Johann Sebastian Bach Complete Cello Suites

Gregory Sauer, cello Sunday, January 31, 2016

1:30 and 3:00pm

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Program

Suites á Violoncello Solo senza Basso

Suites for Suites for cello solo without bass Johann Sebastian Bach

(1685-1750)

Gregory Sauer, Cello

1:30PM

Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007

Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Minuet I & II Gigue

Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008

Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Minuet I & II Gigue

Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009

Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Bourrée I & II Gigue

3:00PM Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 1010

Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Bourrée I & II Gigue

Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011

Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Gavotte I & II Gigue

Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012 Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Gavotte I & II Gigue

Today’s concert is a benefit for the Bach Parley String Academy Scholarship Fund.

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The Tallahassee Bach Parley 2015-2016 Membership as of Jan. 22, 2016:

Bach Circle ($1000+) Michael & Kelly Beck William P. & Karyl Louwenaar Lueck Dr. Stephen & Elizabeth Richardson

Handel Circle ($500–999) Lester Abberger John & Nancy Barfield Bill Brubaker Dr. Armand & Suzanne Cognetta Fred & Linda Hester Tom & Ava Prebys Mark, Susan, Max & Sujin van Hoeij Vivaldi Circle ($250–499) James Alves Melissa & Charles E. Brewer Patricia J. Flowers Dana Preu & Adonica Gieger Glenn Hosken Mimi Jones Ronald A. Kanen Dennis G. & Denise E. King Esq. Dr. Jean Marani Tom & Lynda McCaleb Jeanne & William Ryder Francis & Karen Skilling Michelle & Mike Vasilinda

Telemann Circle ($100–249) Anonymous Mr. & Mrs. Hector J. Aguirre Karl & Melissa Barton Nancy Bivins Kate Brady in loving memory of Emile J.Brady Jr. Ernie Brock Michael Corzine & Betsy Calhoun G. Kurt Piehler & Susan Contente Tim & Sue Cross Grace & Alan Dakan Bev & Jon Dalton Betty & Bob Dixon Woody & Charlotte Dudley Kyle & Marion Dunn Rick Effinger Larry & Jan Everett Nancy Fischer Sanford Safron & Penny J. Gilmer Mary Anne Gray Tonya A. Harris Laura & Al Huff Robert & Jane Kennedy Gertrude King John Knoblauch Gudrun Gaar & Robbie Laub Mary & Ben Lawson Jim, Julie & Anne Leftheris Daniel & Arlene MacDonald Barbara & John Mahoney Patricia Yancey Martin Mary M. McCormick David and Rosa McNaughton Walter & Marian Moore Bill Miller & Kate Muldoon Dale & Diane Olsen Ermine M. Owenby Doris Partridge Carla King Richardson in loving memory of Curtis King, Sr Kathleen Rose Jean Souter Diane L. Stuart Mary Helen Sukhia Dr. Ralph V. Turner Kent Putnam & Paula Walborsky Tamara Alagova & Georges Weatherly Joan Wooten

Rameau Circle ($50–99) Anonymous Mary Anne Koos & Will Abberger Patricia Applegate Paul Arons Nick Baldwin Ann L. Berlureau Bruce & Karen Bickley Betty Boop The Brennen Family Susan Cerulean & Jeff Chanton Harriet Chase Linda D. Davey Karen Wendland Dix Linda & Michael Dodson Stan & Carole Fiore Paula Saunders & Roy Forman John Fraser Ben & Beth Fusaro Patricia Gosen Sue Gross Miriam Gurniak Christine Hazelip Karyn Hebert Tann H. Hunt Laura Innes Jennings Mr. & Mrs. J. F. Jones Von A. Klink Joe Kraus Joe Lama Kyunghee Lee Anthony & Doris Maffei Stephen & Betsy Masterson Emoryette McDonald Ed & Dianne Mellon Enid H. Myers Jennie C. Myers June L. Noel Roger Ponder Joan H. Raley Tony & Janice Salinero Elizabeth Serow Danny & Mary Shuler Lynne Siegfried Ruth Sisson Lawrence & Robyn Stevenson Erica & Robert Thaler John & Virginia Walker Barbara Mason White Mick & Trish Wilhoit P. Denise Williams

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Purcell Circle ($25–49) Anonymous Vivianne Asturizaga Stanton Beazley Tom & Cathy Bishop Fenn Cawthon Frank & Virginia Charles Mary Lama Cordero Patricia A. Curtis Ginny Densmore Laura Dunaway John & Barb Elam Martha A. Fenner Janet Findling Elizabeth Fowler Prof. Paula Gerson Stanley Gewanter Sue Hansen Ben Bivins & Elece Harrison Nina Hatton Carla Connors & Timothy Hoekman Nancy & Louis Hubener Dwight Kingsbury Dr. Toni Fuss Kirkwood-Tucker Randolph Langley Bruno & Cecelia Linder Chris Livaudais Ruben Malan Tom & Helen Martineau Marjorie Morgan William & Cynthia Piotrowski Marty Quinn Mary Upshaw Rhodes Hank Rosen Josefa Schlottmann Sue Scribner Norma Smith Wayne & Gerry Smith Dr. Patricia H. Stanley Joanne Taylor Katya & Tom Taylor Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda Stephen & Susan Waltz Kayla Williams Ken Winker

The Tallahassee Bach Parley thanks all of our donors and volunteers for support, especially St. John’s Episcopal Church, Betsy Calhoun, and Lindsay Hardy for hosting this concert. Thanks also to WFSU & WFSQ radio’s Tom Flanigan and Dan MacDonald, Loren Rice for graphic design, Erica Thaler for help with publicity, Patty Herrington for distributing posters, and First Presbyterian Church for housing our library and archives.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s monogram is a combination of his 3 initials (J, S, & B) in calligraphy both forward and in

mirror image, topped with a crown of thorns.

The Tallahassee Bach Parley Board of Directors

Erica Thaler, Chair Jim Alves Susan van Hoeij Charles E. Brewer, Vice Chair Nancy Barfield Carla King Richardson Ava Prebys, Treasurer Deborrah Brodsky Stephen Richardson Julie Leftheris, Secretary Michael Corzine Brian Schaper Lester Abberger Rick Effinger Denise Williams

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Gregory Sauer, Cello

Praised for his versatility, Gregory Sauer performs in many different musical arenas. He has appeared in recital at the Old First Concert Series in San Francisco, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the Brightmusic Concert Series in Oklahoma City, at universities and schools of music such as the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt, the Shepherd School at Rice University, the University of Iowa and the University of Tennessee, among many others. Mr. Sauer was a prizewinner in the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and Ima Hogg National competitions, and has performed concertos with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the New American Chamber Orchestra, the Quad City Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the Columbus (GA) Symphony, the Tallahassee Symphony and the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Sauer currently holds the positions of principal cello of the Tallahassee Symphony and assistant principal of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. He served nine seasons as principal cellist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra. Gregory was appointed associate professor of music at Florida State University in 2006. Prior to that he taught eleven years at the University of Oklahoma, and was named Presidential Professor. Other teaching/performing positions have been a visiting professorship at the University of California at Los Angeles, and at summer programs such as the Texas Music Festival, the Duxbury Music Festival, the Foulger International Music Festival, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Red Lodge Music Festival and the Hot Springs Music Festival. It was a passion for chamber music that drew Mr. Sauer to help found Trio Solis, a piano trio that includes Read Gainsford and Corinne Stillwell, fellow faculty members of the FSU College of Music. The trio made its New York debut in Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in and has performed throughout the U.S. Other chamber music ventures have resulted in appearances at the Austin Chamber Music Center, the Victoria Bach Festival,

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the Texas Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival and the Garth Newel Music Center. He was a member of the Fidelio Quartet, prizewinners in the London International String Quartet Competition, and with that group he performed concerts in the UK, Germany, Italy, and the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals. Mr. Sauer founded and served as co-Artistic Director of Chamber Music Quad Cities for thirteen years. A native of Davenport, Iowa, Gregory Sauer attended the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory. His teachers included Ada Marie Snyder, Charles Wendt, Paul Katz, Laurence Lesser, Bonnie Hampton and Colin Carr.

Sunday Worship Schedule 8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite I 9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite II with choirs 11:15 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite II with choirs 5:30 p.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite II (Carter Chapel) 8:00 p.m. Compline (September – April)

The Lively Café Join us under the umbrellas in our indoor/outdoor café! Monday – Friday, 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

St. John’s Bookstore Monday – Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Telephone (850) 222-8814

The Rev. David C. Killeen, Rector

St. John’s Episcopal Church Loving and Serving Christ and Our Neighbors

in Tallahassee and the World

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Subjective Notes from Gregory Sauer about today’s performance

WHY ALL SIX AT ONCE?

To me, this group of suites seems to be conceived as a through-composed whole. There is an arc to the complete set that almost begs for them to be experienced in the way you are hearing them today. One could hear the set as paralleling the cycle of a life: Suite No. 1: youth, possibility Suite No. 2: challenges, defiance Suite No. 3: triumph

Suite No. 4: prosperity, solidity Suite No. 5: darkness Suite No. 6: eternal light, joy

KEYS

The keys that Bach chose for these suites are very important to the emotional tone of the music. Each key has a specific sound world that Bach and other composers through history have exploited. Here is a short list of the keys Bach uses followed by my extremely subjective description of the sound world of that given key. Selected famous pieces that are in the given key are listed for reference:

G Major (Suite 1): pastoral, bucolic — Mahler Symphony No. 4, Dvorak Symphony No. 8

D Minor (Suite 2): dark, turbulent — much of Mozart Requiem, first movement of Beethoven Symphony No. 9

C Major (Suite 3): open, ebullient — last movement of Beethoven Symphony No. 5, Mozart “Jupiter” Symphony

E-flat Major (Suite 4): rich, grounded — Beethoven Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”, much of Mozart’s Magic Flute

C Minor (Suite 5): fateful, serious — Beethoven Symphony No. 5, first movement, Brahms Symphony No. 1

D Major (Suite 6): joyful, transcendent — Beethoven Symphony No. 9, last movement “Ode to Joy”, Brahms Symphony No. 2

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DANCE MOVEMENTS IN THE CELLO SUITES J. S. Bach and many composers of his time composed Suites or Partitas using dance forms and rhythms that were familiar to listeners of that era. The composers drew inspiration from the many dances that were popular across Europe at the time, and therefore created some early examples of multicultural music. It is unlikely that Bach intended his Suites to be danced; but is clear that he strove to evoke a sensibility of dance. The Allemande originated in Germany in the 16th century, and became fashionable in France (hence the name, which in French means “German”). It is a processional couple dance with stately, flowing steps. The Courante (called Corrente in many other dance suites of this time) originated in the 16th century as an Italian folk dance with running steps. The Sarabande originated in 16th century Spain, and was a dance that was at the time considered lewd and disreputable. It spread to Italy and France where it became stylized as a slow dance in triple meter, frequently with accentuation on the first and second beats of the measure. The Menuet (heard in Suites I and II) is an elegant couples dance that dominated aristocratic ballrooms in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is French in origin. The Bourrée (heard in Suites III and IV) is a French folk dance characterized by quick, skipping steps. The Gavotte (heard in Suites V and VI) is a lively peasants’ kissing dance, characterized by two upbeats in 4/4 time. The Gigue originated in the British Isles, where it is called the Jig.

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Our Mission is to cultivate in young people an appreciation of and achievement in music, nurture positive character development, and bridge cultural divisions through the common language of music.

Violin, viola, and cello lessons Faculty: Valerie Arsenault, Caroline Holden, Miriam Barfield, and Zlatina Staykova

www.TallahasseeBachParley.org/StringAcademy StringAcademy@TallahasseeBachParley.org

(850) 270-3485

Give the gift of music lessons to enrich the life of a child! We believe in the power of music to nurture our souls. Everyone benefits by learning a musical instrument. We're raising money to offer need-based music scholarships to children in our community.

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Bach Parley String Academy Scholarship Fund 2015-2016 Donors

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far this year to our scholarship fund! With your support, young students who would not otherwise be able to take private lessons will now get a chance to develop their talents. Hector & Barbara Aguirre James Alves Brian & Valerie Arsenault Phil & Betty Ashler Stanton Beazley Bill Brubaker Betsy Calhoun & Michael Corzine Harriet Chase Mary & James Clark Janice S. Dann David & Cecilia Duke Laura Dunaway David & Hilary Edmonds Rebecca Edmonds John & Dotty Eisenhour Mark & Lisa Foltz Penny Gilmer & Sanford Safron Miriam Gurniak Fred & Linda Hester Glenn Hosken Mimi G. Jones Mr. & Mrs. James F. Jones Ronald A. Kanen David & Carol Killeen

Joe Kraus Mary & Ben Lawson David & Rosa McNaughton Ermine M. Owenby Tom & Ava Prebys Jane Quinton Joan H. Raley Jamie Seidman Elizabeth Serow Danny & Mary Shuler Lynne Siegfried Francis & Karen Skilling Wayne & Gerry Smith Jean Souter Erica & Robert Thaler Amanda & Sam Thompson Gary Zirin Earl Bacon Ins. Agency Hopping Green & Sams Mission of the Month, St. John’s Lively Café St. Mary's Circle, St. John's Episcopal Church Tallahassee Youth Orchestras

Here are 3 ways to help build our scholarship fund: 1) Make a donation using the green envelope in your program

2) Go to www.TallahasseeBachParley.org/stringacademy to donate using PayPal

3) Scan this QR code to donate using your phone:

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As always, the Tallahassee Bach Parley provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the music director by calling 850-459-3195 or by email at musicdirector@tallahasseebachparley.org at least five working days prior to a concert if accommodation for disability or if a program in an alternative format is needed.

This program sponsored in part by the City of Tallahassee/Leon County/Council on Culture & Arts,

and Tallahassee Downtown/Tallahassee CRA.

Enjoy fine dining in downtown Tallahassee after today's concert. See the program insert for a 15% discount at five different downtown restaurants on Parley concert days. Special thanks to the participating restaurants and the Community Redevelopment Agency for their support.

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Program Notes by Dr. Richard Rodda

In 1713, the frugal Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia dismissed his household musical establishment in Berlin. The young, cultured Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen took the opportunity to engage some of Friedrich’s finest musicians, and provided them with excellent instruments and established a library for their regular court performances. In December 1717, Leopold hired Johann Sebastian Bach, then organist and Kapellmeister at Weimar, as his director of music. Inspired by the high quality of the musicians in his charge and by the Prince’s praise of his creative work, Bach produced much of his greatest instrumental music during the six years of his tenure at Cöthen, including the “Brandenburg” Concertos, Suites for Orchestra, Violin Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, many chamber and keyboard compositions, and the works for unaccompanied violin and cello. The six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello were apparently written for either Christian Ferdinand Abel (whose son Carl Friedrich became the partner of Sebastian Bach’s son Johann Christian in an important London concert venture in the 1760s) or Christian Bernhard Linigke, both master cellists in the Cöthen court orchestra. The cello in Bach’s time was still an instrument of relatively recent origin. It was the Cremonese craftsman Andrea Amati who first brought the violin, viola, and cello to their modern configurations around 1560 as the successors to the old, softer-voiced family of viols. (The modern double bass, with its tuning in fourths and its sloping shape—compare its profile with the square shoulders of the other orchestral strings—is the only survivor in the modern orchestra of that noble breed of earlier instruments.) For the first century of its existence, the cello was strictly confined to playing the bass line in concerted works; any solo passages in its register were entrusted to the viola da gamba. The earliest solo works known to have been written specifically for the instrument, from the 1680s, are by Domenico Gabrieli, a cellist in the orchestra of San Petronio in Bologna (unrelated to the Venetian Gabrielis); notable among them are his Ricercare for Unaccompanied Cello of 1689. The first concerto for cello seems to be that composed by

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Giuseppe Jacchini in 1701. The instrument gained steadily in popularity as it displaced the older gamba, a circumstance evidenced by the many works for it by Antonio Vivaldi and other early–18th-century Italian composers. When Bach proposed to write music for unaccompanied cello sometime around 1720, however, there were few precedents for such pieces. The examples with which he was most familiar were by a tiny enclave of composers (Westhof, Biber, Walther, Pisendel) centered around Dresden who had dabbled in compositions for solo violin, and it was probably upon their models that Bach built his six Sonatas and Partitas for Violin and the half dozen Suites for Cello. In comparing these two series of Bach’s works, Philipp Spitta wrote, “The passionate and penetrating energy, the inner fire and warmth which often grew to be painful in its intensity [in the violin works], is here softened down to a quieter beauty and a generally serene grandeur, as was to be expected from the deeper pitch and fuller tone of the cello.”

Music is an integral part of St. John’s outreach to the Tallahassee community. All are welcome to experience the musical expressions that come to life in our sacred space.

2015-2016 Highlights

— Music at St. John’s —

Celebrating the Arts in the Heart of Tallahassee

St. John’s Episcopal Church

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Honors Recital Competition

Sunday, March 13, 2016, 3:00PM Longmire Recital Hall, FSU College of Music

Application deadline:

Postmarked by Monday, February 8, 2016

NEW for 2016: MEMORIZATION IS NOT REQUIRED

For more information visit www.TallahasseeBachParley.org

Kids Go for B’roque, now scheduled for its sixth consecutive year in 2016, is an annual competition and concert/honors recital that showcases the talented young musicians in our area performing music from the Baroque period, playing a variety of instruments appropriate to that period: strings (violin, viola, cello, bass), wind instruments, piano, guitar, along with vocalists and small chamber ensembles. Any child age 18 or younger may enter with the permission of his or her music teacher. Kids Go For B’roque participants prepare a Baroque music piece to high standards, receive feedback from highly qualified judges, and possibly perform for their peers and the community in a concert setting.

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2015-2016 Season: Grand Tour

French Baroque: Fête Parisienne Sunday, April 10, 2016, 3:00pm at St. John’s

Iain Quinn, FSU Organ Scholarship Benefit Sunday, May 15, 2016, 3:00pm

at First Presbyterian Church

British Isles Baroque Sunday, June 5, 2016, 3:00pm at St. John’s

Annual Membership Reception