JS Bach’s odyssey imagined in chamber musical
As a young man, Johann Sebastian Bach made a long journey on foot to see a famous organist perform. Bach, a gifted performer but not yet a composer, was given one month leave from his employer in Arnstadt, Germany to make the 450-kilometre trek to Lübeck to hear the renowned organist Dietrich Buxtehude, a journey that stretched to four months.
What happened or might have happened on Bach’s odyssey in 1705, at the age of 20, is the inspiration for JS Bach’s Long Walk in the Snow, the fifth chamber musical from Tom Allen, a familiar voice on CBC Radio.
He said the genre of his own invention combines musical theatre, chamber music and storytelling.
JS Bach’s Long Walk promises street fights, big business, insight, fulfillment, the father figure Bach didn’t know he needed and, quite possibly, love.
Allen explains that the love story, and for him the most fascinating part of the tale, emerges when it is imagined that Bach considers marriage to Buxtehude’s eldest daughter Anna Margareta. Allen explains that it was not uncommon in that time and place for it to be stipulated that a predecessor marry one of their children, as Buxtehude had done. As Buxtehude was nearing retirement from his appointment as organist at the Marienkirche, a medieval basilica in Lübeck, he was searching for a predecessor. At least three othercomposers and organists did consider offers, including George Friedrich Handel.
“The fact that Bach went and stayed for four months is a really intriguing thought to me that says he was at least considering it,” said Allen. “I don’t believe he could have lived under the same roof – which he did. He was housed by Buxtehude – and not given very serious thought to this job and the possibility of marrying Anna Margareta. And so that adds a kind of a mystery, a love aspect to the story. But most accounts that look at this don’t take Anna Margareta’s perspective into account at all, perhaps not surprisingly, given that most of music history at the time was written by men.”
Anna Margareta was 30 at the time, and Allen presumes that few of the young musicians auditioning for her father would have been very impressive in comparison.
Ultimately, Bach walked away.
Because there is little historical record of Bach’s time in Lübeck, Allen narrates a historical fiction based on the events of the time.
“Both in music and in story, it’s an exploration of the little we know and the great amount that might have been,” said Allen.
The show opened last year and has been performed across the country almost 50 times.
Allen, a trombone player, usually collaborates with his wife Lori Gemmell, a harpist, and a rotating cast of talented Canadian musicians. Gemmell performed a one of the chamber music events presented by Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society at St. John’s United Church, which was attended by Allen. Although Gemmell is unavailable for the upcoming performance, JS Bach’s Long Walk in the Snow will feature vocalist Patricia O’Callaghan, violinist
Rebekah Wolkstein, double bassist Joe Phillips, and pianist Jamie Parker.
The Creemore show presented by Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society, is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7 at St. John’s, Creemore, 192 Mill St. Tickets cost $40 and are available online at phahs.ca.
Allen will have copies of his newest book, The Classical Musick Almynac: A compendium of classical Curiosities available.
The performance will be the finale for a weekend of holiday festivities in Creemore, beginning with the tree lighting on Friday, and Breakfast with Santa and the Santa Claus Parade on Saturday.
