Chapter 1 On the Musically Theological in Bach’s Cantatas HL

Chapter 1 On the Musically Theological in Bach’s Cantatas

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J. S. Bach ought to be considered a purely artistic or also a religious figure.
Note:L OPZ CHE HA SCATENATO LA DIATRIBA

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Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft für theologische Bachforschung,
Note:I TEOLOGISTI

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work has focused much more on Bach’s librettos than on his musical settings of them.
Note:XCHÈ CHI HA SOSTENUTO LA SECONDA OPZ È STATO MARGINALIZZATO

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Eric Chafe
Note:TEOLOGISTA CANADESE

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Bach’s role consisted only in giving musical expression to assigned texts;
Note:LA TESI DEI CONTEMPLAZ

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the explanatory power of Lutheran theology for interpreting Bach’s secular instrumental music
Note:RESPINTO CON FURORE

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Bach’s musical settings of church cantata poetry can project theological meanings that are purposefully different from those arrived at by simply reading his librettos.
Note:TESI DEL CH...UN VERO E PROPRIO INTERPRETE

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a sort of musical-religious interpreter,

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I will illustrate a few ways in which theology and composition might be read as interacting,
Note:LO SCOPO

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Bach’s compositional mind can be illuminated—if it cannot directly be explained—by analogy with the metaphysics of rationalist philosophers
Note:SECONDO JOHN BUTT....CHE LA BUTTA IN FILOSOFIA PIÙ CHE IN TEOLOGIA

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Does Bach’s thought actually coincide with that of Spinoza and Leibniz?
Note:SEMBRA INVEROSIMILE...COME LEGGERE SANPAOLO CON CANONI ELLENISTICI

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Bach was familiar with the basic tenets of Lutheran theology.
Note:INVECE QS È CERTO

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he had to be tested on his knowledge of Lutheranism
Note:PRIMA DELL ASSUNZIONE A LIPSIA

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Book of Concord (1580).
Note:IL TESTO DI RIFERIMENTO

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Bach owned a large collection of Bible commentaries and sermons,
Note:COLLEZIONISTA APPASSIONATO

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Calov Bible Commentary.
Note:AFFEZIONATO

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inks in the extensive underlinings in this Bible is the same as that of the many marginal comments
Note:FITTAMENTE ANNOTATO E SOTTOLINEATI

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Hans-Joachim Schulze
Note:L ESPERTO IN INCHIOSTRI E CALLIGRAFIE

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The Pastoral and Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen (BWV 13)
Note:ttttttttttttt

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Grim indeed are the sentiments expressed
Note:ARIA D APERTURA

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minor mode and pervasive chromaticisms
Note:ESPRIME L ANSIA

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captures the anxious mood of Georg Christian Lehms’s libretto

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otherworldly instrumental sonority (two recorders and oboe da caccia18) and the instrumental counterpoint (parallel thirds or sixths in duple meter with a triple subdivision of the beat) evoke the Arcadian
Note:MA...CONTEMPORANEAMENTE...PASTORALE SULLO SFONDO

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providing an example of what Luther would call God’s Yes behind his No.
Note:IL CONCETTO TEOLOGICO ESPRESSO

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Justification by Faith and Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (BWV 9)
Note:Tttttttttt IL DUETTO DELKA BVW9

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wanting in poetic inspiration, teeming in theological doctrine

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TESTO POCO ADATTO ALLA MUSICA

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Lord, you look, rather than at good works,
Note:TESTO

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at the heart’s strength of faith;
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generating line after line of beguiling melody.
Note:SOLUZIONE...MIXARE UNA MELODIA SPENSIERATA

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instrumental pair largely proceeds in canon at the fifth
Note:CON UN CANONE RIGOROSO DELLE VOCI

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occasionally changed the interval between the canonic entries from the fifth to the fourth
Note:NELLA PARTE B

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Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (BWV 226), I stumbled upon the melodic resemblance between the cantata duet and the chorale “Komm, Heiliger Geist,” a prayer to the Holy Spirit
Note:LO SPIRITO SANTO RAPORESENTATO DA MELODIA SPENSIERATE E FELICI

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let us consider some doctrinal background.
Note:CHE TEOLOGIA C È SOTTO?

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Bach, of course, knew about the ideas on justification put forth by Luther’s followers in the Book of Concord,
Note:FAMILIARITÀ CON LA DOTTRINA DELLA GIUST X FEDE TRATTA DALLA LETTERA AI ROMANI...COMMENTARIO FITTAMENTE SOTTOLINEATO

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He who is thus vindicated is a sinful man who believes in Christ.
Note:PAOLO

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faith, not good works, brings about salvation (duet);
Note:TUTTI GLI ELEMENTI DELLA DOTTRINA COMPAIONO NEL LIBRETTO E SONO SEZIONATI A PARTE

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The only basic doctrinal aspects missing from the libretto are that Christian faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit and that the fruits of faith, good works—though unnecessary in the sense that they cannot bring about salvation—are necessary in the sense that they are commanded by God
Note:MA VIENE DIMENTICATO UN ASPETTO...CHE BACH S INCARICA DI INTEGRARE

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Canonic writing has associations with law in Bach,
Note:IL CANONE IN BACH SI ASSOCIA ALLA LEGGE

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law and gospel, good works and grace through faith, are inextricably bound up with each other,
Note:CANONE E MELODIA SPENSIERATA...IL RIGORE DELLE OPERE E LA FELICITÀ DELLA FEDE

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justified sinners are not to put the law behind them.
Note:IL LUTERANESIMO DI BACH...LE BUONE OPERE COME SEGNALE DI UNA FEDE DEL CUORE

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If the musical setting of the opening aria from Cantata 13 can be understood to express God’s Yes behind a No, the setting of the duet from Cantata 9 may express God’s No behind a Yes.
Note:RIASSUNTO

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An Inverted World
Note:Ttttttttttttt

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the aria “Wie jammern mich doch die verkehrten Herzen”
Note:UN MOVIMENTO PARTICOLARE

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Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust (BWV 170).
Note:DALLA CANTATA

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contentment of heaven
Note:PRIMA L APERTURA

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condemnation of the evil and perversity
Note:POI IL RECITATIVO

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slow tempo, F-sharp minor tonality, pervasive dissonances,
Note:IL TORMENTO ESPRESSO

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the absence of a proper basso continuo is most likely intentional on Bach’s
Note:NOTAZIONE DI ALFRED DURRR...IL BASSO È UN ANCORAGGIO CHE DÀ STABILITÀ

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Godly foothold is not needed

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COSA SIGNIFICA L ASSENZA...H.1

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or that such a foothold has been lost
Note:H2

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in the aria “Wie zittern und wanken der Sünder Gedanken” from Bach’s church cantata Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht [BWV 105]).
Note:UN ESEMPIO SIMILE DI DISANCORAGGIO

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rhythmic activity in the organ
Note:ALTRA CONSID...DOPPIA RISPETTO A QUELLA DEGLI ARCHI

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heightened contrast between the upper and lower lines
Note:CONTRASTO RITMICO

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expressive lines that have very much the look of solo violin parts
Note:CAPIVOLGIMENTO...L ORGANO PRENDE LE PARTI DI UN VIOLINO

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and a simple, stolid, continuo-like line that has very much the look of a pedals-only organ
Note:E VICEVERSA GLI ARCHI ALL UNISONO...

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scoring may be associated with the time-honored theme of the World Upside Down.
Note:LA METAFORA DI UN MONDO INVERTITO

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mundus inversus

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a castle or city hovers above the clouds,
Note:RAPPRESENTAZIONI FIGURATIVE DEPL MEDESIMO CONCETTO

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sheep protects the flock of humans grazing in a meadow,
Note:ANCORA

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servant rides on horseback while the nobleman has to go behind him on foot,
Note:ANCORA

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mouse chases the cat,
Note:ANCORA

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“all who exalt themselves will be humbled,
Note:CAPOVOLGOMENTI BOBLICI

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Status reversal is said by various New Testament authors to characterize the Kingdom of God.
Note:COMMENTI BIBLICI

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striking examples of this are found in the woodcuts that Luther and his early followers produced to spread Reformation ideas.
Note:INVERSIONI FAMOSE

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Luther’s own wildly polemical series, the Depiction of the Papacy (1545).
Note:ALTRO CASO IN CUI LE INVERSIONI ABBONDANO

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Adoratur Papa Deus Terrenus (“The Pope Is Adored as an Earthly God”)
Note:CASO SPECIFICO

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papal keys have been replaced by a pair of jemmies,
Note:SATIRA

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a German mercenary soldier, a Landsknecht, defecates into it.
Note:NELLA TIARA PAPALE

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the duet from Bach’s church cantata Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten (BWV 93).
Note:ALTRO CASO DI INVERSIONE

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They altogether reasonably assumed that the two soprano lines of the right-hand part in the organ version originated in a standard treble scoring for strings or woodwinds
Note:NE ESISTE UNA RIDUZIONE X ORGANO E I CONOSCE SOLO QUELLA PENSA CHE...

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The situation in Cantata 93 turns out to be exactly the reverse:
Note:INVECE...

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Bach’s music appears to be deliberately working against human expectations,
Note:L IMPRESSIONE

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Such ideas are readily found in the sermon literature from Bach’s library.
Note:L IDEA TEOLOGICA È BEN PRESENTE A BACH

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two copies of Luther’s Hauspostille,

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SERMONI SULLA BIBBIA X OGNI DOMENICA

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The sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (the Sunday for which Cantata 93 was written),
Note:PROPRIO IN QUELLA DOMENICA

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This is reversed by the Savior.
Note:DOPO OGNI INGIUSTIZIA DESCRITTO

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Conclusion
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we might not be fully appreciating Bach’s output if we take him simply or essentially to be a supplier of pitches, rhythms, and tone colors,
Note:CONCLUSIONE

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we might not fully appreciate the range of plausible meanings projected by Bach’s works if we simply analyze the verbal content of his librettos.
Note:MA ANCHE IL LIBRETTO NN BASTA

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Bach’s musical settings can theologically expand upon and interpret his librettos
Note:INTERPRETAZIONE TEOLOG DEI TESTI

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insisting on exclusively aesthetic contemplation of Bach’s music potentially diminishes its meanings and actually reduces its stature.
RI CONCLUSIONE