Message from Bach in Tokyo

Message from Bach No.16 "The Telemann Family and the Bach Family" Encounter

Life is woven by the echoes of encounters. The encounter seems to have been a coincidence, but I later learned that it was in fact a life-changing encounter. The Telemann family's relationship with the Bach family continued until the grandchildren's generation. Bach and Telemann met frequently when they were young, and Telemann was the father of Bach's second son, C.P.E. Bach's baptism, and there are letters from his second son, who mailed a score tightly wrapped in a blanket to Telemann after the Seven Years' War between Prussia and Saxony in 1756, as well as letters from Telemann to his grandson, Michael. They cooperated with each other respectfully, informing and influencing each other, and discussing social conditions and the future intimately and frankly.

I am drawn to such letters, perhaps because I too have been supported by many encounters. I lived with Kiyomi Suga at a boarding house in Brussels for four years together with music students from Germany and France. Everything we casually talked about at the dinner table was a lesson in ancient music and life for me.
Twenty-seven years have passed since then. Hiroshi Fukuzawa and Banri Yamagata have been playing together as an ensemble for 15 years. Their performances convey a deep and quiet respect for each other. When these two groups met, it sounded like a chance encounter. This is the reason why there were so many happy tunes this time.

The Telemann and Bach families' conversation was no different from a modern family conversation, except for the technical topics. Between the lines, they express their concern for their children's future and their earnest wish to preserve the cultural heritage of their ancestors and leave a better world for the next generation in an era of drastic change.　We hope you will enjoy listening to the "spelling and weaving" created by these many intersecting encounters.　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Izumi Sato, Kogaku Kobo