Bach and Handel – Psalms and Sonatas

The next ‘Peter Roennfeldt and Friends’ concert takes place on Sunday 12 October 2025 at 4pm, at Nazareth Lutheran Church, 12 Hawthorne Street Woolloongabba. The program titled ‘Bach and Handel – Psalms and Sonatas’ juxtaposes each of these composer’s vocal and instrumental works.

Vocal works

The texts of the Psalms have inspired countless musical settings. The Cantata 150 by JS Bach and the Chandos Anthem ‘As pants the hart for cooling streams’ by GF Handel are among the finest. Interestingly, each work comes from their composers’ early careers. Bach was a 20-something church musician in provincial Germany when he wrote what is thought to be his first cantata. Similarly, Handel was a newcomer to England when he was engaged by the Duke of Chandos to compose a series of anthems.

Both works are full of deep emotion, rich harmonies, uplifting climaxes and innovative vocal-instrumental textures. In addition to these multi-sectional pieces, this program features two arias from Bach’s Cantata 159. One of these is the incomparable ‘Es ist vollbracht’ setting for bass voice, strings and oboe solo.

Instrumental works

Bach and Handel were both gifted keyboard musicians. They both produced many works featuring the harpsichord in both solo and ensemble roles. The trio sonata is the baroque era’s most favoured chamber music combination. But quite often Bach assigns one of the treble lines to the harpsichord, as in his extrovert Violin Sonata in G major. Somewhat unusually, it also includes a central movement for solo harpsichord. In contrast, the Handel trio sonata on this program is an excellent example of the customary combination of two violins and continuo.

An expert vocal quintet, a string ensemble of different sizes, and various keyboard instruments have always featured in our programs. We are delighted to be now adding some baroque wind instruments. This concert features recorder, oboe and bassoon in various combinations with the other performers.

More information

Click here for full details of the program and venue information. Bookings are now open through 4MBS Ticketing.