Classical music in Old Towne Orange

This program celebrates the friendships and musical exchanges between J.S. Bach, Telemann, and violin virtuoso-composer J.G. Pisendel. In addition to the music, we'll share with you what we found out about these specific pieces while looking at facsimiles of the original manuscripts.

In the meantime:

When J.S. Bach accepted the job at the court of Weimar, he crossed paths with Telemann, who was working in nearby Eisenach. The two quickly became friends and exchanged musical ideas for decades. When Pisendel passed through town, he became friends with both Bach and Telemann.

Our concert includes a sonata Bach wrote for Pisendel, a sonata Pisendel likely wrote in collaboration with Bach, and a sonata by Telemann that Bach and Pisendel both likely owned a copy of.

And... buckle up. The Bach and Pisendel push hard on the harmonic boundaries of conventional Baroque music. The most apt phrase that arose out of our rehearsal process is: "this is METAL!!"

Join us at Kari's beautiful home (we can't wait to come back—thank you Kari!!) to hear for yourself what shenanigans these three got up to.

Bach's Sonata in e minor, BWV 1023, opening with the dark-side cousin to his E major Partita prelude
Pisendel's Sonata in c minor, the most metal piece on the program
Telemann's Sonata in A major, a joyful contrast to the first two to bring us peaceably back into the world after our wild ride