What is London Bach Society?
The '''London Bach Society''' is a society devoted to performing the music of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]. The London Bach Society was started in 1946 by [[Paul Steinitz]] because he wanted to perform Bach in a style which was like the way it sounded in Bach's time. Bach lived from 1685 to 1750. By the [[20th century]] a lot of things had changed in music. Choirs and orchestras were much bigger and instruments were made differently. Steinitz wanted to get back to the sort of sound that Bach would have known. He started a choir called the London Bach Society so that they could give concerts of Bach's music, making it sound much clearer than it did with huge, romantic choirs. The choir was formed in 1947. The singers were good [[amateur]] singers. Steinitz rehearsed them a lot until they were very good. The London Bach Society (LBS) gave many concerts of Bach's music, as well as singing music by other [[Baroque music|Baroque]] composers such as [[Handel]], [[Telemann]] and [[Heinrich Schütz]]. They also sang works by modern composers such as [[Stravinsky]], [[John Tavener]] and [[Nicholas Maw]]. Between 1958 and 1987 the LBS choir performed all the cantatas by Bach which survive. 208 of them are known. Many others have been lost. The choir performed one of Bach's [[passion cantata|passions]] every Lent, usually the ''[[Matthäus-Passion|St Matthew Passion]]''. They also went on tour, travelling to the [[USA]], [[Israel]], [[Bulgaria]] and twice to the [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany) where they sang at [[Thomaskirche|St Thomas Church]], [[Leipzig]], where Bach had been Director of Music. In 1968 Steinitz got a group of players together, calling them the Steinitz Bach Players. They were [[professional]] musicians who understood how to play Baroque music. Gradually he was able to add more and more [[period instrument|historical instruments]] to his concerts, such as the natural/clarino [[trumpet]], [[oboe da caccia]], baroque [[flute]] and [[sackbuts]]. By 1985 there were enough professional players of