Waldemar Jacobsen
The San Francisco Bach Choir was founded by Waldemar Jacobsen and performed its first concert of excerpts from Bach’s great Mass in b minor in May 1937 at San Francisco's Veteran's Auditorium. The chorus of 50 singers promised to present future “annual festivals of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach,” which at that time was considered “rare” repertoire. Mr. Jacobsen, a vocal teacher and church organist who had studied voice and conducting in St. Louis with the founder of the St. Louis Symphony and Bach Chorus, wanted to build a similar organization in San Francisco. By the time of Mr. Jacobsen's death in 1979, the SFBC had been in continuous operation for 42 years and had established a strong choral presence in San Francisco. Under his leadership the choir presented the masterworks of all the major choral composers as well as annual week-long Bach festivals. The festivals were discontinued after Jacobsen's death due to the rising costs of concert production, but they are fondly remembered as one of the first opportunities San Francisco audiences had to immerse themselves in Bach’s rich and varied repertoire.
