Copying remains a great way of directly assimilating compositional practices, as one gets close up with the music, discovering and simultaneously absorbing styles and techniques. Through this practice, composers can study, source inspiration and even borrow musical ideas and stylistic traits from the works of fellow composers - an autodidact learning process. Throughout his life Johann Sebastian Bach continuously sourced and copied a variety of compositions, from his fellow countrymen as well as from respected composers in France and Italy. He used this musical library of varied repertoire not only as a means to understanding foreign styles in vogue but also as a direct source of inspiration, which he infused into his own compositions. Bach also further used the work of his peers as teaching tools for his pupils, passing on to the next generation a connection to a musical past already assimilated into his own personal taste and genius - shaping his musical legacy in a cycle that could be described as a “musical Lavoisier’s Law” ("Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme.").

Program
The composers included in this program are all present in Johann Sebastian’s library and have in different ways influenced his work. Bach owned a copy of Dieupart’s suites (Suitte VI copied in his own handwriting) and several works by Vivaldi, Rosenmüller, Zuccari and his son’s “compater” Telemann. A basso continuo realization of Albinoni’s popular A Minor sonata by Bach’s pupil H. N. Gerber shows corrections by Bach, in a style that clearly mixes Italian practices with Bach’s own personal choices. Lastly, C.P.E Bach, who declared his father to have been his only teacher, is a great example of how Johann Sebastian’s mixed style was further twisted and transformed into the Empfindsamer Styl which his son so well embodied and which paved the way to Classicism. As a synthesis of everything that came before but also with a nod to what would have come next, the program closes with one of Bach’s well-known organ trios.