Department of Music

Carl Friedrich Zelter called J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor “probably the greatest musical work of art that the world has ever seen.” Commenting on the work, conductor and music professor Michael Slon will offer a talk intended as a companion to the upcoming performance of the B minor Mass by the University Singers and UVa Chamber Singers, which will take place Saturday, April 17th at 8:00 pm in Old Cabell Hall.

Interestingly, Bach never heard the entire piece performed in his lifetime, nor did he call it the Mass in B minor. Why did such a practical musician complete such a long, impractical work? This talk – open to the UVa and Charlottesville communities – will outline the unusual compositional history of the piece (spanning several decades), cite earlier sources for the music, and explore the compositional motives. With the aid of musical examples, it will also offer listeners a preview (or review) of musical, textual, and theological features of the piece in preparation for the Saturday performance.

Active as a conductor of choral, orchestral, and operatic repertoire, Michael Slon is currently Director of the University Singers and UVa Chamber Singers, and a member of the UVa music faculty. He has previously conducted choruses and orchestras at the Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University School of Music, and Cornell University. His first book – Songs from the Hill –came out in 1998, and he is currently at work on a Leonard Bernstein project.

The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for German Studies and the McIntire Department of Music. A light reception will follow.

Tickets to the Saturday 4/17 performance in Old Cabell are available at the Arts Box Office, online at www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu or by calling (434) 924-3376. The work will also be performed Monday, April 19 in Washington DC.