Organization

Carinthischer Sommer

Conductor

Rubén Dubrovsky

Bach Consort Wien

Villach

Austria

Public

Concert

Approved

Bach Consort Wien: Concert Various

Musical Direction: Rubén Dubrovsky

Bach Consort Wien

On May 7, 1747, Johann Sebastian Bach visited King Friedrich II in the Potsdam City Palace. Bach's son Carl Philipp Emmanuel was a court musician to the Prussian king, who was keen to get to know the famous counterpoint player from Leipzig, who at the time was 62 and, by the standards of the time, old. The king played the flute himself, and his court music concerts were held every evening. Friedrich had Bach show his new collection of excellent pianos and asked him to fantasize about a theme that had apparently already been worked out by his court musicians. Bach then improvised such a masterful three-part fugue that, not only Se. majesty Theo wanted to show the most merciful pleasure about it, but also all those present were amazed.In royal immoderation, Friedrich Bach then asked him to play a six-part fugue as well. Bach gave up, but promised to work out the theme in variations at home and have it engraved in copper. In the months following his visit, Bach fulfilled his wish and wrote one of the highlights of his late work: the Musical Offering on the Royal Theme. At the heart of the set of variations are two large contrapuntal movements, which Bach entitled Ricercar, an acrostic for Regis Iussu Cantio Et Reliqua Canonica Arte Resoluta (At the King's Behest the melody and the rest fulfilled by canonical art). Bach once again fulfills the canonical art with the greatest finesse. The Bach Consort Vienna unfolds all its facets in this meditatively concentrated concert. The visual artist Irene Dubrovsky shows reflections on the cosmic order in video productions.

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )