Alexander Ferdinand Grychtolik

He edited the St. Mark Passion (performed in 1744) as a stylistically consistent reconstruction, published by Edition Peters. This work was lost, the last known copy having burned in 1945. It was completely reconstructed by Grychtolik. The reconstruction of the St. Mark Passion was first performed on 1 April 2007 as part of the festival Thüringer Bachwochen (Thuringia's Weeks of Bach) in Weimar's town church St. Peter und Paul, where several of Bach's children were baptized. Klaus-Jürgen Teutschbein conducted; Grychtolik played the harpsichord. It was again performed in the St. Jakob's church in Köthen, where Bach once lived and worked, as part of its 23rd Bach Festival (Köthener Bachfesttage). The day before the concert, Grychtolik participated in a panel discussion and had to answer questions about his Bach "parody" from Bach experts who are critical of his efforts. He edited the first full reconstruction of the funeral cantata Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt, BWV 244a, also called Köthener Trauermusik, which Bach used as the base for his St Matthew Passion. The Köthener Trauermusik was performed in March 2010 by the Lautten Compagney in the Sophienkirche Berlin and the Kammermusiksaal of the Deutschlandfunk in Cologne and later broadcast on radio. A performance on 11 May 2010 was aired by Austrian broadcaster ORF. At the Köthener Bachfesttage 2012 Grychtolik conducted the Mitteldeutsche Hofmusik ensemble in performances of the reconstructions of birthday cantatas Steigt freudig in die Luft, BWV 36a and Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück, BWV 66a. Bach's O angenehme Melodei, BWV 210a, only survives as a fragment. However, because Bach used it for his wedding cantata O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit, BWV 210, it was possible to reconstruct the piece. Grychtolik's work makes it possible to perform the cantata in concert. Together with a reconstruction of Erwählte Pleißenstadt, BWV 216a it was recorded and released by Grychtolik in 2017.