Dorset Bach Cantata Club

 

 

- a message from the Resident Conductor Christopher Brown

 

Dorset Bach Cantata Club provides a unique opportunity for singers and orchestral players.  Nowhere else can you get the chance that we offer to "live" Bach’s music from within, tackling recitatives and arias in addition to the whole spectacular range of fully choral movements.  

 

We meet to study and explore together a musical world that is to a large extent beyond the reach of most amateur musicians, apart from such works as Wachet auf!  and Jesu, Joy of man’s desiring.  

 

For most performing societies Bach’s cantatas are difficult pieces to programme – the orchestral and solo resources are often expensive, and very few offer more than one chorus and a chorale for the choir to get their teeth into.  So it is no surprise that, for the past 52 years, the DBCC has continued to attract singers and players from all over the West Country (and indeed far beyond).

Founders and Conductors

I have been associated with the Club since its creation in 1955.  My parents (both keen singers) were founding members, already friendly with the Club’s founder, the indefatigable Joan Brocklebank, and soon they became close friends of the musical inspiration behind the Club, the late Dr. Paul Steinitz, who was often a guest at our house during his trips to Dorset.  

 

At that time, the Club’s foundation also gave Paul the opportunity to rehearse these unfamiliar works before he eventually began to present them in a complete and unique cycle with the London Bach Society from 1958-1987. But what started as a practical exercise soon took on its own life, and when Paul was no longer able to come for every weekend, the Club had no difficulty in attracting the services of other conductors.  Antony Lewis and Stephen Wilkinson came frequently;  others included Stephen Cleobury and Mark Forkgen.  All brought their own views and expertise, guiding us through the intricacies and felicitous invention of Bach’s music with skill, enthusiasm and commitment.  The London Bach Society continues to support the work of the Club maintaining what is now a longstanding friendship and tradition begun by Paul.

Widening horizons

When Tim Brown took over as Resident Conductor in the 1970’s, the pattern was firmly established of handing over at least one weekend of every season to a guest conductor, and it is a tribute to the Club and to the dedication of its members that conductors of high calibre such as those mentioned above have been keen to return.  Earlier this year, Elizabeth Bates was our most recent guest conductor.  

 

We now have some significant works facing us: the secular cantatas 206 and 207a, which are challenging and which require large orchestral forces. As you will see on our programme page, we are also tackling parts of the Christmas Oratorio as well as sacred cantatas 192, 62 and 61.

 

 

Moving onwards

The Club is in very good hands and in very good heart.  If we all continue to spread the word whenever and wherever we can, the Dorset Bach Cantata Club will still be there long after the present membership is gone, and I have no doubt that in 2055 it will be celebrating its centenary with pride and optimism, still offering that special and unique Dorset experience – the chance to live Bach’s music from inside.  

 

Chris Brown – May 2007

 

 

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