David Babbitt

David Babbitt (1947–2006), organist, conductor, composer and arranger, was Artistic Director of the San Francisco Bach Choir from from 1981 until his death in 2006. A scholar of early Lutheran liturgy and the music generated from the Reformation period in Northern Germany, he researched and prepared a large body of creative musical projects specifically edited for performance by the San Francisco Bach Choir.

In his arrangements of 17th-century polychoral works, Mr. Babbitt followed the spirit of Michael Praetorius’ suggestions outlined in Polyhymnia and Syntagma Musicum II and III. He sometimes expanded or rearranged parts—all very much like a 17th-century Kapellmeister. Mr. Babbitt particularly honored Praetorius’ ideas concerning the use of instrumental groups to color the sound of vocal ensembles. In his polychoral arrangements, Praetorius recommended mixing specific types of instruments with different voice groups, both to create variety and presumably to reinforce the varied sonorities of the human voice.

Many of Mr. Babbitt's original compositions were written in the style of various composers, especially those who wrote in the polychoral idiom, but he also drew from his own creative well-spring to produce works in a more contemporary style.

Well-known as a concert organist, Mr. Babbitt specialized in the work of J. S. Bach. He was a featured artist in the dedicatory concert series for the new organ at Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and held the position of Organist and Music Director the old German-American St, Paulus Church in San Francisco, Northern California's Lutheran mother church. After the church's demise, he held the same position at Zion Lutheran Church in Piedmont. As a student at Pomona College, he performed with a variety of contemporary composers, including Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez, and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

For more information about Mr. Babbitt's tenure as Artistic Director with the choir, see History.

Vocal Works Performed by the San Francisco Bach Choir

Come, Love We God, arrangement
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ
Good King Wenceslas, arrangement
Ihr Kinderlein kommet, arrangement
In dulci jubilo, arrangement
Ingressus Angelus
Joseph lieber, Joseph mein
Joys 10, arrangement
Joy to the World, arrangement
The King shall come when morning comes, arrangement
Les anges dans nos campagnes
Magnificat
Noël Nouvelet, arrangement
Nowell, Sing We Both All and Some, arrangement
Resonet in laudibus, arrangement
The Snow Lay on the Ground, arrangement
Thys Endris Night, arrangement
Supereminet omnem scientiam
Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, arrangement
Zu Bethlehem geboren, arrangement