BACHs REQUIEM

Johann Sebastian Bach | Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Musikalisches Opfer | Christ lag in Todesbanden | Missa sine nomine | Kunst der Fuge

​

A REQUIEM for Johann Sebastian Bach ​

The program "Bach's Requiem" is created in memory of Johann Sebastian Bach, who died in Leipzig on 28 July 1750.

Trombonist and composer Ercole Nisini arranged and orchestrated the Ricercare á6 from the Musical Offering (BWV 1079) and the unfinished Fuga a tre soggetti from the Art of Fugue (BWV 1079) for singers, strings, wind instruments and positive organ. The addition of the text of the Introitus Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine and the Communio Lux aeterna of the Missa pro defunctis brings to light the perfect polyphony of Bach's last works.

Complemented by the cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4), motets of the Bach family, and of the Missa sine nomine à6 by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Instrumenta Musica and Ensemble Polyharmonique present with this solemn funeral music the polyphonic image of the great composer, which seems so valuable for the development of all classical music, a polyphony based on the simultaneity of past, present and future, which gives us insight into the musical universe of Johann Sebastian Bach.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Bach’s REQUIEM is a reworking of masterworks from his life to which sacred texts have been carefully added. 

Conceived as a solemn Missa pro defunctis, it spans his career from the early cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4) through his realization of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s Missa sine nomine a 6 for six instruments and Thoroughbass, to his final works A MUSICAL OFFERING and THE ART OF THE FUGUE, Instrumenta Musica and Ensemble Polyharmonique will present a [new] polyphonic aspect of the great composer, whose works have been so valuable in the development of classical music. The simultaneity of past, present, and future in his music grants us a view of eternity.

​​

Concert Program

INTROITUS

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

Sinfonia - Cantata BWV 4

Introitus - Requiem aeternam - Ricercare à 6 (Textierung von Ercole Nisini)

​

KYRIE

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 - 1594) | Johann Sebastian Bach 

Missa sine nomine à 6 - Kyrie - Christe - Kyrie

 

SEQUENTIA

Johann Sebastian Bach

Versus I Christ lag in Todesbanden - BWV 4 

Versus II Den Tod

Versus III Jesus Christus Gottes Sohn 

Versus IV Es war ein wunderlicher Krieg

 

INTERMEDIUM

Johann Bach (1604-1673)

Unser Leben ist ein Schatten

 

Johann Sebastian Bach

Contrapunctus 1

​

OFFERTORIUM

 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Missa pro Defunctis á 5 - Domine Jesu 

 

Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703)

Chorale - Es ist nun aus

​

SANCTUS

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina | Johann Sebastian Bach

Missa sine nomine à 6 - Sanctus, Benedictus

​

AGNUS DEI

Johann Sebastian Bach

Versus V Hier ist das rechte Osterlamm

Versus VI So feiern wir das hohe Fest

​

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina | Johann Sebastian Bach

Missa sine nomine à 6 - Agnus Dei

 

POSTCOMMUNIO & ABSOLUTIO

Johann Sebastian Bach

Canon per tonos

Lux aeterna - Fuga a 3 soggetti. (Textierung von Ercole Nisini)

​

„Ueber dieser Fuge, wo der Nahme B A C H im Contrasubject angebracht worden, ist Der Verfaßer gestorben.“ 

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

 

Choral - Wenn wir in hoechsten Noethen