Saturday, October 5, 2024
Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ Amsterdam
Droning, grunting, gently soulful or heartbreakingly whining: pain can be expressed in an infinite number of ways. Add music to that mix and you get a stunning array of songs that search between complaint, regret and hope for points of light in the darkness.
This concert offers an anthology of the finest lamentations of the Baroque period. Sorrow is expressed in the lamento, a beloved aria type for composers that was booming at the time. Not only in the hands of Johann Sebastian Bach, but also in those of his nephew Johann Christoph, "a profound composer," according to Johann Sebastian.
Prior to the concert, at 7 p.m., there will be a lecture by Jan van den Bossche. Bach wrote some of his most moving arias for the alto voice, the most famous highlight being the aria Erbarme dich from the Matthew Passion. This lecture examines the role of the alto voice in Bach's oeuvre, using some of his finest arias and solo cantatas. Did this voice type have a specific significance for him, or for German Baroque music in general? And who actually sang these arias? A choirboy or a grown man using his head voice? Or was Bach possibly also inspired by his second wife, Anna Magdalena, who was an outstanding singer?
Tickets available at Music Building on the IJ