UW Department of Musics Fall Virtual Concert Series Continues Tonight

The University of Wyoming Buchanan Baroque ensemble will present a livestreamed-only concert today (Friday) at 7:30 p.m.

“Baroque Sonatas of Handel and Bach” is the second concert in the UW Department of Music’s Fall Virtual Concert Series. Those interested in watching the free event can go to www.uwyo.edu/music/upcoming_performances/ for a link to the concert.

Buchanan Baroque features UW Department of Music faculty members Theresa Bogard, harpsichord; John Fadial, Baroque violin; and Beth Vanderborgh, Baroque cello and gamba.

The ensemble will present three Baroque masterpieces by Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friederich Handel: Bach’s Sonata for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord in G Major, BWV 1027 and Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord in B Minor, BWV 1014; and Handel’s Sonata for Violin and Basso Continuo Op. 1, No. 12 in F Major. The three sonatas follow a traditional Baroque sonata da chiesa, or church sonata, structure of four movements (slow-fast-slow-fast).

The program is devoted to the more intimate side of both artists, featuring the mellow sounds of the Baroque viola da gamba, a member of the ancient viol family. The gamba is fretted like a guitar; has six to seven strings as opposed to the cello’s four; and is tuned in fourths and thirds rather than in fifths.

“The performance is on original instruments from the Baroque period,” Bogard says. “The lighter, more transparent sound of the instruments brings light to the heaviness that surrounds us in so many aspects of our lives.”

The two featured Bach sonatas were written during Bach’s employment by the court of Cothen. It is during this period that Bach produced the six Brandenburg Concerti, the Orchestral Suites, the Cello Suites, the Violin Partitas and Sonatas, and nearly all of his instrumental concerti.

Although the Handel sonata follows the same four-movement structure as the Bach sonatas, it is in many ways a simpler work, as Handel leaves much more up to the performers. In the final allegro, Handel added a gigue -- a lively dance movement -- into his church sonata.

“This is a program of works chosen to nurture the soul in a difficult time,” Bogard says. “Come join us and lighten your life.”

For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirisk@uwyo.edu.