Soli deo gloria - Bach Memorial Concert Marking the 276th Anniversary of His Death
Overview
Intro
Gudrun Sidonie Otto (soprano) and a vocal ensemble featuring top-tier performers, together with Münster organist Andreas Liebig, will perform works by Schütz and Bach, among others (including the motet “Jesu, meine Freude”).
“Imposing sacred buildings such as … the Basel Minster seem to have been created for the full Baroque sound of Bach …” (Yehudi Menuhin).
On the 276th anniversary of the death of the Leipzig Thomaskantor, a top-tier ensemble—which has been celebrated with standing ovations at the cathedral in recent years—featuring the internationally renowned early music vocal soloists Gudrun Sidonie Otto & Jessica Jans Otto (soprano), Guillaume Ribler (alto), Falk Hoffmann (tenor), Bach Prize winner Dominik Wörner (bass), along with Michael Behringer (basso continuo), will perform Bach’s motet “Jesu, meine Freude” and a selection from Heinrich Schütz’s “Kleine Geistliche Konzerte.” Like Bach, Schütz was also a master of existential, musical-rhetorical interpretation of texts; his lifetime spanned the entire Thirty Years’ War. His “Small Sacred Concertos” are gems of Baroque vocal art. As a counterpoint to any warlike resolution of conflicts, passages—unfortunately still highly relevant today—from Erasmus of Rotterdam’s “Lament for Peace” (1517), who is buried in the cathedral, will be placed in a broader context at this particularly historic site.
Münster organist Andreas Liebig will perform on the grand Mathis organ (2003), including Bach’s *Praeludium et Fuga in A minor, BWV 543*, Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548, and, to conclude, the chorale “Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit,” which, according to legend, Bach dictated to his son-in-law “to put to paper” while on his deathbed. According to the Bach scholar and great humanist Albert Schweitzer, harmonies of the spheres already resound here, beyond all human passion: “Above it all shines the word: Transfiguration!”—cosmic harmonies, then, in the acoustic space of the Münster.
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.
| Contact address |
kontakt@basler-muensterkonzerte.ch
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| Event Homepage | https://www.basler-muensterkonzerte.ch |
| Price |
Free admission—donations accepted at the exit (suggested donation: CHF 50.00)
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Event dates
- 28 July 2026
Discover the surroundings
Basler Münster
Münsterplatz 9
4051
Basel
Switzerland
Phone
+41 (0)61 272 91 57
accueil.muenster@erk-bs.ch
baslermuenster.ch