Instead of the planned performance of Handel’s Theodora on 31 May (which we have had to postpone again – to June 2022) we have planned a smaller-scale concert of music by J.S. Bach, featuring the mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and the oboist Gail Hennessy, both frequent soloists at SVF.

The main works are Bach’s solo alto cantatas no. 54, ‘Widerstehe doch’ and no. 82, ‘Ich habe genug’. ‘Widerstehe doch’ is a remarkable short work from Bach’s youth, written when he was working in Weimar, and is richly scored with five-part strings. Listen carefully to the first bar: it’s one of the few Baroque pieces to start with a discord!  We will also play Telemann’s remarkable Oboe Concerto in C minor in this concert, not least because it starts with almost the same shocking discord. We strongly suspect that Bach knew this concerto (Bach and Telemann were close friends), and was thinking of it when he wrote ‘Widerstehe doch’.

‘Ich habe genug’ is one of Bach’s greatest cantatas, a profound and consoling contemplation of death dating from 1727; it’s a work that has a particular resonance at the moment. It was evidently one of Bach’s favourite cantatas since it exists in at least five versions, prepared at different times for different solo singers. It was originally written for a bass soloist, but Helen sings the alto version, apparently prepared for a performance in 1735.

This will be a one-hour concert, socially distanced and conforming to government guidelines. Allocated seating limited to 90 – prior booking strongly advised.

Tickets: £15 (£7.50 to anyone in full-time education)
Booking now open