Bach & God
- Author: Marissen, Michael
[A] splendid title ... It brings to mind two approximately equal figures engaged in a complicated dialogue, like Jefferson and Adams, or Siskel and Ebert
Bach & God
- Author: Marissen, Michael
Purchase product
[A] splendid title ... It brings to mind two approximately equal figures engaged in a complicated dialogue, like Jefferson and Adams, or Siskel and Ebert
About
Bach & God explores the religious character of Bach's vocal and instrumental music in seven interrelated essays. Noted musicologist Michael Marissen offers wide-ranging interpretive insights from careful biblical and theological scrutiny of the librettos. Yet he also shows how Bach's pitches, rhythms, and tone colors can make contributions to a work's plausible meanings that go beyond setting texts in an aesthetically satisfying manner. In some of Bach's vocal repertory, the music puts a "spin " on the words in a way that turns out to be explainable as orthodox Lutheran in its orientation. In a few of Bach's vocal works, his otherwise puzzlingly fierce musical settings serve to underscore now unrecognized or unacknowledged verbal polemics, most unsettlingly so in the case of his church cantatas that express contempt for Jews and Judaism. Finally, even Bach's secular instrumental music, particularly the late collections of "abstract " learned counterpoint, can powerfully project certain elements of traditional Lutheran theology. Bach's music is inexhaustible, and Bach & God suggests that through close contextual study there is always more to discover and learn.
Contents
- Preface 000
- Credits 000
- Acknowledgments 000
- Introduction 000
- Part I: Basic Lutheranism in Cantatas
- 1. On the Musically Theological in Bach's Cantatas 000
- 2. Historically Informed Readings of the Librettos from Bach's Cantatas 000
- Part II: Taking Up Anti-Judaism in Cantatas
- 3. Bach's Cantata on the Destruction of Jerusalem 000
- 4. Bach's Cantatas and the Jews in the Gospel of John 000
- Part III: Not Taking Up Anti-Judaism in Passion Settings
- 5. Bach's St. John Passion and the Jews 000
- 6. Blood, People, and Crowds in Bach's St. Matthew Passion 000
- Part IV: Religious Expression in Secular Chamber Music
- 7. The Theological Character of Bach's Musical Offering 000
- Works Cited 000
- Index 000
Awards and reviews
[A] splendid title ... It brings to mind two approximately equal figures engaged in a complicated dialogue, like Jefferson and Adams, or Siskel and Ebert
