News Release
July 2005
Bethlehem, Pa., July 11, 2005—Beginning this week, Moravian College
hosts a teacher-education institute whose goal is to integrate the music of Johann Sebastian
Bach and the world of the Enlightenment into elementary and secondary school classrooms.
“Bach Across the Centuries” marks the first time the National
Endowment for the Humanities has offered a teacher-training program on Bach. The institute
is one of 14 offered this summer at colleges and universities across the country and
abroad.
Between July 11 and August 12, the Bach institute will offer lectures,
field trips, and concerts to 25 classroom teachers, who come from across the United States
and from Italy. The speakers are internationally known scholars of subjects that describe
the relationship of Bach’s life and music to the world around him, which was changing
rapidly and profoundly from the certainties of the late Baroque era (1700-1750) to the
skeptical and investigative attitudes of the Enlightenment (1725-1825).
The institute was organized by Hilde Binford, assistant professor of music
at the College, and Paul Larson, professor emeritus of music at the College. The Bach
Choir of Bethlehem, the nation’s oldest Bach choir, will participate with musical
demonstrations and concerts. Its music director, Greg Funfgeld, also will lecture at
the institute.
Topics to be addressed include Bach’s expression of his Lutheran
faith in music (Michael Marissen, chair of the music department at Swarthmore College
and author of Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach's St. John Passion), the transition
between the Baroque and the Enlightenment (James R. Gaines, author of Evening in
the Palace of Reason), mathematical principles behind Bach’s music (Michael Fraboni,
assistant professor of mathematics at Moravian), the blossoming of science during the
era and how it affected Bach (Koffi Maglo, visiting assistant professor of philosophy,
specializing in the history of science, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati), assistance with integrating
Bach into the curriculum (Phyllis Finger, schoolwide enrichment teacher in the Easton
Area School District), an overview of the 20th-century Bach revival (Paul Larson, archivist
of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem), and Bach’s music in a contemporary setting (Neil
Wetzel, director of jazz studies at Moravian College).
The institute also will offer films, field trips, hands-on experience with
period instruments, and guided listening.
Though the daily classroom sessions and workshops are open only to institute
participants, the public is invited to attend the following events:
- “Bach and the Enlightenment: The Musical Offering in Context”
James R. Gaines
7:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 13
Peter Hall, Church Street Campus of Moravian College
The lecture is about the extraordinary meeting of J.S. Bach and Frederick the Great,
which resulted in Bach’s A Musical Offering. Reception and book-signing
to follow.
- “The Harmony of the Spheres: A 6,000-Year Tradition”
Willard Martin, internationally known harpsichord builder
7:00 p.m. Thursday, July 21
Main Hall Lounge, Church Street Campus of Moravian College
- Lecture-recital by Greg Funfgeld and Tom Goeman
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 27
First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem
Repertory: Double Harpsichord Concerto in C Major, Six Schübler Chorale-Preludes
for organ, four Bach transcriptions for two pianos, Bach’s Vivaldi Concerto transcription,
and one of Liszt’s Bach transcriptions
- Film excerpts: Bach in Private Collections—Casals, Heifetz, Stokowski
7:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 3
122 Brethren’s House, Church Street Campus of Moravian College
- MusikFest “Vespers” Concert
5:00 p.m. Thursday, August 11
Central Moravian Church
Members of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and Bach Festival Orchestra
Repertory: Cantata BW4 “Christ lag in Todesbanden,” Motet BWV 230 “Lobet
den Herrn,” and Flute Concerto in C major, BWV 1033
Information: Hilde Binford, 610-861-1691; Paul Larson, 610-867-7266; Bach
Choir Office, 610-866-4382
