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Reformation Day at Emory, 2002

The fifteenth annual Reformation Day at Emory will be held on Tuesday, October 22, 2002. The full day of events will include musical presentations, lectures, and worship.

The day will begin at 8:30am with registration and coffee and be followed by an organ lecture recital by Professor Timothy Albrecht on "Johann Sebastian Bach as Luther-Inspired Lutheran." The Reverend Doctor Robert F. Sims will preach at the morning chapel service. At noon, Dr. Douglas Gragg, Dr. Denise Hanusek, and Mr. Armin Siedlecki will discus "Images of Faith: Religion and Art in the Sixteenth Century."

The afternoon lecture program will feature Professor John Witte, Jr on the topic "The Perils of Celibacy: Clerical Marriage and the Protestant Reformation." A response will be given by Professor Steven M. Tipton.

The theme this year's concert is "Bach the Lutheran Composer," with the featured Kessler Reformation Collection hymnal being Joseph Klug's 1544 Geistliche Lieder. The first half of the hour-long program will explore aspects of Bach's musical theology, as expressed in his organ chorale settings of early Reformation hymnody. Timothy Albrecht, Emory University Organist, will perform and give commentary on two Bach organ works, including his organ prelude based on Martin Luther's chorale Nun freut euch lieben Christen g’mein (“Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice”), found in Klug's Geistliche Lieder.

In the concert's second half, commentary and music will illustrate Bach in his eighteen-century German Lutheran context. An ensemble of musicians, including mezzo-soprano Katherine Murray, flautist Carl Hall, and cellist Peter Lemonds, will perform the aria "Gott hat Alles wohl gemacht" from Cantata BWV 35. Bach's organ Fugue in G Minor BWV 542 will be heard, placed in its historical context on a recital program Bach most likely performed in November 1720 at St. Catherine’s Lutheran church in Hamburg.