How can a text inspire a composer? And what happens if you give three composers the same poem as a source for their music? Conductor Johanna Soller shows us the result in a programme of beautiful music by Bach and the contemporary composer Gregor A. Mayrhofer.
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A brand-new cantata“
In 1726, after years of unimaginable creativity and zest for work, Bach suddenly takes things a bit easier. He composes less, but what he does write has one particular source of inspiration: an anthology of poems from the beginning of the eighteenth century, by Duke Ernst Ludwig of Saxe-Meiningen. In 1726, Bach also performs many cantatas by his cousin Johann Ludwig Bach. And what was Johann Ludwig’s source of inspiration? That same anthology of poems. Now, 300 years later, the young German composer Gregor A. Mayrhofer takes a fresh look at the poetry, to create a brand-new cantata, written especially for this programme.
WORKS AND PERFORMANCE
WORKS
Johann Sebastian Bach
Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen, BWV 43
Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich, BWV 17
Johann Ludwig Bach
Den du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen
Gregor A. Mayrhofer
New composition
PERFORMERS
Netherlands Bach Society
Johanna Soller, conductor
Carine Tinney, soprano
Alex Potter, alto
Daniel Johannsen, tenor
Matthias Winckhler, bass