Bach's inspiration - Three composers, one source of inspiration

How can text inspire a composer? And what happens when you give three composers the same poetry as a source for their music? Conductor Johanna Soller shows this in a programme with beautiful music by Bach and the contemporary composer Gregor A. Mayrhofer.

In 1726, after years of unimaginable work ethic and creativity, Bach suddenly takes it a bit easier. He composes less, but what he writes has one source of inspiration in particular: a poetry collection from the early eighteenth century by Duke Ernst Ludwig von Sachsen-Meiningen. In 1726, Bach also performs many cantatas by his second cousin Johann Ludwig Bach. Johann Ludwig's source of inspiration? The same poetry collection. Now, three hundred years later, the young German composer Gregor A. Mayrhofer takes up poetry again for a brand new cantata, written especially for this program.