Dear members and Fasch friends,
on behalf of the International Fasch Society we wish you
AN EVENTFUL YEAR 2000
with many new musical experiences as well as good health, many great ideas, happiness, and time to enjoy the good things life has to offer.

Dr. Konstanze Musketa
President

Karin Spott
General Manager

At the beginning of the long expected year 2000 which will bring to a close the millenium, we would like to take this opportunity and inform you about what has been happening in the "world of Fasch". Naturally, we will also draw your attention to upcoming events - even though there is no Fasch festival scheduled for 2000, we are offering several concerts which we believe are worth attending (see below). Moreover, we thank all those who have helped to prepare and financially support these events.
In this issue we will bring you up to date with regard to performances of works by Fasch in and outside of Germany. In addition, we report on two scholarly conferences devoted to J. S. Bach that have contributed to Fasch research. And, we will draw your attention to new recordings of works by Fasch on CD.
The year 2000 is not only a year in which the musical world commemorates Johann Sebastian Bach but also pays tribute to Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (1736-1800), the founder of the Singakademie zu Berlin, who died half a century after Bach. Our latest Fasch Conference Report which is now available in print, is devoted to Carl Fasch.
Allow us to introduce you to our new resident musicologist Susanne Schuster, who has taken over as newsletter editor, and shed light on her manifold responsibilities. Her predecessor, Dr. Barbara Reul, reports on her activities in Canada as president of the North American Fasch Society.
We hope you will enjoy reading this issue and look forward to welcoming you to some of our events.

ZERBST:
Saturday, 11 March, 4:30 p.m., St. Trinitatis Church
Choral concert with the Augsburger Domsingknaben on the occasion of the 35th Zerbst Cultural Festival. Works by J. Knöfel, J. F. Fasch, H. Schütz, J. Bach, J. S. Bach a. o., dir. Domkapellmeister Reinhard Kammler (organized by the IFG).

Sunday, 16 April, 4 p.m., St. Trinitatis Church
On the occasion of the destruction of the city of Zerbst in 1945, the University Chorus "Johann Friedrich Reichardt" and the Akademisches Orchester of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, will perform J. S. Bach's St. John's Passion, BWV 245, dir. Jens Lorenz.

Friday, 5 May, 6 p.m., "v. Rephun's Garten"
Mitgliederversammlung of the Intenational Fasch Society


HALLE:
Friday, 7 July, 7.30 p.m.,
Freylinghausen-Saal, Franckesche Stiftungen
Traditional end-of-schoolyear concert, "August Hermann Francke" Secondary School. Works to be performed include J. F. Fasch's concerto in C Major for bassoon, strings and B.c., FWV L:C2 (edition by Brian Clark).

After Dr. Reul's return to Canada Susanne Schuster took over as the IFG's resident musicologist on 1 October 1999. She is the daughter of the eminent musicologist and Handel scholar Prof. Dr. Bernd Baselt, Halle, and a music educator. Susanne was introduced to music early on, receiving her first piano lessons at the "Georg-Friedrich-Händel" Conservatory in Handel. She graduated from the "Gehart Hauptmann" Secondary School for musically gifted students in Wernigerode. After completing a diploma (comparable to an M.A.) in musicology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, she worked as dramatugist at the theatre of Magdeburg, the capital of Sachsen-Anhalt. Susanne Schuster had always been interested in specialized musicological research and was first introduced to the works of Johann Friedrich Fasch on the occasion of the 2nd Fasch Festival in 1988. From that time on, she closely observed the IFG's activities with regard to popularizing Fasch's life and works. In 1997 the IFG's general manager Ellen Arndt offered her a position at the Fasch Archive.
In addition to preparing the 7th International Fasch Festival in 2001, organizing concerts and expanding the holdings of the Fasch Archive, Frau Schuster responds to many queries regarding Fasch's life and works, the IFG, new CDs with works by Fasch, secondary literature, editions, etc. Moreover, she collaborates with several musicological institutes on performances of works by Fasch and his son Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch.

We first reported on implementing a "Fasch Tourism" in our 2/98 newsletter. Since then the IFG has been working hard to increase interest in a musical tourism that focuses on the city of Zerbst as the home and workplace of Court Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Fasch and his son Carl Friedrich Christian. Our successful fall/winter season featured a "Fasch-Geselligkeit" ("Fasch-get-together") with "dance" music by J. F. Fasch. Our traditional Christmas concert, directed by Jens Lorenz at the St. Trinitatis Church, included Fasch's ouverture suite in g minor FWV K: g7 (edition prepared by Stephan Blaut) and also attracted a large audience.
In addition, the IFG replies to numerous inquiries from musicologists, music lovers and music institutions that concern the lives and works of Fasch sen. and Fasch jun. We also receive proposals for concerts in Zerbst and registrations for the 7th International Fasch Festival in 2001. You will be interested to know that the IFG will participate in the Fläming Spring Festival on 30 April 2000 in Leitzkau and the International Tourism Exchange in Berlin; we will provide biographical brochures and information on CDs as well as secondary literature in preparation of future concert performances featuring works by both Faschs.

Fasch in Argentina
The ENGLISH CONSORT, dir. Trevor Pinnock, will perform a concert in Buenos Aires on 8 May 2000, featuring a concerto in F Major for violin, two horns, 2 oboes, bassoon, strings, and B.c. FWV L: F2 by Johann Friedrich Fasch. Rachel Podger will be the violin soloist; performance materials were prepared by musicologist Brian Clark.

Fasch in Bochum, Germany
The FASCH-COLLEGIUM BOCHUM, dir. Hans-Heinrich Kriegel, performed in several concerts in Bochum in 1999. They played, for instance, Faschs trio sonatas in g minor FWV N: g2, in d minor FWV N:d4, and in F Major FWV N: F2. On the occasion of the Bochum "Stadteilkonzerte", the Fasch-Collegium Bochum and the Bochum Symphony orchestra collaborated on a performance of his concerto in G Major FWV L: G11 and the sonata c minor FWV N: c1. On 4 April 2000 an expanded Fasch-Collegium Bochum will be joined by the Thomas-Consort Düsseldorf to perform Fasch's overture in B flat Major FWV K: B5 and the concerto in c minor FWV N: c2. Note that Hans-Heinrich Kriegel has edited a number of works by Fasch, complimentary copies of which he was kind enough to pass on to the Fasch Archive. He also indicated that he would provide us with copies of any future editions. Thank you very much!

Please change your bookmarks to our new address which we received in December 1999. Thanks to the support of the city of Zerbst and Dirk Herrmann who is now maintaining our website, you may now log on to the following address and read about current and future activities of the IFG:

http://www.brise-sachsen-anhalt.de/~fasch

Concert Performance at the Schloss Georgium in Dessau

The Second Chamber Music Concert of the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau took place at the Tischbeinsaal in Dessau on 8 January 2000 and featured works by Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. In addition to performing a trio sonata from Bach's "Musical Offering", five arias from G. F. Handel's "Nine German Arias" and a sonata by Jan Dismas Zelenka, the orchestra played a work by Anhalt-Zerbst Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Fasch. This particular composition had been proposed by Susanne Schuster and Ronald Müller (musicologist at the Anhaltisches Theater) who had studied together at university. They had selected a suitable sonata by the Zerbst master, the sonata in C Major for bassoon and B.c., from the holdings at the Fasch Archive Court last fall. Kapellmeister Fasch was responsible for providing music for festive occasions at the palace. His outstanding skills as a composer of chamber music were especially evident in this challenging solo sonata, performed by Steffen Siebert (bassoon), Susanne Dudiez (violin), Bernd Schliephacke (double bass), and Albrecht Hartmann (harpsichord). The perfomers really made this piece come alive! Virtuosic passages in which the soloist hardly had time to breath alternated with sections in which Fasch explored the interesting instrumental combination of bassoon and double bass as continuo instruments. The audience seemed to enjoy the performance of the sonata very much and responded with a great round of applause.

The Ständige Konferenz Mitteldeutsche Barockmusik in Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen e. V. hosted an international musicological colloquium on "Bach and his Central German contemporaries" in Erfurth and Arnstadt from 13 to 16 January 2000. This conference opened a series of commemorative events held on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of J. S. Bach's death. In addition to the many papers that were devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle, three lectures focused on Johann Friedrich Fasch and Zerbst. Konstanze Musketa, Halle, provided a general and a specific comparison of the Bach and Fasch families of composers (J. F. Fasch and J. S. Bach as well as C. P. E. Bach and C. F. Chr. Fasch). Barbara Reul, Victoria, B.C./Canada, examined occasional music performed on ducal birthdays during J. F. Fasch's tenure (1722-1758) at the court of Anhalt-Zerbst. Peter Wollny, Leipzig, reported on two cantatas by J. S. Bach which might have been performed at Zerbst during Fasch's tenure.

SCHOLARLY CONFERENCE "BACH IN LEIPZIG - BACH AND LEIPZIG"

High-ranking scholars from all over the world gathered in Leipzig for a musicological conference on Bach from 27 to 29 January 2000. The first day of the conference dealt with Johann Sebastian Bach's life and the reception of his works, while the second day was devoted to new research carried out on his vocal and instrumental works. The closing session in which roundtable participants examined current performance practice issues sparked a lively discussion. Audience members and participants enjoyed the second part of the session most as Christoph Wolff, Hans-Joachim Schulze, Peter Wollny und Ulrich Leisinger reported on the collection of manuscripts of the Singakademie zu Berlin that has recently come to light. In addition to manuscripts of the three famous Bachs, the collection also contains a number of copies prepared by their contemporaries, including J. F. Fasch. It was impossible to identify specific works due to the limited time of access to the collection. More than one million pages are to be microfilmed in 2000 and be made available to scholars soon after. Until then, we must be patient.

on an ancestor of Johann Friedrich Fasch carried out by the Riestedter Geschichtsverein

The Geschichtsverein (Historical Society) of the small town of Riestadt, situated in the southern- most region of the Harz mountain range, inquired about a pastor named Martin Fasch. He was born in Weida in 1536 and died in Riestedt in 1602. Could he have been an ancestor of Anhalt-Zerbst Court Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Fasch? Indeed, Martin Fasch was the great-great-grandfather of Johann Friedrich Fasch as is evident from a Fasch family tree which Rudolf Faasch put together. Note also that there was another Johann Friedrich Fasch, a grandson of Martin Fasch, who worked as Kantor in Barby as of 1624.

Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (1736-1800) und das Berliner Musikleben seiner Zeit (Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch and contemporary musical life in Berlin): Proceedings of the international scholarly conference on 16 and 17 April 1999 on the occasion of the 6th International Fasch Festival in Zerbst / ed. Internationale Fasch-Gesellschaft e. V. Zerbst [ed. Konstanze Musketa; annotated bibliography by Susanne Oschmann...] Dessau: Anhaltische Verlagsgesellschaft 1999 (Fasch-Studien, vol. 7) ISBN 3-910192-77-7, DM 49,00

This conference report contains sixteen essays on the above topic, prepared by musicologists from Germany, Great Britain, the USA, and Canada. While articles in the first part of the report examine the early oeuvre of Carl Friedrich Fasch, articles in the the second part shed light on his activities in the context of musical life in Berlin during the second half of the 18th century. Specifically, authors investigate Carl Fasch's influence on the development of a burgeois musical culture to which he contributed greatly by founding the Singakademie zu Berlin. A comprehensive bibliography citing the secondary literature used in the articles can be found in the appendix. The latter also includes an index, a biographical time table, and an annotated bibliography of secondary literature on Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch.

Dear Fasch friends all over the world,

I have settled in quite nicely in my "home" in beautiful Victoria, the capital of the province of British Columbia, Canada. Since August 1999 I have been devoting myself to the Fasch cause as the newly elected president of the North American Fasch Society. Mrs. Leonore Lanius, West Vancouver, B.C., will be serving as our vice-president, and the position of secretary has been filled by Dr. Mary Térey-Smith, Western Washington University, USA. In addition, 1997 Fasch-Prize recipient Brian Clark, GB, Dr. Nigel Springthorpe, GB, an expert on Anhalt-Zerbst passion music, and Dr. Erich Schwandt, head of the musicology programme at the University of Victoria, Canada, have joined the executive board as members-at-large.
At the end of August 1999 I got in touch with CBC 2, a classical music radio station in Canada broadcasting nationwide. On 6 August Danielle Charbonneaux, a well-known radio show host, had devoted part of her nightly radio programme "Music for a While" to Johann Friedrich Fasch. In my letter to Ms. Charbonneaux I reported on my "IFG work sabbatical in Zerbst" and drew her attention to a CD recording not available in Canada that featured works from Fasch's and Telemann's oeuvre in a performance by the University Chorus Halle-Wittenberg and the Johann Friedrich Fasch Ensemble. I also informed her about the new brochures on Fasch sen. and jun. that are available from the IFG (in English translation). At the end of November the phone rang - and Ms. Charbonneaux asked to talk to me! She expressed great interest in Johann Friedrich Fasch and his works and appreciated the activities of and endeavours proposed by the IFG and the NAFS. In closing, Ms. Charbonneaux promised to broadcast again a programme put together initially for Christmas Day 1998 on Christmas Day 1999; it included an overture suite by J. F. Fasch. In the year 2000 we may look forward to another nightly show devoted to J. F. Fasch, in which listeners from all over Canada will be able to enjoy excerpts from the above mentioned CD (a complimentary copy of which I have sent her). We can also expect an update on Fasch's biography (courtesy of the new brochures). In addition, she will provide current IFG and NAFS e-mail addresses (breul@alumni.uvic.ca or tereysm@cc.wwu.edu) and URLs. We look forward to that show.

Sincerely,
Dr. Barbara Reul

that a Fasch CD with three obscure overture suites by J. F. Fasch has been recorded by "Capella Savaria" on period instruments, unter the direction of Pal Nemeth? The CD was released by the Italian record label DYNAMIC (CDS 233). The CD notes were prepared by our member and Fasch scholar, Stephan Blaut.

that a CD that features a suite in d minor (porepared by Uta Wald), two cantatas and other works by J. F. Fasch has been released by the record label cpo? Klaus Mertens, Deborah Young and the Ensemble Accademia Daniel, dir. Shalev Ad-El, recorded the programme at the Zerbst Fasch-Saal in February 1999.

that you may request overviews of published editions and performance material of works by Fasch as well as CDs and primary and secondary literature on Fasch from the IFG Administrative Office? A small fee will be charged for handling.

that because of our e-mail address and internet presence we have received numerous interesting inquiries and concert proposals that feature prominently works by J. F. Fasch and C. F. Ch. Fasch?

that the Central German Radio Station "MDR Kultur" broadcast an hour-long interview with Konstanze Musketa, IFG president, as part of their series "Pasticcio" on 22 January 2000?