A historical integral in Sant Felip Neri

Barcelona250 works. This is the magnitude of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, which will be performed by Juan de la Rubia (Vall d'Uixó, 1982) on the organ of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, the second Tuesday of every month, from this October until December 2028. "Well, with breaks in the summer so that Juan has time to prepare the repertoire," says Mercedes Conde, deputy artistic director of the Palau de la Música Catalana, which is the institution promoting the project in collaboration with the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in Barcelona and the Montserrat Torrent. "For an organist, it is a joy to be able to dedicate two and a half years to Bach," says De la Rubia, titular organist of the Sagrada Família, director of the Orquestra del Miracle, linked for twenty years to the Palau de la Música and a student of Montserrat Torrent. "In this complete cycle, there are many things that are not coincidence, but providential," says De la Rubia, who will perform the complete cycle on the Montserrat Torrent organ that he himself inaugurated in the month of May.

As Conde highlights, this complete cycle has special historical relevance because it also includes two pieces attributed to Bach in 2025: the Chaconne for organ in D minor (BWV 1178) and the Chaconne in G minor (BWV 1179), both identified by Peter Wollny, the director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig. The first will be played in the first concert, on October 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, within a program titled Start of the journey. Labyrinths and ostinatos, dedicated to melodies and patterns that repeat and transform. De la Rubia is organizing the 21 concerts of the complete cycle thematically, gathering works that relate in different ways. For example, "the music of Lent and Passion, the Italian influence of Vivaldi and Corelli, Bach the pedagogue, the concert organist Bach who traveled around Germany making reports on the organs he played...". In fact, De la Rubia, with the collaboration of the journalist Pep Gorgori, has done research work that will also be reflected in the program texts.

The choice of the Montserrat Torrent organ makes perfect sense, beyond the bond that De la Rubia has with the instrument and with the centenarian organist. "It is a very suitable organ for Bach," says Conde. "This does not mean that the Palau de la Música organ is not suitable, but it has a more romantic color, and for the complete cycle that Juan wants to perform, the most suitable one is that of Sant Felip Neri." Everything is imbued with "the spirit and drive of Montserrat Torrent," who has given life to this organ. "And I hope the complete cycle gives it projection," adds the organist.

Juan de la Rubia will also unfold the complete cycle of Bach's organ works at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, with the same programs as in Barcelona.