This afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll go for Baroque.
First, on today’s Noontime Concert, The Dryden Ensemble will present “A Baroque Tapestry,” with works by Johann Rosenmüller, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Tomaso Albinoni, Georg Muffat, and of course Johann Sebastian Bach. The program was performed at Princeton Theological Seminary’s Miller Chapel.
This weekend, Dryden will present three performances of Bach’s “St. John Passion,” at All Saints’ Church in Princeton (Friday & Saturday at 7:30 p.m.) and Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury, PA (Sunday at 3). To find out more, look online at http://www.drydenensemble.org.
We’re also, of course, in the midst of our annual “Bach 500,” at The Classical Network.
In celebration of the anniversary of Bach’s birthday (March 21st, 1685), we’re looking for 500 listeners to step up and make a donation IN ANY AMOUNT. You set the level. When we reach 500 donations, we’ll tally in the funds from our Bach Pot – contributions solicited in advance from some especially ardent supporters – and, best of all, we’ll be able to cancel fundraising on Bach’s birthday and enjoy just his music.
You can do your part to make that happen by calling us during business hours at 1-888-232-1212, or by donating online anytime at wwfm.org. While you’re over there, at the website, you can monitor our progress by consulting our Bach 500 membership thermometer.
To keep us mindful, following today’s concert broadcast, I’ll continue along the lines of last Tuesday, by offering hourly reminders, harnessed to a short work of Bach; then another work in some way related – for example, the “Choral and Choral-Prelude ‘Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ,’” from Bach’s Cantata, BWV 6, reimagined by Ralph Vaughan Williams – followed by something related to the related material, which ideally will have nothing at all to do with Bach – such as an original work by Vaughan Williams or one of his colleagues – thereby keeping it varied, while still getting the message out there.
If it’s not Baroque, we’ll still fix it, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT. Thank you for your support of WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
PHOTO: William Fawke’s statue commemorating Ralph Vaughan Williams, who annually conducted the combined choirs of the Leith Hill Music Festival in Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion”
