Bachfest and Sanssouci – Leipzig and Potsdam
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Leipzig’s first Bach Festival took place in 1908. Bachfest has been held annually there since 1999, with a different theme each year. This year, from June 10 to 19, the theme is Secrets of Harmony (program in PDF).
Over 100 events will take place at more than 30 venues. New for this year Cantata Day, June 18, which will feature ten cantatas from the 1723/24 annual cycle. In addition, different versions of famous Bach works will be performed: the St. Matthew and St. Mark Passions and the cantata “Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis.” To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Max Reger, many of Reger’s works are on the Bachfest program because of their close connections with the history of Bach reception.
The RISM online catalog has over 6,000 sources for J. S. Bach, with over 1,300 links to digital records - that’s over 20%!
At almost the same time as Bachfest, the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci will take place from June 10 to 26. The slogan of this year’s festival - Bonjour France - embraces Frederick the Great’s love of all things French: the palace’s name Sanssouci (without worry), the language, the culture, the joie de vivre. No matter whether literature, theater, sciences, food and wine, music, or dance, as much as possible had to be French.
The musical world of France will be brought to the foreground through a partnership with the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, and you’ll also find Eric Satie, chansons, and jazz on the program. One event is already sold out: the popular Bicycle Concert, where attendees bike to different venues and experience numerous concerts, tours, and visits.
There are ten sources in the RISM online catalog that mention Sanssouci. The Prussian king Frederick the Great (1712-1786) is in the catalog 360 times in various functions: 121 times as a composer, but also as poet, copyist (of his own works), previous owner, and dedicatee.
Image: Frederick the Great, Concerto for 2 Flutes and Cembalo, D major. Darmstadt, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, Musikabteilung (D-DS) Mus. ms. 320 (RISM ID no. 450001960).
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