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BACH, WESLEY AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH ORGAN
Santa Cristina do Couto Church - Santo Tirso - 9pm

António Mota (PRT) - organ

This concert is essentially divided into two parts. The first needs no introduction, as the focus is on J. S. Bach. A brief note only on the choice of pieces, which - within the universe of his great preludes, fantasies, toccatas and fugues for organ - are perhaps among those best suited to organs with reduced sound resources. The second part of the concert is dedicated to English music from the transition from the High Baroque to the early Romantic period. Under the motto "from Bach to Wesley", we will first hear a fugue by Handel, who worked influentially in England in parallel with J. S. Bach in Germany; this particular fugue is characterised by a theme that shows a "daring" interval of major 7th, as well as an appreciable general chromaticism. Another inescapable name in 18th-century English music is Stanley, who became popular for his significant output of organ voluntaries, of which we'll hear a more atypical example within this genre (in tripartite, concerto-like form). Finally, from the important Wesley family: Samuel (the man responsible for introducing and publicising the music of J. S. Bach in England), we will hear a voluntary. Stylistically it follows the tradition of its predecessors, but there is already some harmony anticipating new times. Samuel Sebastien Wesley, one of Samuel Wesley's sons, is the composer who marked the transition to romanticism on the organ in England (his second name "Sebastian" is his father's homage to J. S. Bach).

ANTÓNIO MOTA is PhD in Music Theory (Universidade de Aveiro, 2007) and graduated in Organ (Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, 2000, under the guidance of Prof. Antoine Sibertin-Blac, with maximum final course grade). He has also a master's degree in Electrical Engineering (Instituto Superior Técnico, 1999). He teaches Organ at the University of Aveiro, plus other specific classes. He is the current chairman of the board of AMPO (Associação Musical Pro-Organo). He guided organ Master Classes at the Gregorian Weeks in Viseu (between 2013 and 2023). He has been a regular jury member of organ competitions (Vila Verde; Aveiro; Coimbra). In between 2009 and 2014 he was coordinator and professor at the Piaget Institute (Viseu, Almada), where he taught in theoretical musical areas and supervised master's theses.He regularly performs as liturgical and concert organist (e.g. Missa Crismal, Sé de Aveiro, April 2023; Festival Internacional de Órgão de Braga, Aprill 2023; Vila Real's cathedral, in the regular anual concert series, May 2023). In terms of his own composition, António Mota currently has 8 works composed for organ, as well as many arrangements (for iberian and modern organs, for 2 and 4 hands/feet).

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PROGRAMME

J. S. Bach (1685-1750):

 1 - "Fantasia in C minor" (BWV562)

 2 - "Prelude and Fugue in D minor" (BWV539)

 3 - "Pièce d'Orgue" (BWV572)

 

G. F. Handel (1685-1759):

  4 - "Fugue in A minor" (HWV609)

 

John Stanley (1713-1786):

  5 - Voluntary in D minor (op. 5, nº 8)

    (I. Allegro - II. Adagio - III. Allegro)

 

Samuel Wesley (1766-1837):

  6 - "Voluntary in C minor" (op. 6, nº 3)

    (I. Largo - II. Moderato)

 

Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876):

  7 - "Choral Song and fugue"

TIME: 60’

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