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| Johann Sebastian Bach |
The Bach Festival moved to the Packer Memorial Church of Lehigh University in 1912. A review in Outlook Magazine of the 1918 Bach Festival described the event. “Mr. Wolle leads without a baton, and his nervous arms and fingers seemed not only to be charged with electricity, but to electrify the whole body of people there, those in the choir seats and those in the pews alike. He made those people not only sing, but think the words as they sang them.”
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 31, 1685, in Eisenach, Germany. He lived his entire life in Germany. He was born as the youngest and eighth child of Johan Ambrosius Bach and Elisabeth Lammerhirt. Johann Sebastian came from a long line of musicians and composers. He lost both his parents, within the same year, at the age of nine. Johann Sebastian and his brother Johann Jacob went to live with their eldest brother, Johann Christoph, who was organist in Ohrdruf.
At age eighteen, Bach was appointed organist of the Neue Kirche in Arnstadt. His first known compositions were written during the early 1700s. At that time he was courting his second cousin and future wife, Maria Barbara Bach. A new job as organist of the Blasiuskirche in Mühlhausen and a small inheritance allowed them to marry in 1707. In Mühlhausen, Bach began to write cantatas. The cantatas that survived from this period are regarded as masterpieces. The Blasiuskirche suffered a great fire and Bach sought employment 40 miles north in the city of Weimar as organist in the court of Duke Wilhelm Ernst.
While in Weimar, he continued to write cantatas along with compositions for the organ, harpsichord, choral preludes and fugues. Duke Wilhelm Ernst was in a contentious power struggle with another Duke in Weimar, Ernst August. Ignoring politics, Bach wrote compositions for both Dukes, which angered his employer. Duke Wilhelm Ernst had Bach jailed for a month.
Upon leaving jail in 1717, Bach moved his family to Köthen and began his new job as Kapellmeister (director of music) to Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen. During his stay in Köthen, Bach wrote the six Brandenburg Concertos, violin concertos in A Minor, E Major, and the double concert in D Minor, Invention, the French Suites and the English Suites. Bach’s wife, Maria Barbara, died in 1720 after a short illness. Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcken, a talented soprano, in 1721.
In 1723, Bach became Kapellmeister in the St Thomas School in Leipzig. Beginning in March 1729, Bach assumed the direction of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig. Bach was always looking for ways to increase his income. He sold books, music and Silbermann fortepianos. Bach finished his great B Minor Mass in 1749. Bach was practically blind due to cataracts at the end of his life. In 1750, he suffered a stroke. He died on July 28, 1750, probably from diabetes mellitus. During his lifetime, Bach was famous for his organ and harpsichord playing. The high regard for his compositions didn’t occur the 19th century.
During the first two weekends of May, thousands of Bach lovers from across the country arrive in Bethlehem, PA to hear the Bach Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra.
Bernie Goetz told his subway attacker in 1984 that he doesn't look too bad, here's another, then shot him again. Bernie O'Hare tells the story of Teddy Roosevelt finishing a speech after he was shot. With the guns and ammunition in use now a days, neither of those things would happen. District Attorney Morganelli talks about the culture of the night people. The two weapons used in the Bethlehem shooting were a 40 and 45 caliber pistol. The 45 was invented during Teddy Roosevelt's time. It was designed to bring down a cavalry horse, not just the soldier. The Zombie Ammunition shown is not some fabrication to illustrate my point, it is an actual advertisement for hyper bullets by a major manufacturer. We have an arsenal of large caliber concealed weapons, filled with high velocity tissue and bone eating ammo, cruising our city streets. Who are the real zombies?
In 1935, a Jewish boy earning $35 a week carrying 300 pound blocks of ice, was offered three times more to fight; win, lose or draw. For one hundred dollars a week, Jock Whitney, British aristocrat and sportsman, owned Abe Simon. Abe won his first 14 fights, 12 by knockout. On his climb to fight Louis in 1941 he would knock out 27 opponents, including Jersey Joe Walcott.
Yesterday, both Bernie O'Hare and I had posts about the shooting in South Bethlehem. Also yesterday, Paul Carpenter had a column on the same occurrence. Carpenter gave Morganelli credit for his courage using the term Culture concerning the shootout, but then batted the topic back and forth so much that he drew no conclusion. Carpenter wondered if Culture referred to young Hispanic males? Morganelli said no, just young in general. I think that Morganelli's Culture referred to young males in a lower social economic demographic, and assorted wannabes, exploring hipness. An extended comment section on O'Hare's blog revealed another culture, which I call Guns and Ammo. That's a reference to a popular magazine specializing on both those items. These are the 2nd Amendment advocates, the NRA members, and assorted gun right advocates. In that world when it comes to bullet caliber, bigger is much better. They have successfully lobbied for the right to carry in most states. The gun industry has responded with a large assortment of small light weight guns, designed for concealable carry, in high calibers. One middle class, self described liberal, anonymously stated that he carries a 45. Although he may feel that this caliber is necessary, and although he may be well trained in it's use, an unintended consequence is millions of lightweight, high caliber weapons in the hands of untrained, undisciplined people, with a chip on their shoulder and a hot head. Thirty high caliber shots were fired last weekend in the South Bethlehem gun battle.
Wednesday evening Dan Poresky sent a news release to the alternative and main stream media. Although associate Bernie O'Hare got it to press, molovinsky on allentown had already turned off the power. Also today, The Morning Call catches up with Poresky's petition. Meanwhile, yesterday and last night, the uninformed commented on O'Hare's blog. Not to impose on their opinion, but a few facts are in order:
