Max Derrickson

Writing Music Program Notes for Over 30 Years

Barber – Knoxville: Summer of 1915, for Soprano and Orchestra, Op. 24

Samuel Barber (Born in West Chester, PA, 1910; died in New York, 1981) Knoxville: Summer of 1915, for Soprano and Orchestra, Op. 24 Knoxville: Summer of 1915 began as an autobiographical essay by the celebrated American author James Agee (1909 -1955).  It was first published in The Partisan Review in 1938 and then, in 1957, […]

Quote About Johann Sebastian Bach

Scientist and author Lewis Thomas once suggested how the people of Earth should communicate with the universe: “I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging of course, but it is surely excusable to put the best possible face on at the beginning of […]

Bach – Overture to Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Major, BWV 1069

Overture to Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Major, BWV 1069 Johann Sebastian Bach (Born in Eisenach, Germany in 1685; died in Leipzig, Germany in 1750) Musicologists presume that Bach created his four Orchestral Suites during his days as Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold of Cöthen (1717-1723).  The only surviving copies of them, however, date to […]