[Essay] The magician of the Bethlehem Bach Festival, 1900-1932?

Annotation This short essay describes Mary Ware Dennett's reactions to the Bach Festival performances. Dennett, a reformer who supported pacifist and socialist causes, is best know for her work to promote birth control. She distributed a pamphlet on sex that was banned from the mails as obscene in 1922 and she was convicted of distributing the material in 1928. After public outrage over her conviction, and with help from the AmericanCivil Liberties Union, the conviction was later overturned. The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, the oldest Bach choir in the United States, promotes and encourages appreciation of Bachs music through performance and education. The Choir has performed to critical acclaim at venues around the world, including the Royal Albert Hall, the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Recently, it has made a number of compact discs that are commercially available. The annual Bethlehem Bach Festival, featuring the choir, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007.