“Two masterpieces of a total difference!”. This is how Arie van Beek qualifies the two compositions selected for this concert Men and Gods. On one side, Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven; on the other, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata BWV 201. The public will be able to discover them on March 24 at the Municipal Theater in Abbeville and on March 25, 2022 at the Jean Vilard Theater in Saint-Quentin in Aisne.
“Everyone knows the 5th Symphony and its “pa pa pa pan” explains the man who has been musical director of the Orchester de Picardie since 2011. “It is Beethoven’s only symphony that is truly political. The first movement speaks of the removal of a dictator. The 2nd is a prayer for peace, the 3rd unites the first two to move towards the 4th movement which is freedom”.
As for the second part of the concert, it is devoted to Cantata BWV 201, one of Bach’s rare secular cantatas, since most of those he composed are religious. It evokes the singing competition between Pan, patron saint of shepherds, guardian of their herds, and Apollo, god of music, singing but also of beauty. Both want to seduce the nymphs. Apollo wins but Midas, king of Phrygia, disputes this victory, claiming that Pan is the best. Very disappointed, Apollo grows donkey ears on Midas’s head.
Under the direction of Arie van Beek, thirty-seven musicians and six soloists will bring to life this mythological controversy which has “allowed Bach to write without doubt his work closest to a real opera”.
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Note: played on March 18 in Amiens, the concert was recorded by Radio Classique and will be broadcast on Sunday April 3, 2022 at 9 p.m.
Concert Men and Gods
March 24 at 8:30 p.m. at the Municipal Theater of Abbeville Boulevard Vauban 80100 Abbeville – 03 22 20 26 86
March 25 at 8 p.m. at the Jean Vilar Theater Place de l’Hôtel de Ville 02100 Saint-Quentin – 03 23 62 36 77