On February 7th, 2017, Johann Sebastian Bach's handwritten score for the cantata "O eternity, you word of thunder" BWV 20 made its return to Leipzig, and the event was celebrated with a ceremony at the Leipzig Old Town Hall. At the event, welcoming speeches were given by Leipzig mayor Burkhard Jung, by state secretary Uwe Gaul of the Saxon State Ministry of Science and Art, and by Prof. Frank Druffner, the deputy secretary general for the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States. The speakers addressed an audience of invited guests which included many donors. Following the keynote address given by the Bach Archive's director, Prof. Peter Wollny, the audience had the opportunity to view the original manuscript and to speak with researchers from the Leipzig Bach Archive. Under the direction of choirmaster Gotthold Schwarz, the local <link freizeit-kultur-und-tourismus kunst-und-kultur musik choere thomanerchor>St. Thomas Boys Choir performed excerpts from the cantata.
A valuable contribution to Bach research
Johann Sebastian Bach performed this work for the first time with the St. Thomas Boys Choir on June 11th, 1724. The cantata opens the second annual cycle of church pieces he composed in Leipzig. The comprehensive musical score, which has now been acquired for the collection of the Bach Archive, is extremely valuable for research into Bach's creative processes, while also shedding light on the manner in which Bach made revisions to his own work.
Prof. Peter Wollny, director of the Leipzig Bach Archive, made the following remarks about the document: "On every page we see the focused work of the composer, who is constantly seeking to determine the best possible formulation of any given musical idea. The study of this manuscript is an opportunity for us to reflect on how Bach's chorale cantata cycles were originally written and revised; it enables us to have a better understanding of Bach's art."
In 2014, the Paul Sacher Foundation (Basel) offered the manuscript to the Leipzig Bach Archive in an exclusive sale for €1.98 million. In December 2016, the Bach Archive managed to acquire the document, thanks in large part to financial support from the City of Leipzig, the State Ministry of Science and Art, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States, the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung (in cooperation with Sparkasse Leipzig), and various other private donors. This acquisition means that, after 267 years of separation, the original performance material of the St. Thomas choir - which is also preserved in the Leipzig Bach Archive - has now finally been reunited with Bach's original handwritten musical score.