Christopher Jacobson, associate organist at Trinity Cathedral, Columbia and formerly assistant organist at Washington National Cathedral, is performing the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach over two consecutive days at Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church, 429 Abercorn St.
He began at 10 a.m. Friday and will go through 9 p.m. Saturday
The continuous performance of the totality of Bach’s organ work—257 pieces ranging in length from 30 seconds to 16 minutes.
Jacobson uniquely arranges the works in 14 chapters, beginning with a cross section, “Glimpses of Genius,” which introduces Bach’s compositional workshop. Chapters then progress through the stages of Bach’s life and development as a musician, culminating in “Last Words,” Bach’s final utterance dictated from his deathbed in 1750 containing the haunting chorale, Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich (“Before thy throne I now appear”).
The instrument: Noack Organ Builders Opus 100, mechanical tracker action, an eighteenth-century construction technique intimately known by Bach; three manuals; 3,000 pipes.