Bach Choir downsizes for today's concert at Christ Episcopal Church

The Chattanooga Bach Choir is downsizing to 16 voices in keeping with the theme of its last concert of the season, “Intimate Music, Intimate Space” to at 3:30 p.m. in Christ Episcopal Church.

The concert will feature an ensemble drawn from the larger choir to present music meant for small choirs and contained venues, according to Dabney Carden, choir administrator.

“The usual chamber pieces we sing utilize 23 to 27 voices,” she said. “When we present something big, we have close to 50 singers.”

She said today’s pieces by Bach, Purcell and Handel will feature as many as 16 voices or as few as nine.

“The composers on the program were chosen to acknowledge significant but very different milestones. Bach’s cantata is the last of the earliest surviving works to be performed by the choir; Purcell, sometimes called ‘the English Bach,’ reaches the 350th anniversary of his birth this year, and Handel the 250th of his death,” Carden said.

ON THE PROGRAM

Bach’s Cantata 196, “Der Herr Denket an Uns” (“The Lord Cares for Us”),was written around 1707 and is thought to have been intended as a wedding cantata. The text is taken from three verses of Psalm 115.

“Come, Ye Sons of Art” was composed in 1693 to honor Queen Mary’s 31st birthday.

Handel’s “Chandos Anthem,” one of 11 written during the composer’s employment by James Brydges, was composed around 1717.

The choir will be accompanied by an eight-piece chamber orchestra and Karla Fowkes on harpsichord. Soloists will be Laurie Cooper, Steven Hinkle, Sanford Shaw, Robert Sauser, Penny Tullock, Martha Cartwright, Thomas Alford, Rachael Henderson and Carol Van Winkle.