The Netherlands Bach Society presents a warm and consoling concert each year around All Souls’ Day (2 November). In the stillness surrounding death, some of the most moving and profound music often emerges. For this edition, artistic director Johanna Soller has selected works from the early Baroque alongside compositions by John Cage, including his iconic silent piece 4′33″.

This year’s programme honours the deceased with music by predecessors of Johann Sebastian Bach: Johann Schelle, Sebastian Knüpfer and Johann Kuhnau, all of whom held the position of Thomaskantor in Leipzig before him. Johann Rosenmüller and Dietrich Buxtehude were also key influences, from whom Bach absorbed the craft of composition. The recurring chorale melodies in their works create a space for quiet reflection on mortality.

In the music of John Cage, this reflection is reduced to its essence: no note or harmony is superfluous. His composition 4′33″ stands as the most radical and lucid example, where what remains is, seemingly, only silence.

Program

Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722)
Gott, sei mir gnädig nach deiner Güte

Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684)
Sinfonia undecima à 5
Sinfonia quarta à 5

Johann Schelle (1648-1701)
Herr, lehre uns bedenken
Christus ist des Gesetzes Ende

Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703)
Es ist nun aus mit meinem Leben, JCB 3

Dietrich Buxtehude (ca. 1637-1707)
Jesu, meines Lebens Leben, BuxWV 62
Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr, BuxWV 41

Sebastian Knüpfer (1633-1676)
Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist

John Cage (1912-1992)
4’33”
Apartment House 1776: Harmony nr. 3, Funeral Anthem