In Europe around 1710, the instrumental concerto, one of the youngest musical genres, made itself heard everywhere with its catchy, concise and colourful form. There is great enthusiasm for the formal and harmonic innovations of Antonio Vivaldi, who is regarded as a figurehead of the genre. However, it is particularly evident in Weimar, where no other than Johann Sebastian Bach has been serving as court organist and chamber musician since 1708. It is therefore not surprising that Bach - in order to be successful at the court of Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxony-Weimar and his music-loving nephew Johann Ernst - began to engage with the Venetian composer's works in a highly productive way.

At the end of this year's Ambraser Schlosskonzerte, the Spanish violinist Lina Tur Bonet and her international ensemble Musica Alchemica with Marco Testori on cello and Jadran Duncumb on lute take us on a very special journey, full of fantasy and inner imagination. In fact, Bach never went to Italy. His compositional role model, on the other hand, undertook at least two major journeys across the Alps to the north, with stops in Vienna and Prague.

Even if the two never met in person, the quote by the Polish-British writer Joseph Conrad, which has become a well-known phrase, can easily be applied to Bach and Vivaldi: «The longest journeys are made in one's imagination.»