Intimate Bach

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Inspired by the aesthetic connections between Bach, Mozart and Mendelssohn, the 'Bach Intimate' program of the International Bach Festival (IBF) explores the legacy of counterpoint in chamber music. The program moves from the formal balance and emotional depth of Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor, K. 516, to the virtuosity of Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20. This latter piece, a pinnacle of the genre, inherits Bach-like clarity and projects it into a Romantic language of great energy and compositional maturity. Inspired by the aesthetic connections between Bach, Mozart and Mendelssohn, the 'Bach Intimate' program explores the legacy of counterpoint and its evolution towards large-scale chamber music. The repertoire begins with the historical dialogue between Bach and Mozart, leading into the String Quintet in G minor, K. 516, one of Mozart’s deepest works, where melancholy and formal rigor achieve an absolute equilibrium. To close, Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 represents the culmination of the genre; a work of astonishing maturity written in his youth that inherits Bach-like clarity and projects it into a Romantic language full of energy and collective virtuosity. J. S. Bach – To be determined W. A. Mozart – String Quintet in G minor, K. 516 Allegro Menuetto: Allegretto Adagio ma non troppo Adagio – Allegro F. Mendelssohn – String Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 Allegro moderato ma con fuoco Andante Scherzo: Allegro leggierissimo Presto