Faculty-Student Collaborative: Selma Riemenschneider and the Baldwin Wallace Bach Heritage

The Baldwin Wallace (BW) Bach Festival, established in 1933 and now the oldest collegiate Bach Festival in the United States, rose to national prominence under the artistic guidance of Albert Riemenschneider, festival director until his death in 1950. What little scholarship exists on the BW Bach Festival is, expectedly, a male-focused narrative of BW’s Bach heritage—the study and performance of J. S. Bach’s music under the leadership of a series of male artistic directors, from the establishment of the festival under Albert in the early twentieth century to the present day. As steward to the BW Bach heritage in my position as Riemenschneider Bach Institute (RBI) scholar-in-residence, I have worked closely with the historical documents related to the BW Bach Festival.