School of Music Program Book 1947-1948 Page: 70
[160] p. : ill. ; 25 cm.View a full description of this book.
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PROGRAM
I.
J. S. Bach ............... Ricercare from the "Musical Offering"
arranged for Two Violins, Two Violas, Two Cellos
and Bass Viol by G. Lenzewski, Sen.
Mr. Kirshbaum, Miss Bruce, Mr. Morey, Miss Grubb, Mr. Richardson,
Miss Meacham, Mr. Dawson
The task of solving exhaustively what art in its highest development could do in
the fugue form was left till the evening of Bach's life. During his last three years of
life Bach wrote his crowning monumental works, "Musical Offering" and "The Art of
Fugue." The former work is, as it were, the vestibule through which Bach passed to
the latter.
In 1747 when Bach played for King Frederick II at Potsdam, he resolved to use
the theme set him by the king on that occasion as the basis of a number of thoroughly
developed and artistic compositions. The name "Musical Offering" is derived from its
having been dedicated to the king. The work contains one fugue in three parts and one
in six, eight canons, a fugue with answer on the fifth in canon form, a sonata in four
movements, and a two-part canon over a free basso continuo. All these are worked
out more or less upon the same theme.
Bach gave to both the three-part and the six-part fugue the name of Ricercare, an
Italian term of the 17th century, signifying a fugue of the closest and most learned
description, i.e., full of research. The idea for a six-part fugue would, probably, not
have occurred to Bach, had not King Frederick, on the occasion of Bach's playing at
Potsdam, expressed a wish to hear an extempore six-part fugue played by him. At
the time Bach improvised the fugue on a theme chosen by himself. Thus he wished to
show he could also treat the king's given theme, although it was not so well adapted
for the purpose, in a six-part fugue.
Lenzewski's arrangement of the six-part Ricercare for strings is probably sug-
gested by the original edition in which Bach had it printed in score. In this ensemble
setting the intricate interweaving of parts, the bold chromatic treatment and the
harmonic richness clearly reveal the individual character of this mighty composition.
II.
Dmitri Shostakovitch .......... Quintet for Two Violins, Viola,
Cello and Piano, op. 57
Prelude (Lento)
Fugue (Adagio)
Scherzo (Allegretto)
Intermezzo (Lento)
Finale (Allegretto)
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North Texas State College. School of Music. School of Music Program Book 1947-1948, book, 1948; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc139504/m1/72/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Music Library.