paul McCreesh is an English conductor.Paul McCreesh is founder and artistic director of the Gabrieli Consort & Players, with whom he has established himself at the highest level in the period instrument field; he is recognised for his authoritative and innovative performances on the concert...
, Philippe Herreweghe
Philippe Herreweghe
Philippe Herreweghe is a Flemish conductor.In his school years at the University of Ghent, Herreweghe combined studies in medical science and psychiatry with a musical education at the Ghent Conservatory, where Marcel Gazelle, Yehudi Menuhin's accompanist, was his piano teacher...
, Frans Brüggen
Frans Brüggen
Frans Brüggen is a well-known Dutch conductor, recorder player and baroque flautist.-Biography:Brüggen studied recorder and flute at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum. He also studied musicology at the University of Amsterdam. In 1955, at the age of 21, he was appointed professor at the Royal...
, Iván Fischer
Iván Fischer
Iván Fischer is a Hungarian conductor and composer. Born in Budapest into a Jewish musical family, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest...
and Masaaki Suzuki
Masaaki Suzuki
is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan.He was born in Kobe to parents who were both Christians and amateur musicians...
. To keep the experience of the St Matthew Passion "fresh not only for himself but also for the players and for audiences", guest conductors have been invited every other year. Some of them conducted the work for the first time in Naarden, such as Ton Koopman
Ton Koopman
Ton Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...
and René Jacobs. Atzo Nicolai
Atzo Nicolaï
Atzo Nicolaï is a former Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . Since 1 June 2011 he is a member of the board of directors of the Dutch chemical multinational DSM....
, minister of the Netherlands who regularly attends, stated: "St. Matthew’ during Holy Week is bigger in the Netherlands than Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
at Christmas anywhere else".
Education
The Bachvereniging has collaborated with schools in a project to create interest in Bach's St Matthew Passion, reaching several hundred students and their teachers. In guest lessons, rehearsals, an interactive CD-Rom and a website, the students are prepared to actually listen to a concert in a well informed way.List of conductors of The Passion
- 1922–1925: Johan Schoonderbeek
- 1926–1927: Siegfried OchsSiegfried OchsSiegfried Ochs was a German choir-leader and composer. He first studied medicine and chemistry at the Polytechnikum of Darmstadt and at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg...
- 1929–1930: Evert Cornelis
- 1931–1959: Anton van der Horst
- 1958: Felix de Nobel
- 1959–1964: Anton van der Horst
- 1965-1983: Charles de Wolff
- 1984: Jos van ImmerseelJos van ImmerseelJos van Immerseel is a Flemish harpsichordist, pianist and conductor.Van Immerseel studied organ, piano and harpsichord at the Antwerp Conservatory under Flor Peeters, Eugène Traey and harpsichordist and musicologist Kenneth Gilbert...
- 1985: Ton KoopmanTon KoopmanTon Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...
- 1990: René Jacobs
- 1991: Philippe HerreweghePhilippe HerreweghePhilippe Herreweghe is a Flemish conductor.In his school years at the University of Ghent, Herreweghe combined studies in medical science and psychiatry with a musical education at the Ghent Conservatory, where Marcel Gazelle, Yehudi Menuhin's accompanist, was his piano teacher...
- 1992: Ton Koopman
- 1993: Jos van Veldhoven
- 1994: Iván FischerIván FischerIván Fischer is a Hungarian conductor and composer. Born in Budapest into a Jewish musical family, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest...
- 1995: Gustav LeonhardtGustav LeonhardtGustav Leonhardt is a highly renowned Dutch keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. Leonhardt has been a leading figure in the movement to perform music on period instruments...
- 1996: René Jacobs
- 1997: Jos van Veldhoven
- 1998: Sigiswald KuijkenSigiswald KuijkenSigiswald Kuijken is a Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor known for playing on authentic instruments.-Biography:Kuijken was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels. He was a member of the Alarius Ensemble of Brussels between 1964 and 1972 and formed La Petite Bande in 1972...
- 1999: Hans-Christoph Rademann
- 2000-2001: Jos van Veldhoven
- 2002: Gustav Leonhardt
- 2003: Marcus CreedMarcus CreedMarcus Creed is an English conductor.Born in Eastbourne, Sussex , he was educated at King's College in Cambridge, Christ Church in Oxford, and Guildhall School in London. He moved to Germany in 1976 and worked firstly as a coach and chorusmaster at the Deutsche Oper Berlin...
- 2004: Jos van Veldhoven
- 2005: Masaaki SuzukiMasaaki Suzukiis a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan.He was born in Kobe to parents who were both Christians and amateur musicians...
- 2006: Jos van Veldhoven
- 2007: Richard EgarrRichard EgarrRichard Egarr is a British keyboard performer and conductor. He received his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College, Cambridge...
- 2008: Jos van Veldhoven
- 2009: Lars Ulrik MortensenLars Ulrik MortensenLars Ulrik Mortensen is a Danish harpsichordist and conductor.He studied with Karen Englund and Jesper Bøje Christensen at The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and with Trevor Pinnock in London....
- 2010: Jos van Veldhoven
Recordings
They recorded, among others, in 1998 Bach's St Matthew Passion, conducted by Jos van Veldhoven, with Gerd TürkGerd Türk
- Biography :Gerd Türk received his first musical training as a choir boy at the cathedral of Limburg. He studied in Frankfurt and then at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Richard Levitt and René Jacobs, continuing in master classes with Ernst Haefliger and Kurt Equiluz.In the field of...
as the Evangelist
Evangelist (Bach)
The Evangelist in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the tenor part in his oratorios and Passions who narrates the exact words of the Bible, translated by Martin Luther, in recitative, namely in the works St John Passion, St Matthew Passion, and the Christmas Oratorio, also in the St Mark...
, Geert Smits as Vox Christi
Vox Christi
Vox Christi, Latin for Voice of Christ, is a term for the bass voice representing Jesus in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and others. This part appears prominently in Bach's Passions...
, Johannette Zomer
Johannette Zomer
- Biography :Johannette Zomer studied voice at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam in Amsterdam with Charles van Tassel and received her Performance Diploma in 1997....
, Andreas Scholl
Andreas Scholl
Andreas Scholl is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range. He is noted as a specialist in Baroque music.-Childhood:...
, Hans Jörg Mammel and Peter Kooy
Peter Kooy
Peter Kooy is a Dutch bass singer specialized in baroque music.- Biography :Peter Kooy started his musical career at 6 years as a choir boy. However he started his musical studies as a violin student...
, released on Channel Classics Records
Channel Classics Records
Channel Classics Records is a record label from the Netherlands, specializing in classical music. The managing director and producer is C. Jared Sacks, who grew up in Boston. Sacks was schooled as a professional horn player at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam...
.
External links
- De Nederlandse Bachvereniging website
- De Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Choir & Baroque Orchestra) bach-cantatas.com 2006
- The Netherlands Bach Society Konzertdirektion Andrea Hampl
- Matthew Gurewitsch: Playing the Numbers When Putting Voice to Bach The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
15 April 2007