Bach's inspiration

How does text inspire a composer? And what unfolds when three composers draw inspiration from the same poem? Conductor Johanna Soller reveals the outcome in a programme featuring magnificent music by Bach and contemporary composer Gregor A. Mayrhofer.

In 1726, after years of extraordinary industriousness and creativity, Bach suddenly takes it a lot easier. He composes less, but his work is particularly inspired by one source: an early 18th-century collection of poems by Duke Ernst Ludwig von Sachsen-Meiningen. In 1726, Bach also performed many cantatas by his third cousin Johann Ludwig Bach. Johann Ludwig’s source of inspiration? The same collection of poems. Now, 300 years later, the young German composer Gregor A. Mayrhofer lets himself be inspired by this poetry to create a brand-new cantata, written especially for this performance.