Bach’s final choral variation on “Before your throne I now appear” is steeped in myth and mystery. According to the legend, the ailing and, by then, blind composer dictated the work from his deathbed. The end of his final fugue in ‘The Art of Fugue’, is even more contested. On this occasion it will be performed in the edition of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, with voices and left unfinished after the entry of the third subject, his name’s musical signature: B-A-C-H. These final moments bring back the memories of happier times. Bach Akademie Australia and Korneel Bernolet return to the stage for Kantatas 202 and 147, some of Bach’s most joyful and life-affirming statements. 

Choral: Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit, BWV 668
Contrapunctus XIX  from The Art of Fugue BWV 1080     
From Kantata BWV 202, ‘Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten’
Kantata BWV 147 ‘Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben’