When Stephen Blackwelder realized 2017 was the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, he immediately thought of Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, known as the Reformation Symphony. Then a host of other ideas came as he planned the thematic May 20 concert for the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra to be held at 7 p.m. at Waukegan High School.
The result is a concert filled with music composed by Bach and others with ties to Lutheranism, as well as classical and modern renditions of a favorite Lutheran hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”
“It’s the signature melody in Lutheran tradition,” Blackwelder said, adding religious folks will want to attend the concert just to hear that hymn. But for everyone, Blackwelder promises a concert that includes different musical styles, including works by Bach as well as a 21st century composer.
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“The whole notion of this concert is to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther nailed theses to the door of a church in 1517 to say ‘there are some things some of us don’t like that are going on in Rome.’ His purpose wasn’t to create a new religion — his purpose was to ask some questions about doctrine and authority — that sort of thing. He got more than he bargained for,” said Blackwelder, the symphony’s music director.
“The most important thing to know about the Reformation Symphony by Mendelssohn is that ‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,’ does take a prominent place in the first movement and the final movement. It was Mendelssohn’s way of doing honor to the Lutheran tradition.
“Since Bach was the original big Lutheran of them all in terms of classical music, this gave us a great opportunity to play Bach,” Blackwelder said.
“We’re opening with an orchestra suite of Bach — just the way he wrote it. When you play Bach, you usually have a fairly small orchestra,” he said.
But the 19th century musicians wanted to play Bach’s music with full orchestra,” Blackwelder said, complete with four French horns, trombones and percussion — “something Bach would not have had in his mind.”
Composers of the 19th century created arrangements of Bach’s works including those instruments — and the Waukegan Symphony will perform two of them, including a Bach fugue, he said.
Blackwelder said whether Bach would have liked the “romantic” arrangements of his baroque music likely depended on “what sort of mood he was in.”
He might have found it interesting, “but we’ll never really know. It’s like playing Bach on the piano — the piano did not exist during Bach’s time. There were harpsichords and pipe organs. A wonderful musician can play Bach on their instrument and make a strong musical impression.”
For a change of style, Blackwelder will direct music written by a German composer, Carl Reinecke, called “Variations on Ein Feste Burg,” or “A Mighty Fortress.”
“You’ll hear moments that sound a little bit like Brahms in that they’re unashamedly and unabashedly romantic,” Blackwelder said. “Sometimes the tune is almost hidden because of the beautiful romantic writing.” Blackwelder added the audience will hear a surprise melody in the last variation of the piece.
Blackwelder will also conduct a 21st century piece written by American composer Steve Dunn.
“I went through his repertoire and lo and behold there was a piece called ‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God.’ It’s only about 10 years old. It is very contemporary. It’s very, very upbeat — it’s just 3 and a half minutes long. It gives a nice sense of freshness and continuity to 500 years of tradition.”
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance writer for The News-Sun.
Waukegan Symphony Orchestra: A Spirit Reborn
When: 7 p.m. May 20
Where: Waukegan High School Trapp Auditorium, 2325 Brookside Ave., Waukegan
Tickets: $8-$15; Students 18 and under are free
Information: 847-360-4740; www.waukegansymphony.org
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