55th Merseburg Organ Festival

Saturday, 20 September 2025

9:00 am | Cathedral "To you, to you, Jehovah, I will sing" - Musical unlocking of the cathedral

11:00 a.m. | Cathedral NEW FORMAT: FAMILY CONCERT "Bach visits Vivaldi in Venice" - An absolutely true and invented story

• Moderation: Malte Arkona
• Contributors: Pupils from the Evangelical Primary School in Merseburg
• Organ: Lucas Pohle

THE GREAT BROOK NIGHT

18:00 hrs | Cathedral ORGAN CONCERT "The crayfish in the brook and the organs of Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost"

Our crayfish was known to be one of Johann Sebastian Bach's best pupils, which is why we used to play with words: Only one crayfish was caught in this great brook".
When Johann Ludwig Krebs was introduced as Altenburg Castle organist on 23 October 1756, it may have been a similar musical moment for the Altenburg court organ builder Trost, who was present, as J.S. Bach's visit shortly before the inauguration of the organ at the beginning of September 1739. A note in the file states, "...that Bach allowed himself to be heard on this organ, and casually judged from the construction of the work that it is well durable, and that the organ maker has well reussiret in elaboration of the tuning quality and proper sweetness..." In the year in which Part III of the Clavierübung went to press, Bach made a tremendous musical impression: "Few are able to direct the congregation like the old Bach, who once played Faith in D minor on the great organ in Altenburg, but at the second verse lifted the congregation into E flat minor and at the third even into E minor. But only one Bach and one organ in Altenburg could do that. Not all of us are and have that." (Dresdner Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1798).
Krebs was taught by Bach as a Thomaner from 1726. Alongside the Bach sons, he is regarded as Bach's most important pupil and an outstanding organist. He was both a Bach epigone and an original innovator in the gallant and sensitive style. From 1737-1743 he was organist at St Mary's, Zwickau, and from 1743-1756 he was organist at Zeitz Cathedral. He wrote about the Altenburg organ: "This local organ is so beautiful and excellent that it has few equals..." Friedrich Wilhelm Stade, who later became a friend of Franz Liszt and organist at Altenburg Castle, noted: "The organ in the castle church ... is considered one of the best organs in Germany, and not without good reason." It was certainly also on Liszt's initiative that the organ was extended by Friedrich Ladegast in 1881-82. Trost's expressive-progressive sound points to the future and is congenially continued by Ladegast.
The programme shows connections between Bach and Krebs, with references to Bach's work cycles being made in pairs of works.

• On the loading organs: Daniel Beilschmidt (organist at the castle church in Altenburg)
• Moderation: Axel Thielmann

20:00 hrs | Cathedral ORCHESTRA CONCERT

Under the direction of baroque specialist Reinhard Göbel, the New Bach Collegium Musicum Leipzig performs orchestral works by Johann Sebastian Bach.

• Ensemble: New Bachisches Collegium Musicum Leipzig
• Director: Reinhard Göbel

22:00 hrs | Cloister of the cathedral BACH-JAZZ-LOUNGE in the cloister

In the cloister of the cathedral, the Thomas Gabriel Trio will bring the Bach Night to a close in the "Bach Jazz Lounge". The evening will be hosted by Axel Thielmann, well known to all visitors to the Merseburg Organ Festival.

• Ensemble: Thomas Gabriel Trio plays Bach

Moderation: Axel Thielmann

Further information at www.merseburger-orgeltage.de