Exposition

Bach Reconstructed (2015)

Michael Peterson
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About this exposition

Name: Michael Peterson Main Subject: Harpsichord Research Coach: Kathryn Cok Title of Research: Reconstructing Bach Research Question: How can one deliver a compelling performance of a work by Johann Sebastian Bach for which only a fragment exists? Summary of Results: Two pieces - the Flute Sonata in A major and the Art of the Fugue - remain among Johann Sebastian Bachʼs most mysterious and rarely performed works today. Part of the reason why may come from the way this music has been preserved. The flute sonata was written on the same autograph manuscript as Bachʼs Concerto for Two Keyboards in C minor, but part of this manuscript has been cut off, leaving us with over 40 measures of the flute sonata missing. Bachʼs death in 1750 prevented him from publishing in its entirety one of his most complex movements from the Art of the Fugue: Contrapunctus 14. Fortunately, breakthroughs in modern scholarship, together with inspiration from reconstructive processes in other genres, make it possible to develop appropriate reconstructions of these pieces. The music can then be made suitable for performance and more accessible to todayʼs audiences. This presentation will show the methods and strategies I used to reconstruct these two pieces, along with the challenges I faced, and will feature a performance of both works. Biography: Michael Peterson has performed nationally and internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. His repertoire spans nearly five hundred years, with an emphasis on music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Recently, he has performed with Gabrieli West, the Pacific Chamber Symphony, and American Bach Soloists. He is now pursuing a diploma at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, where he studies harpsichord with Jacques Ogg and basso continuo with Patrick Ayrton.
typeresearch exposition
date01/01/2015
published26/05/2015
last modified26/05/2015
statuslimited publication
share statusprivate
affiliationKoninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag
licenseAll rights reserved
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/61944/61945
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue3. Internal publication


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namePetersonResearchReport
copyrightMichael Peterson
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespdf

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