Commission to Jörg Widmann

In 2023, the Bachfest Leipzig will celebrate the 300th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s inauguration as Leipzig’s Thomaskantor. The festival programme is themed BACH for Future and combines classical and forward-looking formats. In the opening concert on 8 June in St Thomas’ Church in Leipzig, the Thomanerchor and the Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by St Thomas’ Cantor Andreas Reize, will therefore not only perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s inaugural cantata Die Elenden sollen essen BWV 75, but also a specially composed cantata by Jörg Widmann. The commission to Jörg Widmann for the Bachfest Leipzig is made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Both pieces are connected by their subject matter. Bach’s cantata, composed for the First Sunday after Trinity in 1723, is an interpretation of the famous parable of the poor Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16, verses 19-31). The focus is on reflections on the right relationship between rich and poor, on the pursuit of spiritual and non-material goods, and ultimately on the question of the decisive values in life. Jörg Widmann’s composition, an approximately 40-minute cantata for solos, choir and orchestra, is intended to enter into a dialogue with Bach’s 300-year-old inaugural music on several levels. The levels of reflection will be, on the one hand, the themes touched upon in Bach’s cantata. In addition, there will be another: Bach’s examination of the Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet/The Ecclesiastes of Solomon), as documented in the so-called Calov Bible. In the 1930s, a copy of a Bible belonging to Bach turned up at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, which, in addition to the original text of the Bible, also contains explanations by Martin Luther and the Wittenberg theologian Abraham Calov (1612-1686). Bach read this Bible frequently and added all kinds of his own handwritten comments and underlining. They date from the 1740s, the last decade of Bach’s life. Most of the underlinings are found in the Book of Ecclesiastes, a book of the Old Testament characterised by pessimism and scepticism. The passages in question deal with questions about the meaning of life and on the topics of transience and the right way to live in the face of an uncertain future.

Further information:
bachfestleipzig.de

Date

June 8, 2023
St Thomas Church Leipzig