TEXARKANA, Texas - The Texarkana Regional Chorale will Bach it up at their next concert on Tuesday, Dec. 10, with J.S. Bach's Gloria from his "Mass in B Minor."
The TRC's The Glory of Bach concert fits the holiday season, too, as it features five soloists singing with the choir and its orchestra: sopranos Candace Taylor and Haley Patillo, alto Jennifer Colton-Fowler, tenor Ryan McDonald and baritone Evan Hammond.
They'll all perform at Williams Memorial United Methodist Church, the first time TRC has been at the venue. Show time is 7 p.m.
"Bach wrote a lot of sacred music, but mostly cantatas, which were used back then for the Lutheran church service. They're mostly in German. They're all very singular. Each of these cantatas were adapted for a specific service that we're having, and they were meant for small ensembles but he wrote two magnificent Latin liturgical works," said conductor Marc-André Bougie.
Both the "Mass in B Minor" and "Magnificat" are famous. These Bach pieces stand out in the ancient, Roman tradition, Bougie said. The TRC performed "Magnificat" last year, so this year it's the other magnificent Latin work.
"The B Minor Mass is an unbelievably intense work. It really lasts two hours, but we're only doing one part of it, the Gloria, which in itself lasts about 40 minutes," Bougie said. "That piece in itself, the whole B Minor Mass, is one of the most significant accomplishments of musical history, period."
Rather than performing the entire work, they'll break it down and perform the Gloria, which fits the Christmas theme of joy, Bougie said.
"It's what we call a sectional Gloria," he said. It's not one piece for 40 minutes. Rather, it consists of separate movements that last about four minutes apiece with lots of variation.
"Some of them are for choirs, some are for solos, some are for duets, some feature solo flutes, solo violins, solo oboes, solo French horn," Bougie said. "The diversity of colors between the movements is very engaging." It won't feel like a 40-minute work, he said. It's very well put together.
"It's one of the major accomplishments of Western music," Bougie said.
And how it all fits with the holiday season? It's a spiritual, introspective piece of music Bach worked on for two decades. Bougie said Bach likely wrote the most substantial musical Mass setting in history.
"Within the big realm of what we do every year for Christmas, we've been having classical music or Baroque music as Christmas concert. There are lots concerts in town that are doing popular Christmas tunes, and that's fantastic," Bougie said. The TRC aims to explore the great, traditional classical repertoire for the season.
"Which was a major inspiration for a number of great composers throughout history," Bougie said, "Bach being one of them. Some of the segments of their pieces, for example the Gloria of the Mass, are perfect for Christmas season. So it just fits with what we do every year within the Christmas realm."
(Admission is free, donations accepted. For more information, email [email protected]. Williams Memorial United Methodist Church is located at 4000 Moores Lane in Texarkana, Texas.)