Written and presented by John Eliot Gardiner, one of the world’s leading interpreters of Bach’s music, Bach: A Passionate Life takes us on a physical, musical and intellectual journey in search of Bach the man and the musician.
The most famous portrait of Bach shows him aged 62, a rather miserable looking old man in wig and formal coat, yet his greatest works were composed in his late 30s and early 40s in an almost unrivalled decade-long blaze of creativity. This conservative image of Bach also conflicts with evidence of clashes with authority from an early age. There are accounts of public brawls, periods in jail, and the smuggling of girls into his organ loft. Gardiner draws upon his lifelong fascination and passion for the composer to shed light on Bach’s personality and music.
In the documentary, made by Leopard Films, John Eliot Gardiner conducts his award-winning Monteverdi choir and orchestra in specially shot performances from Bach’s masterworks: the St Matthew Passion, the St John Passion and the B Minor Mass, as well as extracts from some of his secular and sacred cantatas.
The programme reveals a complex and passionate artist, a warm and convivial family man who shows a rebellious spirit while struggling with the hierarchies of state and church. Despite the cramped conditions of his life in Leipzig, and despite rarely venturing outside a 60-mile radius of the city, he wrote timeless music that today enjoys world-wide fame.
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