Chamber Orchestra

The Washington University Chamber Orchestra, Elizabeth Macdonald, director, is presenting a concert titled Follow the Fugue, a program of fugues in different forms and arrangements.  While Bach is regarded as the master of fugal and contrapuntal composition, as in the 48 fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, most composers from the 18th through the 20th centuries felt the challenge to study and write fugues.  The music is some the most complex but also the most democratic: every voice has its chance to introduce the theme or counter-theme.

Among several Bach pieces on the program, violinist Rowena McBeath will perform the fugue from the first Sonata for unaccompanied violin.  Dr. McBeath is Chief Resident of Orthopedic Surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, as well as an accomplished violinist.

There are some fugues that occur in string quartet pieces on the program, from Haydn op. 20 and Mendelssohn op. 81, and one of the highlights will be the last movement of Beethoven’s Rasumovsky quartet, op. 59 no. 3, with its great fugue in C major.

An unusual piece from the 1920s is a fugue for a speaking chorus, called the Geographical Fugue, by Ernst Toch, with a text of difficult-to-pronounce place names.  Undaunted, the Chamber Orchestra will put down their bows for this piece.

The performers are students from the University Symphony and Chamber Music program, joined by some graduate students and guest faculty.  The Chamber Orchestra gives a performance at the beginning of each semester.

 

For more information:
(314) 935-5566 or kschultz@artsci.wustl.edu