When we think of the name Bach, we almost always think of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). But anyone who mentioned Bach in 1770 was probably talking about one of his successful sons – Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was much more famous in his day. Even long ‘before’ Johann Sebastian, in the 16th century, Bachs were active as musicians in Thuringia, Germany. How good they were is shown, among other things, by the ‘Altbachisches Archiv’: a family-maintained collection of motets, cantatas and hymns by Johann Sebastian’s ancestors and relatives.
The collection of manuscripts was lost after World War II, but was recovered in 1999 in the Ukrainian State Archives in Kyiv. The phenomenal French ensemble Pygmalion will perform some of those pieces on Saturday evening in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam. Pygmalion returns twice this season with Bach music: where Saturday focuses on his family, on February 7 there is attention for his musical heroes. On April 8, Pygmalion will reflect on the ‘becoming of the phenomenon’.