«He shouldn’t be called ‹Bach› [stream in German] but ‹Meer› [ocean]!» This pun is ascribed to none other than Ludwig van Beethoven himself, who goes on to explain: «because of his infinite, inexhaustible wealth of combinations of sounds and harmonies». And indeed, there is hardly any other composer of whom it can so definitely be asserted that, without him, the history of music would be utterly different than the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Another composer, Max Reger, put it succinctly: in an equally famous quotation, he said that the Baroque composer from central Germany is «the beginning and end of all music». It seems that no other composer’s craftsmanship and aesthetic reception have dominated music for more than three centuries to the extent that Bach’s have. Born in Eisenach, he is best known for his work as Cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. However, this reputation didn’t simply live seamlessly from the 18th to the 21st century: it took the Romantic era, with a new awareness of history, and a historic act of rediscovery to unveil the full extent of Bach’s genius. It was Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy who in 1829 reopened the ears of the world to Bach’s works in a legendary performance of the St Matthew Passion. To mark the 300th anniversary of the first performance of this now famous oratorio, the Philharmonie will celebrate his legacy in a number of ways. Naturally, there will be a performance of the Passion interpreted by the Freiburger Barockorchester and the Zürcher Sing-Akademie, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Beatrice Rana, this season’s Artist in focus, will play the master composer’s ever popular Italian Concerto. And what would the organ be without Bach? In an all-Bach programme, Jan Liebermann explores a range of facets of his works for the King of Instruments, whilst Zoltán Fejérvári highlights his significance in the development of piano compositions. True mastery of counterpoint can be experienced in a performance of the Musikalisches Opfer (Musical Offering), which forms the heart of the concert by the Academy of Ancient Music. The spirit which Bach imparted to his musical successors weaves through the season – for example in the shape of Franz Liszt’s art of variation – and even feeds into the new Heemspill series.