Mischa Maisky
25.08.23 > 19:30

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suites represent one of the high points of the literature devoted to the instrument. They were composed between 1717 and 1723, when Bach was Kapellmeister at the court of the Prince of Anhalt-Köthen. A friend of the arts, an enlightened mind and an excellent musician himself, the Prince had a real admiration for “his” composer; and for the glory of this radiant patron, the future Cantor imagined a vast production of instrumental music. Sonatas and partitas for solo violin, the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Brandenburg Concertos, the Cello Suites… All these pages date from this fruitful period and testify to the vitality of Köthen’s musical life.

Following the traditional pattern of the baroque suite – a prelude with an improvised gesture introducing a series of alternately lively and slow dances (allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue, etc.) – the Cello Suites unfold all the instrument’s possibilities, giving it a truly polyphonic dimension. A whole world springs from this great body of wood. Mischa Maisky will perform Suites 1, 4 and 5.

 Marie’s Intro Canceled