Much of the beauty that has been passed down to us is thanks to passionate collectors. Often, it is these private collections that formed the foundations of today’s great museums – from overflowing Kunstkammern filled with exotic objects to carefully curated collections of paintings, books, and music assembled by kings, bishops, and prominent citizens.

At the heart of both museal and musical collection-building lies a fundamental question: what do we choose to remember, and what do we leave behind? The reasons for preserving music are often not only aesthetic but also political and diplomatic, as evidenced by the luxurious Choirbook of Margaret of Austria. Much compiled music emerged during the nineteenth century, when composers like Bach, Handel, and others were elevated as heroes of the new European nation-states.

In this festival edition, we pay tribute to the passion for collecting. We indulge in the sweet madness of performing complete works – presenting all the notes of the Forqueray family, the entire oeuvre of Louis Couperin, and Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier from the very first to the very last bar. We will also showcase the collection of violin music from the Minoriten Convent, and the chamber music of Jakob Ernst von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, Archbishop of Salzburg. Some composers even became collectors themselves, such as the Bach family with their cherished Altbachisches Archiv, treasured by Johann Sebastian.