Tricentennial Bach Celebration Finds Home At Rienzi

Ars Lyrica Houston, the Grammy-nominated early music ensemble,a??celebrates 300 years of The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach with a series of intimate performances at Rienzi, the MFAH house museum for European decorative arts.

Artistic Director and international prize-winning harpsichordist Matthew Dirst offers eight pairs of preludes and fugues on each of two concerts. The first concert features two performances of the same music on October 16, 2021 at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and the second program takes place on June 4, 2022 at 6 p.m. The complete recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 will also be disseminated online later this season as a Bi-Weekly Bach musical series with commentary by Dirst.

"The Well-Tempered Clavier is the only work of Johann Sebastian Bach that never went out of style," says Dirst. "Unlike his church and chamber works, which were mostly forgotten soon after his death in 1750, it served as a kind of musical Old Testament for generations of students and enthusiasts-a role it still plays today." The music is particularly suited to the intimate and ornately decorated rooms of Rienzi as this music was intended to be studied and performed among friends. The monumental work is rarely performed on harpsichord in its entirety, and the series of concerts reflects this intention.

CONCERT INFORMATION

Concert 1: Oct. 16, 2021 at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Preludes & Fugues in:
C-sharp Major
C-sharp Minor
A Major
E Minor
F-sharp Major
F-sharp Minor
G Major
F Minor

Concert 2: June 4, 2022 at 6 pm
Preludes & Fugues in:
A-flat Major
E-flat Minor
D Major
B Minor
B Major
G-sharp Minor
E Major
B-flat Minor

For tickets and subscription information, visit the Ars Lyrica website at https://www.arslyricahouston.org/rienzi. The Well-Tempered Clavier concerts at Rienzi will also be recorded, and In-Person Subscribers and Digital Subscribers receive advance access to both concert broadcasts. Digital subscription information can be found at https://www.arslyricahouston.org/purchase/2122ds.