Finding aid for the Dayton Bach Society records

TABLE OF CONTENTS

History of the Dayton Bach Society

The Dayton Bach Society was a choral group founded in 1974 by Dr. Richard P. Benedum, then Chair of the Music Department at the University of Dayton. The Society was named for the 18th century German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. The chorus performed all of Bach's major oratorios and passions, in addition to a large number of his cantatas. More broadly, the chorus performed choral music from the medieval period to the present day.

The Dayton Bach Society performed five concerts each season, primarily at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kettering, Ohio, which has a magnificent pipe organ and a large chancel area to accommodate the chorus. Many of the Society's singers were professional musicians.

At the time of its establishment in 1974, the Dayton Bach Society was the only semi-professional choral group in the Dayton area. The Society disbanded in 2002 following the retirement of the music director, Dr. Richard Benedum.

Dr. Benedum has conducted the major oratorios and cantatas of Bach, as well as other major works from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. He is also an accomplished organ recitalist and church musician. He studied with John Hamilton at the University of Oregon, where he received his D.M.A. in organ performance. He also studied organ and conducting with Helmuth Rilling of Stuttgart, Germany, and musicology with Christoph Wolff of Harvard University. His research interests include compositional process in Bach's works, the meaning and pattern of articulation marks in Bach's autograph manuscripts, and the operas and early biographical studies of Mozart. Dr. Benedum is the Alumni Chair in the Humanities and Professor of Music at the University of Dayton. He was Chair of the Department of Music from 1980-1988 and again from 1996-2001.

Return to the Table of Contents

Scope and Content

These records document the operations and performances of the Dayton Bach Society. They depict the role and presence of the Society in the arts community of Dayton, Ohio. The materials include meeting minutes, financial records, programs, news clippings, posters, and cassette recordings, among others. They span the years 1974-2001.

Return to the Table of Contents

Statement of Arrangement

Return to the Table of Contents

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

The materials in this collection are open and accessible to the public. This finding aid lists processed materials only. For information about unprocessed materials in the collection, please contact the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Dayton.

Return to the Table of Contents

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index this collection.

Subjects:

Persons:

Organizations/Corporations:

Return to the Table of Contents

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Dayton Bach Society Records. Archives and Special Collections, University of Dayton Libraries, Dayton, Ohio.

Acquisition Information

The Dayton Bach Society records were donated by the founder, Dr. Richard P. Benedum. The first materials were received on 28 October 1991 and more followed in 1992. Additional materials were later donated by Barbara Lupp of the Dayton Bach Society in 2001 and 2002 and by Dr. Benedum in 2005.

Processing Information

The processing of the materials in the original donation was completed on 17 August 1995. Some recent additions to the collection were processed by Rachel DeHart in August 2008.

Return to the Table of Contents

Box and Folder Listing