Bach Vespers
The David G. Truemper Memorial Concert
Tuesday, April 21, 2020 • 7:30 PM
Chapel of the Resurrection
Early in the Reformation, Martin Luther began the work of liturgical reform with a focus on the daily services of matins (morning prayer) and vespers (evening prayer). Across the following decades and centuries, vespers became a richly woven musical tapestry where chorales and cantatas were voiced alongside preaching and catechism study.
This service of evening prayer—a vespers liturgy with preaching that has been transposed into our own time, place, and language—will draw upon the treasury of Lutheran music composed between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries including: chorale preludes for organ, motets, and plentiful congregational singing. Under the direction of Christopher Cock, the Valparaiso University Chorale will present the cantata “Es wartet alles auf dich” (“Everything waits for you”) by J. S. Bach.
Then, as now, music for single voices coexisted with music for many voices, old languages alongside new dialects—all infused with the living breath of God, the word that defeats death and gives new life in the power of the Spirit.
Free admission and open to the public.
