"Not all musicians believe in God, but they all believe in Bach." Mauricio Kagel's famous saying is especially true for composers. There is hardly anyone who has not drawn inspiration from Bach's unrivalled art of polyphony. Bach was also the measure of all things for Robert Schumann from his earliest youth. After suffering a serious health breakdown in 1844, he relieved himself by studying Bach's fugues again and composed his Second Symphony at the end of 1845 under this impression. Bach's spirit was the inspiration for the highly expressive slow movement, whose theme quotes the Largo of the Trio Sonata from the "Musikalisches Opfer". When the BRSO, conducted by its chief conductor Simon Rattle, performs Schumann's masterpiece as part of this year's Bach Festival, the audience will experience one of the finest examples of how Bach's music has remained alive in later eras.
There will be a half-hour concert introduction at 18:45.
