Without Berlin, there would be no Bach

In 1901, the ‘Neue Bachgesellschaft’ (New Bach Society), founded for this purpose, ventured into something completely new: the organisation of regular Bach festivals to be held at various locations in Germany.

Festivals honouring specific musicians had existed before: for Beethoven, for Handel and also for Bach. But these remained isolated events. The aim of the Bach Society was to continuously promote Bach and to create spaces where musicians, scholars and audiences could regularly exchange ideas about Bach's music.

The exhibition at the Bach House in Eisenach in Berlin Cathedral explains the rediscovery of Bach around 1800 in Berlin and the background to the idea of the Bach Festival, the events of the Berlin Bach Festival in 1901 and the subsequent Berlin Bach Festivals in 1926, 1976 and 1991. The exhibition also shows the influence of the Bach festivals on performance practice, as well as the local Bach movements and their own independent Bach festivals, which began to spring up in 1907 in Essen and 1908 in Leipzig. Original documents are on display for all topics.


Berlin became the venue for the first Bach Festival from 21 to 23 March 1901. ‘Without Berlin, we would no longer have Bach today,’ said Hermann Kretzschmar, chairman of the New Bach Society, at the opening. He referred to the long Bach tradition in Berlin, which had begun with Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia, an enthusiastic admirer of Bach, and her collection of the world's largest collection of Bach autographs, to the cultivation of Bach's music in Berlin salons, to the Bach performances in the Berlin Singakademie since 1791, and to the first performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion there after 100 years on 11 March 1829 by the then 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: He showed the ‘astonished world’ ‘that Bach, feared as a fugue master and master of calculation, was a composer of the highest calibre,’ according to Kretzschmar.

The Neue Bachgesellschaft e.V. (New Bach Society) kept its promise and, since 1901, has celebrated Bach festivals throughout Germany, first every two years and then annually. This sparked a worldwide Bach movement, which quickly led to the establishment of independent Bach festivals: there are now 66 regular Bach festivals around the world, in Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, England, Russia, Finland, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Israel, Canada, the USA, Paraguay and, since 2015, the largest in Malaysia.

The New Bach Society will celebrate its 100th Bach Festival in Leipzig in 2026, followed by the 101st in Eisenach in 2027.

The cabinet exhibition in Berlin is a preview of the special exhibition ‘125 Years of Bach Festivals – 100 Bach Festivals’ in Eisenach, which will open on 4 June 2026.

Cabinet exhibition in Berlin Cathedral:

• 12 March to 3 May 2026
  
• ‘Without Berlin, there would be no Bach’
  
• Berlin Cathedral
  

Accreditation: Opening with press conference: 12 March 2025, 10:30 a.m.