Die Wege Bachs - Pygmalion - Vertigo

In the organizer's words:

Festival The Paths of Bach (Chemins de Bach)
Conductor: Raphaël Pichon

Pygmalion begins his journey "The Paths of Bach" in Wolfenbüttel, where two of Bach's teachers, Michael Praetorius and Heinrich Schütz, worked as Kapellmeisters. The town in Lower Saxony was home to the libraries that enabled the young Bach to discover the literature of the great Italian, French and English masters. Pygmalion pays tribute to one of the city's most important personalities, Michael Praetorius. Around the beginning of the 17th century, German composers strove to return to Italian models. Venice radiated into Protestant Germany with its acoustics and architectural innovations, the cori spezzati and the triumphant advance of polychoral music. However, the Thirty Years' War put the brakes on this momentum. The musical style became more intimate: the small sacred concertos emerged, successors to the Italian motets for solo voice and continuo. Structured like a great ecumenical Lutheran vespers, this program unites the great German and Italian masters: Praetorius, Schütz, Scheidt, Monteverdi and Cavalli respond to each other in an interplay of echoes. The polychoral music becomes exultation, joie de vivre and sensual exuberance. We celebrate a connection that has shaped European music.

About The Ways of Bach
In 1705, Johann Sebastian Bach was twenty years old. As a young organist from a modest background, he wanted to perfect his musical education - and so he set off from Arnstadt to Lübeck to meet the composer Dietrich Buxtehude, an undisputed master of his craft. Few details are known about his journey of more than 400 kilometers, which must have been partly on foot along the Roman salt road. For Bach, however, it represented a personal and artistic awakening that would shape his entire future work. Pygmalion was founded in 2006 by Raphaël Pichon. On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, the French ensemble Pygmalion is undertaking a similarly formative journey, partly on foot, which includes concerts as well as encounter projects. The Ways of Bach was accompanied by ARTE Concert and France Musique in 2024. Join us on the last leg of our journey!

Pygmalion Choir & Orchestra
Founded in 2006 by Raphaël Pichon, Pygmalion is made up of singers and instrumentalists who perform on period instruments. The ensemble focuses on tracing musical connections between composers, for example Bach's legacy with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy or the proximity of Heinrich Schütz and Johannes Brahms. The ensemble regularly performs concerts and opera productions in the most prestigious concert halls in France and internationally, and its numerous recordings are released by harmonia mundi. Recent releases include Bach's motets, St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, the album Mein Traum with baritone Stéphane Degout, Monteverdi's Vespro della Beate Vergine and a Bach-Händel album with Sabine Devieilhe.

Price information:

free choice of seats 35,00€ normal price 25,00 € for pupils & students