Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
On 28 July in the year 2000, Johann Sebastian Bach, without doubt the greatest composer in music history, died exactly
250 years ago in Leipzig. Bach commemoration events will resound throughout the world. Countless concerts, festivals,
new books and articles, and complete editions of his music on cd, will focus more attention on Bach than he ever enjoyed
during his lifetime. What the 20th century has taught us about Bach will be the subject of reflection and appraisal.
The collected letters and documents covering Bach’s life and work have recently been republished; the catalogue of his
music has been critically examined and is now available in a new version: works which proved not to have been written
by Bach have been scrapped, while other pieces have been added.
Forgotten and rediscovered
After Bach had almost been forgotten in the 19th century -except by a small group of Bach scholars- much has been made
up for in the 20th century. In 1899 the famous conductor Willem Mengelberg initiated the now traditional annual Palm
Sunday performance of the St Matthew Passion by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. In 1900 the Neue
Bachgesellschaft was founded, embarking on a new complete edition and propagating Bach and his music in Germany
through festivals and the establishment of the Bach Museum in Eisenach, Bach’s birthplace. The first Bach festival took
place in Berlin in 1901. In 1904 publication of the Bach-Jahrbuch commenced, a series of books containing studies and
articles which still appears annually. A year later a study of the performance of Bach’s music was published by Wanda
Landowska, the first pianist to play Bach in public on a harpsichord. In the same year the celebrated doctor, theologian and
organist Albert Schweitzer published his authoritative work on Bach and his music. And precisely 200 years after Bach’
death (1950), Wolfgang Schmieder’s catalogue of Bach’s works appeared. The classification and numbering of Bach’s
music which he introduced half a century ago is still internationally current: the so-called BWV numbers (Bach’s Werke
Verzeichnis, or index of Bach’s works).
Bach and the European styles
Though considered old-fashioned and severe in his later years, as a young man Bach was most conscious of the musical
fashions of his time. He was fond of all those strange sounds and colours, approaching and imitating them with his typically
German solidity. In the course of his life he gathered together an enormous library, including not only countless works
from bygone centuries but also the newest fashionable pieces by French, Italian and German composers. Thus we know
today what he studied and arranged: Frescobaldi, Froberger, Lully, Corelli, Albinoni, Marcello, Couperin, Dieupart,
Kuhnau and Vivaldi. And Bach had the ability to absorb all these different fashions and styles, to adapt them to his own
purpose, and even to far surpass his examples.
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Youth
Bach probably underwent his very first musical experience in 1685 in the womb of his mother Elisabeth, who came
from a musical family. His father too, Johann Ambrosius, like generations of the Bach family before him, was employed as
a town piper, violinist and trumpeter in Eisenach, the small town in east-German Thuringia where Bach was born on 21
March 1685. There the young Sebastian attended the same school as the church reformer Martin Luther 190 years earlier.
Hardly ten years old, Bach lost both parents within a short time and was taken in by his eldest brother Johann Christoph,
organist in Ohrdruf and probably Bach’s first organ and harpsichord teacher. About five years later Johann Christoph was
no longer able to maintain his young brother, and in 1700 Sebastian, with his school friend Georg Erdmann, set out for
Lüneburg. There they attended the gymnasium free of charge, in return for which they were obliged to sing daily in the
choir of St Michael’s church. Like an insatiable sponge the young Bach absorbed the great musical tradition of St
Michael’s school in Lüneburg and made his way through the contents of its celebrated library of church music.
The French style and the Netherlands art of variation
In Lüneburg Bach became acquainted not only with German choral music, but also with the French language, French
culture and French music. For St Michael’s school also boasted a ‘Ritteracademie’, a school for the sons of wealthy
nobility where French was spoken and French customs and etiquette were practiced. Concerts of French music were given
there frequently by the duke’s French orchestra from nearby Celle. Bach was probably taught in Lüneburg by the organist
Georg Böhm, a French orientated composer who, like Bach, originated from Thuringia. In the summer holidays Bach
sometimes walked 48 kilometres northwards to hear the celebrated organist Reinken play in Hamburg. At the age of 78
this Deventer-born organist and representative of the Amsterdam organ school of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was still filling
St Catherine’s church in Hamburg with his breathtaking improvisations. Bach absorbed all these impressions and
brought them to fruition in his own organ playing and compositions.
Organist in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen
In 1703 Bach accepted his first real appointment, as organist of the New Church in Arnstadt on his native Thuringian
ground. Bach was truly obsessed by the organ at the time, and resolutely refused to rehearse with the boys’ choir.
The conflict with his employers escalated in 1705 when Bach walked 200 kilometres to Lübeck and stayed there two
months longer than agreed to listen to the organ playing and church music of the organist Dietrich Buxtehude. Upon his
return to Arnstadt Bach demonstrated his new virtuosic playing during the service, throwing the entire congregation into
confusion and making his position in Arnstadt untenable. Moreover, Bach was accused of creeping into the wine cellar
during sermons and making music in the church with ‘a strange maiden’, probably his niece Maria Barbara. After his
departure from Arnstadt Bach became organist of St Blasius’ church in Mühlhausen in 1707, where he composed organ
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works and cantatas, married his niece Maria Barbara, and set off again after only one year; in this year Bach, with his
quickly growing reputation as an organ virtuoso and self-willed composer, had outgrown the limited scope of Mühlhausen.
The world-famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565 was written during the Mühlhausen period. The piece seems
to begin with a flash of lightning, followed by a terrific burst of thunder in the full organ chords; further on too it is so
exciting that it has become and remained Bach’s most famous organ work. In the year 1708 Bach’s career planning took an
important step forwards. In both financial and artistic terms he doubled his prospects by accepting a post in Weimar as
court organist, chamber musician and concert master at the court of Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Sachsen-Weimar.
The Vivaldi fashion
In Weimar Bach made his first acquaintance with the new Italian concertos by Vivaldi and others. We now know that
the duke’s nephew Prince Johann Ernst, who studied in Utrecht, purchased large quantities of new music in Amsterdam,
particularly concertos by Vivaldi, and unleashed a real Vivaldi rage upon his return to Weimar. Bach was also prompted to
arrange Vivaldi concertos for harpsichord solo and to compose his own concertos according to Vivaldi’s example. Without
ever setting foot in Italy, Bach allowed himself to be carried along by this Vivaldi fashion. The well-known Brandenburg
concertos owe their existence largely to Bach’s familiarity with Vivaldi’s music. And the Violin Concerto in E major bears
witness not only to his fascination with Vivaldi but also to his love of the violin, an instrument which he played himself, as
well as the organ, harpsichord and clavichord. In this concerto Bach has already left his example Vivaldi far
behind him. Beside organ works Bach composed cantatas and concertos in the Italian style in Weimar. From his marriage
to Maria Barbara two sons were born in Weimar who were later to become composers: Wilhelm Friedemann (1710) and
Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714). Once again, Bach became involved in a conflict with his employer, this time Duke Wilhelm
Ernst of Sachsen-Weimar. And again this struggle concerned Bach’s artistic freedom, since he also worked for one of the
duke’s rivals and refused to stop doing so. Bach refused to be ordered around, applied for a position as chapelmaster in
Cöthen, but was imprisoned for a month by the duke. Thereafter, in 1717, he was allowed to leave for Cöthen. And so one
of the most creative episodes in western music history came to an unbelievable end.
Cöthen
Bach’s move to Cöthen brought him more personal and artistic freedom. He became chapelmaster of the court orchestra of
Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Cöthen, a fanatical music lover of only 23 years of age. However Calvinist the court may have
been, and however strong-willed Leopold’s mother, the prince reserved no less than a quarter of the court’s expenditure for
his orchestra. He frequently joined in on the violin, viola da gamba or harpsichord, playing along with the best virtuosi
whom he had bribed away from Berlin or elsewhere. And now he had even managed to contract the phenomenon Bach.
The prince would probably be completely forgotten by now, were it not that in Cöthen Bach wrote unforgettable works
including the Brandenburg Concertos, the Well-Tempered Clavier part 1, the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, the Suites
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for solo cello, the French and English Suites for the harpsichord, the lute works and lots of other chamber music. His first
wife Maria Barbara died there in 1720, leaving the 35-year-old Bach with four children: Catharina Dorothea (aged 12),
Wilhelm Friedemann (10), Carl Philipp Emanuel (6) and Johann Gottfried Bernhard (5). Just over a year later Bach married
the talented 20-year-old soprano Anna Magdalena Wülcken, with whom he had often made music. Meanwhile he
applied for other positions as organist in Hamburg, chapelmaster in Berlin and, as third choice, cantor in Leipzig.
This fact is often explained by the cooled musical passion of Prince Leopold after his marriage to the ‘unmusical’
Princess Friederika Henrietta von Anhalt-Bernburg. More likely is that Bach longed for the big town, for yet more
musical challenge and prestige, and for good schools and universities for his intelligent and musical sons.
Leipzig
Our most familiar impression of Bach is that of the cantor of St Thomas’ church in Leipzig. For no less than 27 years he
was responsible for the church music on Sundays and Feastdays in the four main churches of Leipzig: St Thomas’,
St Nicholas’, St Peter’s and the New Church. Here he composed his many cantatas, his now world-famous St John and
St Matthew Passions and the motets. To perform them Bach selected the best choristers from the pupils of the neighbouring
St Thomas’ school, and students of Leipzig University. Choir practices were held on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
Fridays, while on Saturdays there were rehearsals for choir, soloists and orchestra for the cantata services on Sundays.
Often, however, there was hardly time to rehearse, and much to Bach’s exasperation performances left much to be desired.
The enormous number of cantatas which he wrote in Leipzig (probably about 250), and their outstanding quality, forms one
of the most remarkable creative outbursts in the history of music. In 1729, the year in which the St Matthew Passion was
first performed, Bach became director of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, a company of students and professional musicians
founded by Georg Philipp Telemann in 1702. With this group Bach gave weekly concerts on Friday evenings in
Zimmermann’s coffee shop, performing much chamber music which is now lost, as well as the harpsichord concertos, often
with his eldest sons Friedemann and Emanuel, and cantatas. Of the latter the best known is the Coffee Cantata, a sort of
musical advertisement for Zimmermann’s coffee shop. Moreover, Bach was appointed composer to the court of the Elector
of Sachsen in Dresden, for which he composed parts of the B Minor Mass. In the meantime he became the focal point of a
growing group of pupils, including Mizler, Kirnberger and Agricola, who devoted themselves to theoretical and historical
aspects of music. His work with these pupils and with his two eldest sons, the composers Friedemann and Emanuel,
exercised a strong influence on later works such as the Goldberg Variations, the Musical Offering, the Well-Tempered
Clavier part 2 and the Art of Fugue. These works are severe and old-fashioned, but at the same time free, fantastical and
modern. In 1749 the Lutheran church musician Bach completed his impressive B Minor Mass, a Mass in the Roman
Catholic tradition. At that time he was probably no longer active as cantor, since the Leipzig authorities were already
making moves to appoint a successor. Bach was very nearly blind, probably as a result of cataracts, and was unsuccessfully
treated by the English eye-surgeon Taylor. He died on 28 July 1750 after a stroke.
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World wonder
In the meantime complete libraries have been filled with books about Bach, and many will follow on this the greatest of
musical geniuses of western culture. For we now know: without Bach history would have told an entirely different story.
No composer of name in the 19th or 20th century did not devote himself to Bach or feel him breathing down his neck
when composing. His two eldest sons, Friedemann and Emanuel, sensed that they could hardly equal the genius of their
father. The first acquaintance with Bach’s music was a real shock for Haydn and Mozart. Rather late in their careers these
Viennese classics were influenced by Bach and adapted their manner of composing. Whilst Bach had been dead for thirty
years. Without Bach, Haydn’s late string quartets and Mozart’s latest symphonies and Requiem would have sounded quite
different. Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Debussy, Reger and Hindemith too played and
unravelled Bach’s works, nourishing their own style and feeling very small next to Bach. Carl Maria von Weber considered
Bach’s music to be so new and perfect that everything before him lost its significance. Brahms claimed that, if he had
had to compose Bach’s Chaconne for solo violin, he would have become so shocked and wound up that he would have
gone mad. The pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow believed that if all classical music would be lost and only Bach’s
Well-Tempered Clavier would survive, all music could be built up again from it: ‘the Well-Tempered Clavier is the Old
Testament and the Piano Sonatas of Beethoven the New, we must believe in both’. And Debussy said: ‘Bach is Our Dear
Lord of music. Every composer would do well to pray to him before commencing work’. For many composers and musicians
the motto has indeed been ‘not a day without Bach’. The last project completed by Claude Debussy before he died of
lung cancer in 1918 was an arrangement of Bach’s Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord. The world-famous cellist
Pablo Casals began each day with a piece from the Well-Tempered Clavier in order to imbibe, to absorb something of
Bach’s genius. Now, nearly 250 years after his death, Bach has an audience of millions. In Holland alone thousands of singers
and musicians are involved in dozens of performances of the St Matthew Passion in Holy Week. And hundreds of
thousands listen in churches and concert halls, or gathered around the radio, to what has been called ‘the gospel according
to Bach’. These CD’s offers a resounding impression of this great spirit of our western culture, Johann Sebastian Bach, the
severe Baroque craftsman and the expressive Romantic.
Clemens Romijn
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BIOGRAPHIES
Amsterdam Bach Soloists
The members of the Amsterdam Bach Soloists are drawn primarily from the leading ranks of the Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra with additional musicians coming from Frans Brüggen’s Orchestra of the 18th Century. The philosophy of
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the reknowned interpreter of early music and frequent visitor to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw
Orchestra, has greatly influenced the group. Using modern instruments, the Amsterdam Bach Soloists are dedicated to
the recreation of authentic, historically accurate Baroque performance practices. Their tireless pursuit of stylistic purity
coupled with minute attention to detail has resulted in distinguished critical acclaim.
Anton Heiller
Anton Heiller (1923-1979) was one of the great keyboard artists of his time. Born in Vienna, he studied composition and
keyboard performance at the Vienna Conservatory and in 1945 became professor of organ at the Vienna Academy. He was
renowned for his brilliant technique, and improvisational and interpretive artistry on both the organ and the harpsichord.
He assembled and supervised the excellent complement of harpsichordists heard here, all of whom were distinguished
musicians in their own right.
Antonio Janigro
Antonio Janigro (1918-1989), world famous cellist and conductor, was born in Milan. He studied music first in his native
city and then in Paris. Janigro formed I Solisti di Zagreb in 1953 while he was teaching at the Zagreb Conservatory. He led
the group in numerous recordings and on tours throughout Europe, the USA, South America and the Soviet Union. He was
frequent guest conductor of the major orchestras in Europe and the USA.
Bob van Asperen
Bob van Asperen was born in 1947 in Amsterdam and studied with Gustav
Leonhardt. Nowadays he counts as one of the leading musicians in the field of
Early Music, playing the harpsichord, clavichord and organ.
He also gained his spurs as a conductor and musicologist.
From 1973 till 1988 he taught harpsichord at the Royal
Conservatory of The Hague. Today he teaches at the Amsterdam Conservatory,
to students from all over the world.
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His phenomenal knowledge of the keyboard repertoire of the 17-th and 18-th century puts its stamp on his
concert programmes. He regularly tours the European countries, the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and Russia.
His extensive discography includes the first complete performance of C.P.E. Bach's "Hamburg" Harpsichord Concertos.
In this recording Bob van Asperen conducts his own ensemble "Melante Amsterdam".
He records for such distinguished labels as EMI, Teldec, Sony and Astrée. For his recordings he received prestigious
awards such as Edison prize, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Cecilia Prize.
Burkhard Glaetzner
Burkhard Glaetzner was born in Posen and studied the oboe with Prof. Hans Werner Wätzig in Berlin. Between 1966 and
1982 he was principal oboe of the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since 1992 he has been teaching at the College of
Arts in Berlin. Since 1987 he has been the director of the Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum Leipzig, with whom he
has performed in Europe, Asia and America, and has made many award-winning recordings.
Christiane Wuyts
Christiane Wuyts was born in Antwerp, the town of the harpsichord, and of the Ruckers, a family
of great instrument-maker.
She was a pupil of masters of the harpsichord in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, and went into organ
music in just as much depth, alternating with concerts and recordings for Belgian radio and Dutch television.
Her study of baroque music and her research into its performance made her a well-known specialist of
17th and 18th century works, especially renowned for her renditions on ancient instruments
In 1968 Christiane Wuyts, co-founder of the baroque ensemble Camerata Belgica, undertook several concert
tours throughout Europe. As a soloist, she performed in over 400 concerts.
Subsequently, her brief absence from the concert halls allowed her the time to devote herself to an in-depth study
of one of the least well-known periods of the life and works of Bach, the missing link: the early works.
During these years of research, Christiane Wuyts lived with the constant concern for accuracy, subjecting each score, each
manuscript, each bar or note to meticulous analysis. Then, aided by her formidable and outstanding instrumental technique
she applied this same conscientiousness to the performance of these twenty-nine unrecorded works.
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The Consort of London, Robert Haydon Clark
The Consort of London, whose players are amongst the most highly regarded musicians in the UK, specialise in
repertoire of the late Baroque and early classical period. Their Director is Robert Haydon Clark, who at sixteen won a
scholarship to study violin with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He also studied baroque music
with Prof. Thurston-Dart and quartets with William Pleeth. Whilst there he won several prizes and an A.G.S.M. diploma
with distinction. After college he became a principal player in the Menuhin Festival Orchestra and played as a
soloist with Yehudi Menuhin.
Christine Schornsheim
After attending a school for musically gifted children in Berlin from 1969 till 1976 she studied at the Hans Eisler College
of Music in Berlin from 1976 till 1982. She continued to study the harpsichord with Walter Heinz Bernstein in Leipzig.
She attended masterclasses by Gustav Leonhardt, Ton Koopman, Johann Sonnleitner and Andreas Staier. Prof. Christine
Schornsheim teaches harpsichord at the Leipzig College of Music. She regularly appears with the Neues Bachisches
Collegium Musicum, and is a member of the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin, I Solisti Instrumentali in Leipzig
and the Kammerorchester C.P.E. Bach.
Emmy Verhey
Emmy Verhey studied with Oskar Back, Herman Krebbers, Wolfgang
Schneiderhan and David Oistrach. In 1966 she was the youngest prizewinner
of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. She was firstprize
winner of the Oskar Back Competition and the Tromp
Competition. Emmy Verhey played in all important venues of
Europe, the USA and worked with conductors like Bernstein,
Chailly, Dorati, Haitink, Järvi, Marriner, Mata, Menuhin, Tennstedt
and Vonk. She played with such distinguished soloists as Yehudi
Menuhin, David and Igor Oistrach, Mischa Maisky and Antonio
Meneses. She made many CD recordings. She founded the chamber
orchestra Camerata Antonio Lucio, with whom she gives concerts
and makes recordings.
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Holland Boys Choir
Holland Boys Choir was founded in 1984 by Pieter Jan Leusink, who has been its conductor ever since. For its musical
home the choir has the medieval St. Nicholaschurch in the almost eight centuries old little city of Elburg. Thanks to the
intensity of the rehearsals and the numerous concerts, Holland Boys Choir has acquired a unique status, both nationally
and internationally. Besides making concert trips, among others to England (Great Cathedrals Tour and St. Martin-in-the-
Fields), France (Paris, Notre Dame) and Latvia (Riga Dom), the choir was also given the honour to perform for Her
Majesty Queen Beatrix. The many integral performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and the CD recordings of this
majestic works resulted in a strong affinity with the great composer, which has led up to the largest and indeed greatest
project in the history of this unique choir, the integral recordings of all the Sacred Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach.
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Ruth Holton, soprano
studied at Clare College, Cambridge. With John Eliot Gardiner, she made CD recordings of
Bach’s St. John Passion. As a soloist, she has sung at major European festivals, including
those of Flanders, Cheltenham and Bath. Ruth Holton has performed with the Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenment and Gustav Leonardt in Rome and Vienna, and with Fretwork in
Finland and Germany.
Marjon Strijk, soprano
studied with Jeanne Compagnen and Eugene Diteweg. As a
soloist, she has contributed to famous oratorios. Besides she
has appeared in many concerts and has made several
CD-and TV-recordings. Marjon Strijk has given various
recitals of songs and lieder. With Pieter Jan Leusink she
recorded Willem de Fesch’s Missa Paschalis
as well as the Mozart Requiem.
Sytse Buwalda, countertenor / alto
studied at the Sweelinck School of Music in Amsterdam. He has made
musical appearances all over Europe and worked with conductors such as
Frans Brüggen, Gustav Leonhardt, Sigiswald Kuijken and Sir David Willcocks.
With Max van Egmond, he made a tour of Japan, singing
Bach solocantatas in Tokyo under the famous Japanese
conductors Maasaki Suzuki and Yoshio Watanabe.
Knuth Schoch, tenor
studied at the Musikhochschule in Hamburg
and received the prestigious Masefield Stipendium.
He has performed throughout Europe and Japan with
Sigiswald Kuijken and Ivor Bolton. Knut Schoch was invited to renowned
music festivals like the Händelfestspiele in Göttingen,
Les Fêtes d’ Automne in Paris and the Wiener Festwochen.
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Nico van der Meel, tenor
studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory.
He made two CD recordings of Bach’s St. John Passion,
one conducted by Sigiswald Kuijken and the other with the
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, conducted by Frans Brüggen.
With the latter, he also recorded Bach’s St. Matthew Passion,
singing the Evangelist. He has worked with
distinguished conductors such as Harnoncourt,
Leonhardt and Gardiner.
Marcel Beekman, tenor
The Dutch tenor Marcel Beekman studied
singing at the Conservatory in Zwolle, The Netherlands.
He developed into a much sought after soloist, particulary in the concert and oratorio
repertoire. Marcel Beekman worked with the Berliner Symphoniker,
the Orchestra of the 18th Century and Musica antiqua Köln.
Morever Marcel Beekman gives recitals
especcialy of contemporary music.
Bas Ramselaar, bass
studied at the Utrecht Conservatory. He has developed into
an often invited soloist in the Netherlands and on the
European stages, among which the Festivals of Berlin and Bruges.
He also gave performances in San Antonio,
Texas and worked with such conductors as Roy Goodman,
Uwe Gronostay, Reinbert de Leeuw
and Robert King.
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Pieter Jan Leusink, conductor
studied at the Zwolle Conservatory and followed
masterclasses with Sir David Willcocks.
With Holland Boys Choir he built up an international
reputation, partly on account of many CD recordings,
like St. Matthew Passion - J.S. Bach, Messiah - G.F. Handel,
Requiem - W.A. Mozart, Requiem - G. Fauré, Gloria - A.
Vivaldi and Stabat Mater - G.B. Pergolesi.
As a live conductor he created great enthusiasm
at festivals in Wales, Italy, Latvia, England and France.
His prediliction for J.S. Bach’s compositions also
originates from the frequent performances of
the St. Matthew Passion under his baton.
His unique approach of recording CD’s warrants a bright,
dynamic interpretation of Bach’s Cantatas.
Jacob Lindberg
Jacob Lindberg was born in Sweden and read music at Stockholm University. In 1972 he came to London to study lute and
guitar at the Royal College of Music where he decided towards the end of his studies to devote himself to Renaissance and
Baroque music. In 1985 Jakob Lindberg founded the Dowland Consort, an instrumental ensemble which he directs and
specialises in 16th and 17th century music. He is now in great demand as a performer and has given recitals in Europe,
Canada, the U.S.A. and in Japan. He also has made numerous recordings for solo lute, for lute with string ensemble
(works by Vivaldi and Haydn) and for lute in consort. As an expert in continuo techniques Jakob Lindberg is often called
upon to play lute and theorbo for baroque ensembles and has performed with most major early music groups in England.
Jakob Lindberg was selected to succeed Diana Poulton as Professor of Lute at the Royal College of Music and he has held
this post since 1979.
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Johannette Zomer
The Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer began her studies at the Sweelinck
Conservatorium Amsterdam in 1990 with Charles van Tassel, after having
worked as a microbiology analyst for several years . In June ’97 she was
awarded her Performance Diploma.
Johannette regularly gives recitals with pianist Bart van de Roer and fortepiano
specialist Arthur Schoonderwoerd and is also member of the Early
Music groups Compania Vocale, La Primavera and Antequera.
As a soloist she participates regularly in concert and Cd recordings (with a.o.
Bach’s Mass in B minor and St. Matthew Passion) and she has worked with
Baroque specialists such as Philippe Herreweghe, Paul McCreesh, Jos van
Immerseel, Sigiswald Kuijken, Thomas Hengelbrock and René Jacobs.
Johannette Zomer is also active in opera productions, such as Salomé
(R. Strauss) with Gergiev, Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre with Reinbert de
Leeuw and with Cantus Cölln in a staged performance of Monteverdi
Madrigals. Under Ton Koopman she sings the role of Pamina.
Léon Berben
Léon Berben was born in 1970. He studied organ and harpsichord in
Amsterdam and Den Haag with Gustav Leonhardt, Bob van Asperen, R.
Jiskoot and Ton Koopman. He received solo diplomas for both instruments.
Léon Berben performs regularly with well known baroque
orchestras/ensembles and soloists, such as The Amsterdam Baroque
Orchestra (Ton Koopman), Freiburger Barockorchester, La Real Camera
(Barcelona), Gottfried von der Goltz, E. Gatti and E. Moreno. He performs
both as a soloists and as a basso-continuo player in Europe and Japan. He
made several radio and CD recordings (Hungaroton, Glossa, among
others). He gave courses in Szombathely and Budapest.
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Luis Otavio Santos
Luis Otavio Santos was born in Juiz de Fora, Brazil, and coming from a
family of musicians started his studies at very early age, first the piano, and
later the violin. His interest in early music and period instruments led him
to The Netherlands, to study at the Royal Conservatory The Hague with
Sigiswald Kuijken (baroque violin) and Jacques Ogg (harpsichord).
He was leader of the school baroque orchestra and he received
his solo diploma in 1996, with the highest honours.
Luis Otavio Santos has an intense professional life in Europe, being a
member of important groups in the early music field, such as La Petite
Bande (as a leader and soloist), Ricercar Consort, Le Concert Francais, and
De Nederlandse Bach Vereeniging. With these groups he made
many radio and CD recordings, as well as TV recordings.
Luis Otavio Santos is since 1997 professor at the Scuola di Musica di
Fiesole, Italy and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.
Menno van Delft
Menno van Delft, born in 1963 in Amsterdam, studied harpsichord, organ
and musicology at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, the Royal
Conservatory in The Hague and at the University of Utrecht. Amongst his
professors were Gustav Leonhardt, Bob van Asperen, Piet Kee, Jacques van
Oortmerssen and Willem Elders.
In 1988 Menno van Delft won the clavichord prize at the C.Ph.E. Bach
Competition in Hamburg and subsequently made his debut at the Holland
Festival Early Music Utrecht. He gave concerts amd masterclasses throughout
Europe and the U.S.A. and made numerous recordings for radio and
television.
As continuo player and soloist Menno van Delft performs with Pieter
Wispelwey, Bart Schneemann and Jacques Zoon and with the Nederlandse
Opera, Al Ayre Español, Combattimento Consort, Nederlands
Blazersensemble, Koninklijk Concertgebouw Orkest, Nederlands
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Kamerkoor, Nederlandse Bachvereniging and recorded for such labels as Globe, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Chandos,
Channel Classics, Capriccio, EMI and Decca.
With Johannes Leertouwer and the Schönbrunn Ensemble he recorded Bach’s six violin sonatas and the Musical Offering.
He is taking part in a project with the complete keyboard works of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.
In 1992 Menno van Delft founded “Das Zimmermannsche Caffee”, an ensemble that focuses on orchestral and chamber
music from the Rococo period. With his vocal ensemble “Jan van Ruusbroeck” he performs late renaissance music of
composers like William Byrd, Peter Philips and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. Together with Siebe Henstra he forms the
clavichord duo “Der prallende Doppelschlag”.
Menno van Delft teaches harpsichord and clavichord at the Conservatory of Amsterdam (formerly Sweelinck
Conservatory).
Netherlands Bach Collegium
consists of the finest baroque specialists in Europe. With Pieter Jan Leusink conducting, the orchestra made many CD
recordings, which got favourable reviews by both national and international music critics. The long experience in concert
and recording practice of the various musicians with regard to baroque music, in particular Bach’s compositions, guarantee
a characteristic performance, marked by a great sense of authenticity. This performance of the Bach Cantatas gets an extra
dimension by the integral use of period instruments.
VIOLIN John Wilson Meyer (concertmaster), Laura Johnson, Alida Schat, Annelies van der Vegt, Mimi Mitchel, Elin
Eriksson, Judith Steenbrink, Rachael Beesley, Wanda Visser.
VIOLA Jan Willem Vis, Simon Murphy, Örzse Adam
VIOLONCELLO Frank Wakelkamp
DOUBLE-BASS Robert Franenberg, Maggie Urquhart, Jan Hollestelle
OBOE Peter Frankenberg, Ofer Frenkel, Eduard Wesley, Nico de Gier
BASSOON Trudy van der Wulp, Henriëtte Bakker
NATURAL TRUMPET Susan Williams
NATURAL HORN Teunis de Zwart
TRAVERSO Kate Clark, Marion Moonen
ORGAN Rien Voskuilen, Vaughan Schlepp, Bert Mooiman
CHURCH ORGAN Martin Mans
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Pieter Dirksen
Pieter Dirksen (1961) performs as soloist on both organ and harpsichord and as continuo
player with diverse chamber ensembles. He completed his musicological studies
with honours in 1987. He has since then published a large number of essays and
editions in the field of baroque keyboard music, edited “The Harpsichord and its
Repertoire” (Utrecht, 1992) and wrote a monograph on Bach’s “Kunst der Fuge”
(Wilhelmshaven, 1994). In 1996 he received his doctorate “cum laude” with a dissertation
on the keyboard music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck; in 1997 the book received
the Dutch “Praemium Erasmianum”. A member of Combattimento Consort,
Capella Figuralis and the Utrecht Baroque Consort, he has also performed with the
Nederlandse Bachvereniging, the Stuttgarter Baroque Orchestra and the Hamburg
Telemann Orchestra. He appeared in most European countries, the United States and
Canada, and regularly gives masterclasses in chamber music and keyboard playing.
Pieter Dirksen teaches at the Göteborg Organ Summer Academy. As a soloist he specializes
in the rich 17th century repertoire as well as in Bach’s music.
Pieter-Jan Belder
Pieter-Jan Belder studied recorder with Ricardo Kanji at the Royal Conservatory
at The Hague, and harpsichord with Bob van Asperen at the Amsterdam Sweelinck
Conservatory, where he joined the staff between 1990 and 1995. He graduated in 1990
and has had a career since as a harpsichordist, clavichordist, organist and recorder
player. He played at several international festivals, such as the Barcelona “Festival de
Musica Antiga”, and the Berlin “Tage für alte Musik”. He plays regularly with such
ensembles as the Radio Chamber Orchestra, Il Fondamento, De Nederlandse Bachvereniging,
The Spanish ensemble “Ex Tempore”, and his own Ensemble Amphion.
He worked with conductors such as Frans Brüggen, Ton Koopman, Thomas
Hengelbrock, Paul Dombrecht and René Jacobs, and made many radio, television and
CD recordings. He recorded Bachs Goldberg Variations, Das musikalisches Opfer and
Das Wohltemperierte Clavier as well as as CD with harpsichord works of Sweelinck.
Belder is organist of the Koepelkerk of Arnhem. In 1997 he was awarded third prize
in the Hamburg NDR Music Prize harpsichord competition.