Program

Music of and Inspired by the Protestant Reformation

Two Chorale Preludes on “All Glory Be to God on High”
I. Maestoso | Sigfrid Karg-Elert
II. [Trio: allegro] | Johann Sebastian Bach

Chorale Prelude on “O That I Had a Thousand Voices” | Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major | Johann Sebastian Bach

Two Chorale Preludes on “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”
I. [Allegro] attr. | Johann Sebastian Bach
II. Allegro | Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Stephen Self

Stephen Self is Director of Music at Bethel Lutheran Church. He directs the Bethel Choir and assists other music staff in the creation of a diverse and vibrant music program. He holds bachelor’s degrees in music and mathematics, a master’s degree in piano performance, doctoral degrees in musicology and organ performance, and a Juris Doctor degree. He is licensed as a lawyer in the state of Minnesota.
Self is a fellow (the highest certification level awarded) of the American Guild of Organists, and has received the S. Lewis Elmer award for the highest rating of any of the professional certification awardees in a given year. He performed with orchestra recently in the fortieth anniversary celebration of the nationally syndicated radio program, Pipedreams.
He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Classics at UW Madison. He is also taking graduate mathematics courses through Texas A&M University. In his free time, he enjoys (?) going to the gym, playing chamber music with wind and string players, reading books of national literary and political importance, and studying languages from various linguistic families. He particularly enjoys practicing his halting Arabic skills with our custodian, who patiently corrects him frequently.

Notes

Johann Sebastian Bach and his much later devotee Sigfrid Karg-Elert were significantly shaped in their musical personalities by the Protestant Reformation. Much of both composers’ oeuvre consists of works based on hymns written within the century immediately following Luther’s grand gesture of faith and spiritual discernment. And their employment of word painting and other musical gestures can easily be attributed to their endorsement of the intimacy inherent in Reformation-based faith. Today’s program features works typical of both composers’ compositional stylings and musical language.