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This week, I have the honour of playing concerts as part of the Bachfest in Leipzig in the church where Johann Sebastian Bach was kantoor (cantor and music director) between the years of 1723-1750. The Lutheran Thomaskirche is and continues to be one of the epicentres of Classical Music, with many music lovers converging on the city of Leipzig (Germany) for this yearly festival in honour of JS Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach

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J.S. Bach was a legendary Baroque composer, with household name recognition alongside other Baroque composers like Pachelbel and Vivaldi. He was born into a musical family on 21 March 1685, in Eisenach and assumed the highly prestigious post of kantoor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 1723, a post which he held until his death in 1750. During his tenure at the Thomaskirche, he composed a cantata for every Sunday church service and also cantatas for every special event in the Church calendar for a grand total of over 300 cantatas composed in Leipzig. In addition, many other famous works of his repertoire were composed during his 27 years in Leipzig, these works included "The Art of Fugue", "Well-Tempered Clavier", "Goldberg Variations" and the "B-minor Mass".

Whilst in Leipzig, he also founded the "Collegium Musicum" which became the regular "pub-band" at the local coffee house, Cafe Zimmermann where performances of his secular instrumental concerti were regularly performed. It was an era where coffee was the newest novelty, and it is in honour of coffee that Bach wrote the famous "Coffee" cantata, a secular cantata about the perils and eventually the joy of drinking coffee!

My work this weekend!

This week, one of the orchestras that I play for is here in Leipzig for the Bachfest. We will do two concerts, of which one will be in the main church of the Thomaskirche. After a bit of a nightmare with our travel, we finally arrived today in Lepzig and went straight to work in rehearsals. Luckily I was able to snatch a few photos before the rehearsals started and a couple more afterwards. NOTE: All the following photos are my own, taken with a OnePlus 5 smartphone.

In the time of Bach, it was normal for the musicians and choir to be placed up high in the organ loft, whilst the audience stayed down below. Partly it was a logistical thing, with the alter area being reserved for the sacred religious rituals and not being an appropriate stage for music. However, unlike some of the church lofts, this one is quite spacious and features enough space for a large organ in addition to more than enough space for our orchestra and attached choir.

It also is amazing that any problems of sound balance are solved with the use of period instruments in the original physical setting. Basically just by recreating the original conditions of the performances, the problems were solved in the writing of the music and no extra effort for balance would be needed.

Another bonus of the lofty (ha ha) view is the fact that we are almost unseen by the audience. It is a strange feeling to be completely hidden away from the audience, but like being in a pit orchestra, it is a lot of fun to be able to play jokes on each other whilst being out of sight!

In addition, from the loft, we have a great view of the amazing stained glass windows that flank the sides of the church. I'm not completely sure if they had survived World War 2, so it is likely these are modern (within the last century) recreations of the great windows.

One possible clue to the more modern nature of the stained glass is the single window that stands in stark contrast to the historical style of all the other windows. Featuring a much more modern aesthetic, it is striking when seen as a counterpoint to the other windows.

It is always a great feeling to be playing in a place that has such a great historical significance for our art of Music. It may have been over 300 years ago, but the idea that the music that we are performing was composed and performed for fresh ears in this very spot is nothing short of awe-inspiring. I look forward to paying homage to one of our greatest Baroque legends this week!