London Bach Society

The London Bach Society is a society devoted to performing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) with small, professional forces, using period instruments in order to obtain an authentic style of interpretation.

The London Bach Society was founded in 1946 by Paul Steinitz who, at that time, was organist of St Peter’s Church, Dulwich Common. Steinitz had been working for some years on ideas about performing Baroque music and it was his long-term intention to 'get back to Bach in its original form'. This was at a time when Romantic notions held sway in Baroque performance. Bach’s music, especially his vocal music, had fallen into decline and virtual oblivion after his death in 1750 except for the attentions of his second son C. P. E. Bach, and some of his pupils. In England, the Bach revival owed much to the organist Samuel Wesley who disseminated some of the composer's music in the early 19th century. Indeed, the first performance in Britain of a Bach's choral work took place on 3 June 1809 in the Hanover Square Rooms, London - a performance of the motet Jesu, meine Freude sung in Latin and directed by Wesley. In Germany it was not until Felix Mendelssohn performed the St Matthew Passion in 1829 that interest was reawakened. Therefore, for over a century, Bach’s vocal music was performed by large choral societies in the romantic style, and using inappropriate editions. It was obvious to Steinitz that such huge choirs could not achieve the clarity required nor balance appropriately with the small orchestras of period instruments the composer would have used. Taking the first steps towards his aims, Steinitz formed first a choir of 50 members that held their inaugural rehearsal on 7 January 1947. This amateur choir was trained to a high standard, and for the next two decades was the backbone of the Society, not only performing the vocal works by Bach but also those of his contemporaries including Handel and Telemann, and early Baroque composers such as Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672).

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