When J.S. Bach was alive, some musicians were so intimidated by the famous composer that they found ways to bow out even after they made arrangements to perform for him, said Joel Spears, a lutenist and artistic director of the Early Music Series at the Byron Colby Barn in Grayslake.
But Silvius Leopold Weiss, lutenist and theorbist in the Dresden Orchestra and one of the highest paid musicians in Europe, had the confidence to visit Bach in 1743 and perform music he wrote.
Bach added a violin part to one of Weiss’s pieces written for solo lute – and today it’s known as “Bach’s Suite for Violin and Continuo in A Major,” Spears said.
As the Weissduo, Spears will join violinist Janelle Davis Jan. 29 to perform that and other pieces for an Early Music Series concert at the Byron Colby Barn in Grayslake.
“We’ll whimsically recreate how this piece might have come about,” Spears said.
“Perhaps, they were finishing breakfast and Bach said to Weiss, ‘That sonata is really nice. Why don’t you play it again on your lute and I’m going to get a violin and we’ll play it together?'” Spears mused.
“We want to set the scene – there’s no proof that’s exactly how it happened. But we do know there was this moment when these two greatest musicians alive at the time met, and that this piece is a collaboration.
“Bach added this amazing violin part that is at moments, a commentary on what the lute is doing and at other points simply an accompaniment. It’s an absolutely fantastic piece. It’s so much fun to play. There’s so much variety in it. It requires a lot of virtuosity. These were great musicians. I think the audience will really love it.”
Spears, lute instructor of the Music Institute of Chicago, and Davis, a violin instructor at Indiana University, met when performing at a recent concert. Both belong to various early music groups that have performed throughout the Midwest and on classical music radio stations. They agreed they didn’t often hear music written for lute and violin being performed. So they formed the Weissduo.
Besides performing the Bach piece at the Grayslake concert, they’ll also play a piece that Joseph Haydn wrote when he was a young composer, and probably played as a musician on the streets of Vienna for money, Spears said.
“In terms of style, this is post Baroque style. It’s light, gallant, moving toward classical style. It’s very light-hearted, a good antidote to the mid-winter blues.”
More Top Picks Best Canister Vacuum
The duo will also perform music written by Friedrich Wilhelm Rust, who Spears said is an underrated and forgotten musician.
“His works comprise every genre of the time – choral works and then, interestingly, pieces for clavichord and lute and violin. He was interested in different musical textures.”
The Weissduo will perform one of three sonatas Rust wrote in 1971. “That was the year Mozart died,” Spears said. The Rust sonata “does sound Mozart-like, but at other times, a bit like early Beethoven. It’s fascinating music.”
Spears said the duo will treat the audience to other musical surprises as well.
The Early Music Series at the Colby barn features professional musicians performing works from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. The audience can bring refreshments, including a bottle of wine, to enjoy while listening to the concert.
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
Weissduo: Early Music Series
When: 4 p.m., Jan. 29
Where: Byron Colby Barn, 1561 Jones Point Road, Grayslake
Tickets: $20 cash or check; ages 15 and younger free
Information: 847-543-1202; www.libertyprairie.org/earlymusic