Word: bache
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Listening to the Bach Society Concert, one might have recalled Rossini's wry remark about Wagner: "He has his brilliant moments, yes--and his dull quarters of an hour." Yet the orchestra's successes, as surely as Tannhauser's, more than compensated for the generous lapses in between...
...orchestra followed the Schein with Bach's D major Suite--cleverly illustrating the evolution of derived dance forms. Bach ambitiously divides his instruments into three groups; trumpets (3) and timpani, oboes (3) and bassoon, and strings and continuo, giving to each both entire sections and incidental passages, bounded by two movements in unison. Jackson's approach emphasized accents and pulse rather than singing line; he propelled all but the ponderous Overture quite effectively. Solo playing varied from highly impressive (the oboes in the second Bouree) to characterless (the strings in the Trio...
...violence and vituperation were doubtless the work of a lunatic fringe, but it made many politicians wonder if the time would ever be ripe for a realistic abandonment of the "lost territories." A poll by the authoritative Aliens-bach Institute this year showed that only 28% of West Germans still believe that Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia will ever be returned to Germany-compared with 66% in 1953. But 23% is still a good-sized practical fragment to deal with...
...strapping man (6 ft. 2 in., 203 lbs.) with a greying Vandyke beard strode on stage at Manhattan's Town Hall last week. An imposing figure in white tie and tails, he waited as the 27-piece Esterhazy Orchestra played the first lilting strains of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. Then, clasping his hands, Alfred Deller began to sing. The contrast was startling: out of this burly frame poured the extraordinarily high, bell-clear voice of that rarest of all male singers, the countertenor...
...Knife. From the Renaissance through the 18th century the countertenor was the most popular singer in Europe. Monteverdi, Bach, Handel, and especially Henry Purcell, himself a countertenor, composed a wealth of lute songs, folk ballads, cantatas, hymns, operas, madrigals and carols for the male alto. The rage for the high-pitched male voice also helped give rise to the castrati singers-boy sopranos castrated before puberty. In 18th century Italy, parents received a handsome fee for each son to go under the knife. But with the dawning of the romantic era in the 19th century, the delicate voices...