Erik Bosgraaf & Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

At this concert of his in Budapest, one of the world’s most outstanding and music-wise most open flutists Erik Bosgraaf will perform a selection of works by the four applicants to the position of cantor at the Leipzig-based St. Thomas’ Church in the 1720s.

Telemann received an offer from Hamburg that he could not refuse, Christoph Graupner settled his dispute with his employer in Darmstadt, and Fasch had already withdrawn his application. Therefore, from 1723 there was nobody to fill the position of cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. And so the city council of the town had to make do with Johann Sebastian Bach. Offering some solace Christoph Graupner wrote the following words on the occasion: Bach “is as expert a musician playing the organ as he is at church music and choral pieces; he is a man who will perform the duties entrusted to him honestly and in a proper way.”