The story of the hero’s descent into the underworld to rescue his wife Euridice has inspired countless retellings, but few can contain music as starkly beautiful and intensely dramatic as Gluck’s masterpiece, with the chorus to the fore as an integral part of the action. It also contains perhaps his most famous music, the dances of the blessed spirits and of the furies, presented here. It is framed by sacred music that is no less dramatic; Bach’s choral and orchestral tableau obsesses over mankind’s fight with the devil, with tempestuous military-style choruses and a whiplash ferocity in its arias. His mass setting borrows from this, and other sacred cantatas.
Part of Bach Bachfest 2026
PROGRAMME
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Bach
Cantata BWV40 ‘Dazu ist ershienen der Sohn Gottes’
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Gluck
Act 2, from Orfeo ed Euridice
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Gluck
Ballo ultimo from Act 3 of Orfeo ed Euridice
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Bach
Lutheran Mass BWV233 in F major
PERFORMERS
- The Sixteen choir & orchestra
- Harry Christophers conductor
