Johann Sebastian Bach And George Frideric Handel had many things in common: they were German, Protestant, born in the same year, and both went blind at the end of their lives, operated on for cataracts... by the same surgeon.

An interest in faith and spirituality has often accompanied the actor Lluís Homar, but for some time now it has also a way of understanding the professionThis passion found its perfect partner before the pandemic, when it coincided with the musician Emili Brugalla and together they performed the recital Soul and wordwhich fused the poetry of Saint John of the Cross with the work of Frederic Mompou. From this emerged a different way of understanding the stage, the text, and the music, which is now being replicated with other protagonists: the chapter "The Grand Inquisitor" ofThe Brothers Karamazov of Dostoevsky and the spiritual works of Bach and Messiaen. The result is a performance featuring Homar on spoken word and Brugalla on piano, accompanied by Vesko Stambolov, with whom he shares a duo. Straddling the line between concert and recital, the creators define this work as a sacramental act. Under the title Bach-Dostoevsky-MessiaenThe play premieres this Sunday at the Girona Auditorium as part of the Temporada Alta festival.

Excitement in the music world. This Monday, two previously unknown organ pieces were heard for the first time. After three decades of research, they have been attributed "with 99.99% certainty" to Johann Sebastian Bach, according to Peter Wollny, music director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig. These are two early works by the master, composed 320 years ago and discovered in 1992. The pieces were performed in St. Thomas Church in the German city, where the composer was buried in 1750. The German Minister of Culture, Wolfram Weimer, called the premiere "a momentous occasion." Wollny found both pieces while working on his doctorate and reviewing Bach manuscripts and scores at the Royal Library in Brussels. He came across 17th-century pieces from Thuringia, in eastern Germany, and theorized that at least a couple of those anonymous, undated scores could be transcriptions of compositions by the composer ofThe Brandenburg Concerts and The Passion According to Saint MatthewThese are two chaconnes, a musical form Bach frequently practiced, composed between 1702 and 1704 during his time in Arnstadt, his first professional posting as a professor (1703-1707). For three decades, Wollny has dedicated himself to searching for evidence to confirm their authorship. The pieces contain elements typically found in Bach's works and in no other composer of the period. The definitive proof was the identification, "with absolute certainty," that the transcriber was Salomon Günther John, a student of Bach. The works have been added to the index of Bach's works cataloged as Chaconne in D minor BWV 1178 and Chaconne in G minor BWV 1179. The organ concerto, performed by organist Ton Koopman, also served to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the concert.

The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin opened the Bach Passion series on Wednesday with a Passion according to Saint Matthew high-voltage in a packed Palau de la Música. Accompanied by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the version conducted by Englishman Justin Doyle was far removed from the typical British phlegm and emphasized the dramaturgy, contrasting the enraged energy of the crowds with the warmth of the more introspective passages. The speech sounded perfectly coherent, and the tension increased in each scene, from the thirty pieces of silver, to Peter's rejection, the unleashed mob, Pilate's washing of his hands, and the subsequent crucifixion and death of Christ.