The Leipzig Bach Archive is receiving a valuable collection as a gift to mark its 75th anniversary. The New York shipowner and music researcher Elias N. Kulukundis is donating the most valuable part of his private collection, worth around ten million dollars (approx. 9.34 million euros), to the archive, the cultural institution announced. The items are now on display as part of a special exhibition.
The collection includes around 1,000 documents, mostly music manuscripts and letters from the four Bach sons, who went on to become musicians themselves.
Founded in 1950, the Bach Archive preserves the legacy of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), who worked as the cantor of St. Thomas in Leipzig from 1723 until his death. The archive also researches the work of the widely ramified Bach family of musicians.
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