Bachwerkvokal Salzburg

In his publication Wenn Bach trauert (When Bach Mourns), published by Bärenreiter-Verlag, the internationally renowned Bach scholar Meinolf Brüser presents new findings on the genesis and performance practice of Bach's motets (BWV 225-229), which are groundbreaking because they offer a completely new perspective on this music. For a long time, the unanimous opinion among Bach researchers was that the Bach motets must have been composed as funeral music for dignitaries and highly respected citizens of the city of Leipzig. In his work, Brüser is able to decipher many clues and pieces of evidence that make it clear that exactly the opposite was the case. It was for family and very personal occasions, related to bereavements in Bach's immediate circle, that he composed these works. A form of personal mourning, if you will, which Bach left behind in a moving musical language. Reading Brüser's book, which reads like a ‘musicological crime scene’, brings one very close to Bach as a deeply sensitive person. Afterwards, one will hear the motets with different ears. Together with Meinolf Brüser, the BachWerkVokal ensemble presents this special concert format, which aims to take the audience into Bach's personal environment and reality of life. 
(Gordon Safari)