„The Art of Fuge“ on Bach's instruments

CD recording Art of Fugue on Bach’s instruments

We are planning to record Johann Sebastian Bach's mysterious masterpiece, the Art of Fugue, for the first time on the surviving original instruments from Bach's time. They are are still in the Thomaskirche today and it will be the first professional CD recording with these valuable instruments.

Make it possible with your contribution to record a version for stringed instruments of this famous work: Hypnotic fugues and wonderfully inventive canons alternate, framed by the first and last chorales from Bach's Leipzig period. The musicians of the Leipzig based ensemble Collegium Musicum '23, led by violinist Nadja Zwiener and the organist of St. Thomas Church, Johannes Lang, join forces to evoke the magical colours and mysterious atmosphere of instruments played by the great composer himself and his musicians around 300 years ago, to bring alive one of the most puzzling works of art, whose unfinished nature and the fact that the instrumentation is left open spurs musicological speculation to this day. A musical milestone!

The aim is a new interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Art of Fugue" on original instruments by Johann Christian Hoffmann from 1729. Another aim is to hold a beautifully designed CD in your hands. While you listen to Bach's music, you can look at pictures of the instruments in the booklet and find out about their history.
Target groups are Bach lovers and Leipzig fans from all over the world, classical music enthusiasts.

Help make the valuable original instruments by Johann Christian Hoffmann audible on CD and streaming platforms worldwide!

Bach's Art of Fugue will be recorded by the Collegium Musicum ‘23, which consists of leading Early Music specialists, and will be released on the Ramée label in June 2025. The recording will take place in the Sommersaal of the Bach Archive on the instruments of St Thomas's Church and on the Hildebrandt organ in Störmthal, which was inaugurated by Bach.