A Bach festival is a

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

held to celebrate the memory of the German composer

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

(1685–1750). Various locations throughout the world hold festivals dedicated to Bach. A notable example is the

Bachfest Leipzig The Bachfest Leipzig (Leipzig Bach Festival) is a music festival which takes place annually, in the month of June, in the city of Leipzig, where J. S. Bach worked as the Thomaskantor from 1723 until his death in 1750. The current artistic directo ...

, held each year in the city of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, where the composer worked as

Thomaskantor (Cantor at St. Thomas) is the common name for the musical director of the , now an internationally known boys' choir founded in Leipzig in 1212. The official historic title of the Thomaskantor in Latin, ', describes the two functions of cantor a ...

for the last 27 years of his life.

Historical festivals

Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival

The

Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music The Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music is part of the Baldwin Wallace University, in Berea, Ohio. The main building is Kulas Hall. The Conservatory is home to the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, the oldest collegiate Bach Festival in the United ...

Baldwin Wallace University Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio. It was founded in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin. The school merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace C ...

is home to the BW Bach Festival, the oldest collegiate Bach festival in the nation. The festival was founded in 1932 by Professor

Albert Riemenschneider (Charles) Albert Riemenschneider (August 31, 1878 – July 20, 1950) was an American musician and Bach musicologist. Riemenschneider was born into a musical family. His father, Karl H. Riemenschneider, was the president of German Wallace College in ...

(longtime director of the College Conservatory) and his wife Selma. The then Baldwin-Wallace Festival Choir and Orchestra presented the first Bach Festival in June 1933 and has continued since then. The oldest Bach Festival, The Bethlehem, and Baldwin Wallace performed together for BW's 75th anniversary of the festival.

Winter Park Bach Festival

The Bach Festival Society was founded in 1935 at

Rollins College Rollins College is a private college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several graduate programs. It is Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institution. History Rollins Colle ...

to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's birth by presenting the composer's orchestral and choral music to the public "for its enlightenment, education, pleasure, and enjoyment" at

Knowles Memorial Chapel Knowles Memorial Chapel, built between 1931 and 1932, is an historic Mediterranean Revival building located on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, in the United States. On December 8, 1997, it was added to the National Register ...

. Isabelle Sprague-Smith, a former New York artist and school principal, was the president and driving force behind the Bach Festival from 1935 until her death in 1950. At Sprague-Smith's death, the future of the Bach Festival was uncertain. Rollins President Hugh F. McKean (husband to Jeannette Genius McKean) asked John M. Tiedtke, the treasurer of the College, to fulfill the obligation and he accepted. Tiedtke served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees until his death in December 2004. The festival has been presented each year since 1935, and has expanded to a multi-week event including chamber music, lectures, master classes, and community events.

Notable Bach festivals

* Bach in the Subways * Bach Music Festival of Canada *

Bachwoche Ansbach The Bachwoche Ansbach (Ansbach Bach Week) is a biennial music festival in Ansbach, Germany, dedicated to the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach, held since 1947. The main venues are the Orangerie and the great hall of the palace Residenz Ansb ...

* Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival *

Carmel Bach Festival The Carmel Bach Festival (CBF) began in 1935 as a four-day series of concerts at the Sunset School Auditorium and the Carmel Mission Basilica. Over the years, it grew to a three-week series of concerts, recitals, master classes, lectures, and open ...

English Bach Festival The English Bach Festival was an annual UK classical music festival which ran from 1963 to 2009. It was founded by the Greek-born harpsichordist and singer Lina Lalandi (1920–2012) and the English musicologist Jack Westrup who were co-directors d ...

Kennedy, Michael and Kennedy, Joyce Bourne (1996
"English Bach Festival"
''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved online via

Encyclopedia.com Encyclopedia.com (also known as HighBeam Encyclopedia) is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference works including pictures and videos. History The website was launched by ...

4 October 2016 *

Oregon Bach Festival Oregon Bach Festival (OBF) is an annual celebration of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and his musical legacy, held in Eugene, Oregon, United States, in late June and early July. About the festival The festival's programming is three-fold. It ...

* Thüringer Bachwochen *

Tilford Bach Festival The Tilford Bach Festival is a Festival of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach held annually at All Saints Church Tilford, near Farnham, Surrey. History The Tilford Bach Festival was first held in 1952, following the creation of the Tilford Bach ...

The WQXR All-Day Bach Organ Marathon The WQXR All-Day Bach Organ Marathon was a marathon performance of the nearly complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, hosted by WQXR-FM. The series of recitals was held at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Manhattan from 7:00 A.M. on November ...

* Bachfestival Antwerpen * Bachfestival Dordrecht

References

External links