Music week “Fantasia”

Fantasies in the Faust­stadt Yes, the Staufen Music Week 2026 wants to entice you with fantasies “from place to place”: in halls and churches, and of course at the castle. However, the lure is not only the images and words named by Goethe, but also the surpris­ingly fantastic sounds, vocal and instru­mental, solo and ensemble. One concert even features five different keyboard instru­ments on stage, giving the imag­i­na­tion free rein.

Many composers and performers have been fans of fantasies for around five centuries! From J. S. Bach to Astor Piazzolla, from Henry Purcell to Knut Nystedt. Their fantasies owe their existence to the freedom that Goethe called “hundred­fold free” and which is by no means arbitrary. On the contrary, she creatively sets her own rules in order to both adhere to and break them. The impro­vi­sa­tional moment often plays a role when music is played in the “style fantas­tico” and when the performers shape the musical text on their desks so imag­i­na­tively that they give the impres­sion that they are “playing out of the baroque”, according to the late Baroque music theorist Johann Mattheson.

At the Staufen Music Week 2026, “imag­i­na­tion and fanta­sizing” act like a ribbon that binds many works and different instru­men­ta­tions together into a resounding bouquet of flowers. We read in the book of nature and in the Bible, we hear light and dark, virtuosic and dramatic, medi­ta­tive and ecstatic, when fantasy leaves “the realm of rules” behind in order to please and amaze, even to whisk the audience away to heaven and hell. This is how the Romantic composer Schubart outlined what awaits us in the 2026 program; but don’t worry, top-class musicians will accompany you!

For all those who sing and play, what was written to organists in the early 18th century applies: “If you want to be called an organist, you have to make use of your imag­i­na­tion.” So we also devote ourselves to fantasies on piano and violin, with solo songs and exquisite choral music, which has always been a regular feature of the Music Week. And in the end, the spark of fantasy could even spread to the listeners and inspire them to listen imag­i­na­tively. After listening to the Bach biog­ra­pher Forkel, who was referring to Bach’s “Chromatic Fantasy”, you may exclaim more than once: “This fantasy is unique!” The musicians and the team of the Staufen Music Week 2026 are already looking forward to many encoun­ters from August 8 to 16, 2026!