Four Hands Dinner – is the view of Handel as a composer inferior to Bach true to facts?
The wonderful performance of Teatr Telewizji from many years ago. The superb cast with Janusz Gajos as Johann Sebastian Bach, Roman Wilhelmi as George Frideric Handel, and Jerzy Trela. The meeting of two, probably biggest musical geniuses of all time. The excellently written play, scintillating dialogues, stories, ambiguous conclusions… and the scene in which Handel bows to Bach, and Bach says, ‘…lower, Handel, lower…’
Was Paul Barz, the author of Four Hands Dinner, right? Is Bach really superior to Handel? Or is it an isolated judgement?
I will not reveal my opinion now, so please come to my lecture. Perhaps you will find out that genius has more than one name?
Zbigniew Pilch

Zbigniew Pilch is one of the leading Baroque violinists, an artist of broad interests, encompassing instrumental music from the 16th to the 21st centuries. He plays the Baroque and contemporary violins, the viola and viola d’amore. As a soloist, chamber player and conductor he has many performances to his credit. Zbigniew Pilch is a professor at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Kraków. His recording catalogue includes, among others, two solo albums: An Enlightened Virtuoso and Bach Romantique (Wrocław Artis Prize 2024 and a Fryderyk 2025 nomination). His new album with Bach’s sonatas and partitas will be released soon.