Sweelinck and his Students

A brief introduction to the extraordinary mean-tone organ at Wellesley College by Claire Fontijn (Barbara Morris Caspersen Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of Music, Wellesley College) will precede Mr. Christie’s performance.

James David Christie illuminates the transition from the late Renaissance to the early Baroque, with organ works of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and his star students: Samuel Scheidt, Melchior Schildt, Heinrich Scheidemann, and Jacob Praetorius. To illustrate the Festival’s theme, Mr. Christie’s program will include several works originally composed for the voice and later intabulated for the organ, such as the Sweelinck and Scheidemann organ settings of John Dowland’s Pavana Lacrymae.

The Great “Leipzig” Chorales of J. S. Bach

William Porter returns to the BEMF concert stage by popular demand, in a monumental performance of all seventeen Leipzig Chorales, BWV 651–667. Rarely heard in one sitting, this complete set of large-scale chorale preludes represents the summit of Bach’s sacred organ music.