Martin Haselböck, music director of Los Angeles' Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, has been chosen to perform the modern-day premiere of a long-lost solo organ work by Johann Sebastian Bach, which was recently discovered by German scholars. The performance will be June 7, 2008, at the Halle Handel Festival, in Halle, Germany.
The eight-minute organ piece (just designated BWV 1128), dates from the early days of Bach's career; musicologists, Michael Pacholke and Stephan Blaut, who are doing research for a book on Bach's complete works, dated the piece to between 1705 and 1710, based on its stylistic features. It is the longest existing Chorale Fantasy by Bach and is titled Fantasia sopra il Corale "Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns haelt" ("Where God the Lord does not stay by our side").
The manuscript was found in an auction lot by professors from the Martin-Luther University in Halle, said one of them, Stephan Blaut. He stumbled upon the organ composition in a collection that had belonged to the 19th century Leipzig musician Wilhelm Rust and was being prepared for sale, Prof Blaut said.
"While reviewing the items to be auctioned, I came across a piece from Bach that I did not know. With that began the research," Prof Blaut said. He said experts from the Bach Archive in Leipzig examined the work and confirmed that it was indeed composed by Bach, probably between 1705 and 1710.
They found that the work is the complete version of a fragment of music of the same name that has long been attributed to Bach, though questions remained about its provenance, Prof Blaut said. It had been listed in catalogues of the legendary 18th century composer's works with the disclaimer "origin not verified".
In addition to leading Musica Angelica and Vienna's Orchester Wiener Akademie, Haselböck is recognized internationally as a solo organist, orchestral and opera conductor, and composer.
Sources:
• www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3271063,00.html
• www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23547944-23109,00.html
The word is "provenance", not "providence".
Posted by: david dunkle | April 30, 2008 at 09:33 AM