Early Music Michigan will present three major works of Johann Sebastian Bach on Saturday at Holy Family Chapel, in a program called My Spirit Rejoices: Music of Bach for Christmas.
Director Eric Strand and soprano Ann Marie Boyle discuss Bach's life as a church musician in Leipzig and the extraordinary demands that were placed upon him not only to produce music for each week's services, but to oversee fundraising efforts and coordinate music for three other churches in the area.
An early version of the Magnificat in D was first heard on Christmas Eve, 1723, according to Strand. He says another work on the program, the Cantata #140, is appropriate for the advent season and has one of Bach's most famous melodies in the fourth movement.
