BRATTLEBORO — Since their midsummer break, the 34 members of the Blanche Moyse Chorale have been hard at work preparing for the upcoming Blanche Moyse Memorial Concert. Over the past weekend, the group devoted almost 10 hours of rehearsal to perfecting their rendition of motets by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Over the next four weeks, shorter, but no less intense, rehearsals will be focused on refinement and interpretation.
Director Mary Westbrook-Geha has challenged the Chorale by selecting four motets for the Memorial Concert program:
“Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied” (Sing to the Lord a new song), “Fürchte dich nicht” (Be not afraid), “Komm, Jesu, komm” (Come, Jesus, come), and “Jesu, meine Freude” (Jesus, my joy).
Taken together, these four demonstrate both Bach's command of polyphonic music and his deep belief of the relationship between earthly humans and the divine.
The first three motets are scored for eight-part double chorus. The final motet, scored for five-part single chorus, interleaves six verses of a familiar Lutheran hymn with five theological reflections by St. Paul.
The Chorale says its goal is to rise above the technical challenges of Bach's polyphony and to let his very human messages shine through.
The Memorial Concert runs at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12, at Marlboro College's Persons Auditorium. The motets will be sung in the original German; literal line-by-line English translations will be provided in the program booklet.
The motets will be accompanied by organ and a small string ensemble comprised of veterans of Mme. Moyse's New England Bach Festival (1969 to 2004).
This orchestra will also perform two well-known Bach chamber works - each one preceded and followed by a choral motet: “Orchestral Suite #2” featuring renowned flute soloist Carol Wincenc, and “Concerto for Two Violins” featuring violin soloists Mitsuru Tsubota and Mayuki Fukuhara.