This contemplative program traces a journey from human fragility to spiritual consolation, drawing on masterworks from the Bach family and their German contemporaries. Many of these composers lived in the long shadow of the Thirty Years’ War, a period that imprinted German sacred music with themes of suffering, resilience and hope. 

The recital opens with expressions of weariness and spiritual longing: Drese’s tender Nun ist alles überwunden, Speer’s poignant canon, and the intimate meditations of Buxtehude and Erlebach evoke a world seeking rest after turmoil.

Johann Christoph Bach’s expressive Ach, dass ich Wassers gnug hätte embodies this atmosphere of lament, tempered by the quiet assurance of Fürchte dich nicht, in contrast to the radiant Lobet den Herrn—both by Johann Sebastian Bach—which lifts the spirit toward praise, while Schütz and Hassler, both shaped directly by the hardships of wartime, offer sober reflections that prepare the way for the monumental Jesu, meine Freude.

The program concludes with Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s earliest cantatas, where yearning is transformed into serene trust, an elegant ‘goodnight’ to the world, in the hands of the finest Baroque performers today.