Bach in the Palau (II)

One of the most prestigious Spanish ensembles in antique music offers a programme that shows the influence of French music on Bach. Part of his learning process in his youth involved the making of versions of foreign works. His transcriptions of Italian music, such as the concerts of Vivaldi and of Marcello, are justly renowned. Less well known, however, are organ pieces such as the Aria BWV 587, in which Bach adapts a suite by François Couperin, and this is precisely the work we will be listening to in this concert.

The focal point of the programme is the wonderful Ouvertüre nach französischer Art BWV 831, a piece published in 1735 in which Bach presents a compendium of the French style, using his own particular language in the period of his full artistic maturity.