Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Date: 1986-01-01
Subject: Bach, Johann Sebastian
People: Comparone, Elaine; Dines, Carol; Downey, Juan; Labarca, Guillermo; Meyers, Steve; Sandor, Giorgy; St. Thomas Church's Choir and Cantor
Copyright Holder: Juan Downey

Clip Description
"Video artist Downey uses dramatic special effects to examine the life and works of composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Shot mostly in the wintery East German towns where Bach lived and worked, this layered, impressionistic video portrait of the composer reconstructs a path through Bach's eighteenth-century life and the source of his musical inspiration." -- press release.

The piece is divided into three sections -- Death, Flashback, and Counterpoint. Text by Nobel Peace Prize winner and Bach biographer Albert Schweitzer is incorporated. Factual information about Bach's life is presented along with scenes from towns such as Leipzig, where he lived. An image of a man riding a horse across a snowy landscape is repeated.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is featured throughout and is performed by Giorgy Sandor, Elaine Comparone, and the St. Thomas Church's Choir and Cantor.

This is the fourth piece in a series by Downey entitled, "The Thinking Eye." The work is dedicated to Downey's mother and is approximately 27 and one-half minutes long. It was broadcast as a segment of episode 302 (1987), and episode 101 (1991), of "New Television."

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/J96.HTML