The music collections of the BCUL, partner of the Lausanne Bach Festival

The Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire – Lausanne (BCUL) is pleased to be associated once again with the Lausanne Bach Festival, offering a targeted selection of documents directly linked to the program of this 23rd edition. Composers, performers and works will no longer hold any secrets for you.

At its Riponne site, the BCUL gives pride of place to music: books, scores, CDs, DVDs, magazines and archives. With a predominantly “classical” offer, but also open to jazz and contemporary music, everyone can deepen their knowledge, develop their musical practice or simply enjoy themselves.

Come and borrow anything you like for free, try out the Finale and Sibelius music composition software, and play on the digital piano!

“Bach & Renaissance

The Lausanne Bach Festival has chosen to amaze us with a program rich in masterpieces from the Renaissance to the Baroque period, such as Monteverdi’s Vespers, the Mass in B and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. And it’s this Passion that brings to mind the so-called “Bach renaissance”. What is it?

After his death in 1750, Johann Sebastian Bach, already little-known during his lifetime, was almost completely forgotten. What was that? Hard to believe, isn’t it?

Apart from the “didactic” repertoire, which remains a reference in music education, Bach’s work disappeared for almost a century. His style fell out of fashion and was overtaken by the new ideas of classicism. That is, until the 19th century, when the Romantic musician Felix Mendelssohn rediscovered it with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin on March 11, 1829. The enormous success of this composition led to a reappraisal of Bach. So much so that the Romantics, especially the Germans (Brahms, Wagner, Schönberg), took up this legacy, adapting it to the tastes of their time.

Today, Bach is considered one of the greatest composers of all time. His works have been transposed into a swing or improvised register by numerous jazz artists (from Jacques Loussier to Keith Jarrett) and widely used in advertising, films and the media in general.

Learn more about the “Bach renaissance”.