Bach, the Universe and Everything: The Beauty of Falling

Everything falls into place. Gravity. Death. Life. Three forces that shape our existence, yet remain mysteries we are still trying to understand. Mysteries we look to in this second edition of the season’s Bach, the Universe and Everything, a series in which audiences are taken on a cosmic adventure where music meets astronomy.

In a concert series with a difference – inspired by JS Bach, composer and intergalactic genius – Bach, the Universe and Everything takes audiences on a cosmic adventure in which music meets astronomy. Expect awe, beauty and big ideas.

Christ lag in Todes Banden is one of Bach’s earliest cantatas. Perhaps even the earliest. He returned to it through his life, revising and reshaping it so much that it’s difficult to tell which parts of the original survive. Unfolding as a series of variations on an Easter chorale by Martin Luther, that would have been so well known to Bach’s congregation, its vivd imagery traces a trajectory of life triumphing over death.

We might think gravity is one mystery we’ve solved. Claudia de Rham has spent her entire life playing with it in her quest to truly understand both its feeling and fundamental nature. She is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London.

This season also features six motets by the English composer Richard Dering (c. 1580–1630). A Catholic convert, he spent much of his career working in continental Europe before returning to England in 1625. Dering’s music bridged the Renaissance and Baroque styles.

This event will last approximately 75 minutes, with no interval.