HL Chapter 7 The Theological Character of Bach’s Musical Offering

Chapter 7 The Theological Character of Bach’s Musical Offering
Note:7@@@@@@@@@@@@@@LO STILE DA CHIESA DELLA MUSICA PROFANA

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J. S. Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079),
Note:OGGETTO DI ANALISI

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King Frederick II
Note:DEDICATARIO

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the way the collection was put together
Note:UNA BIBLIOTECA DI SPECULAZIONI

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research by Christoph Wolff,
Note:ACCORDO...ALMENO SULL ORDINE SE NN SUL SIGNIFICATO

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reconstruction was consequently called into question by Wolfgang Wiemer’s
Note:UNA VERSIONE ALTERNATIVA

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Bach probably arranged the various pieces in the Musical Offering by genre (two fugues, sonata, ten canons)
Note:L IPOTESI

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I propose that the Musical Offering assumes an increasingly theological character as it moves from genre to genre
Note:TESI

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holds that this music—in particular, its canons—is “abstract”: it explores “pure” issues of form,
Note:INTERPRETAZIONE DI FRIEDERICH BLUME

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not really meant to be performed,
Note:Ccccccccccccccc

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Ursula Kirkendale
Note:ALTRA INTERPRETE

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it was meant, as declared in Bach’s preface, to glorify its dedicatee,
Note:IL SIGNIFICATO X LA TEEZA INTERPRETAZIONE

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scholars, for example, have taken seriously the clear performance indications in the print:
Note:BLUME SCREDITATO

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glorifying Frederick the Great appears incomprehensible if “glorification” is understood in the conventional manner.
Note:PRIMO RILIEVO TERZA INTERPRET

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the Musical Offering promotes a biblical-Lutheran understanding of glory,
Note:PIÙ PROBABILE

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glorification through abasement,”
Note:TEOLOGIA DELLA CROCE...TIPICA DI LUTEEO

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opposed to the “theology of glory.”
Note:L ALTERNATIVA

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Bach’s high baroque, “learned” counterpoint rather than the galant homophony and occasional galant counterpoint of the Prussian court
Note:UNO STILE LONTANO DALLA CORTE ILLUMINATA

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This music is an homage to God.
Note:TESI RIPETUTA

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the meeting of Bach and Frederick.
Note:IMPORTANTE

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The music was almost invariably composed by Frederick himself
Note:LE SERATE MUSICALI ALLA CORTE DI PRUSSIA

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nobody except Quantz was permitted to react in any way to the king’s performances.
Note:PUNIZIONI ANCHE FISICHE...Q È IL MAESTRO DEL RE

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inviting Bach to take over,
Note:EVENTO STRAORDINARIO...I CONCERTI ERANO X POCHI INTIMI

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his improvisations.
Note:LINTERESSE DI FEDERICO PER BACH

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Frederick provided Bach with a difficult theme on which to improvise a fugue.
Note:LA SFIDA....TUTTI MERAVIGLIATI TRANNE BACH CHE SI RIPROMISE DI MIGLIORARLA

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it points up the higher value of thinking through and reflecting on the demands of fugue;
Note:LA MUSICA DI BACH È PENSATA

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Bach was an orthodox Lutheran, deeply interested in music and theology,
Note:DUE MONDI DIVERSI BACH 62 ANNI 20 FIGLI...L ALTRO 32 OMOSEX ILLUMINISTA ANTICRISTIANO

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Frederick was strongly anti-Christian (though politically tolerant),20 deeply interested in French Enlightenment philosophy
Note:CO NTROPARTE

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Bach believed the primary purpose of music was to honor God
Note:LA DIFFERENZA PIÙ PROFONDA...LA MUSICOLOGIA BACHIANA

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the aim and final reason, as of all music, so of the thorough bass, should be none else but the Glory of God and the refreshing of the mind.”
Note:ANEDDOTO SUL RUOLO DEL BASSO CONTINUO SECONDO BACH

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Frederick believed the primary purpose of music was to entertain and divert,
Note:LA MUSICOLOGIA DI FEDERICO

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While playing the flute before cabinet meetings, Frederick focused his thoughts on other things and came up with answers to difficult political problems.
Note:ANEDDOTI SU UNA MENTE CHE PENSA AD ALTRO MENTRE SUONA

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difficult to imagine a stronger contrast in the 1740s than that between the strict style (gelehrte Stil, “learned” counterpoint) of most of Bach’s Musical Offering and the typically galant style (thin-textured homophony with singing melodies and relatively unobtrusive basses)
Note:LA LONTANANZA DI BACH DAL GUSTO ARISTOCRATICO

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un-Bachian tastes.
Note:IL GUSTO DI F

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interested in the power of fugue as “spectacle”;
Note:L UNICO INTERESSE DI F

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not much interested, however, in fugue as composition.
Note:ccccccccccc

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among his more than 120 surviving sonatas, there is only one movement in fugal style
Note:INDIZIO

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“Italian superficiality and French insipidity” as compared with the “beauty, truth, and nobility” of “authentic German” music.
Note:NELLA GRANDE BATTAGLIA F ARRUOLATO TRA GLI INSIPIDI

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Frederick’s not keeping his copy of the Musical Offering,
Note:UNO SPARITO MAI STUDIATO DA F

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no evidence that Frederick ever acknowledged or rewarded Bach’s efforts.
Note:MAI RINGRAZIATO

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“working for the King of Prussia,”
Note:IL DETTO...LAVORARE X NIENTE

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Fugues
Note:ttttttttttttt

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lack of balance and symmetry,
Note:LA CRITICA ALLE FUGHE DELL OFFERTA

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In strict fugues, the episodes frequently allude to or quote from parts of the subject and its initial counterpoint by means of division, augmentation, diminution, and contrary motion.
Note:FUGA STRETTA...TIPICA BACHIANA...TUTTO È DERIVATO DA UNA CELLULA

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In free fugues, the episodes mostly present material that may be related to but is not derived from
Note:ALTERNATIVA...STILE HANDELIANO

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Bach’s Six-Part Fugue would more likely have been labeled “free” and the Three-Part Fugue “strict.”
Note:CONCLUSIONE

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throughout the Three-Part Fugue, Bach cultivated some elements of the galant style: thinner textures,
Note:CONCESSIONI

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“sighing” appoggiaturas.
Note:Cccccccccc

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fortepiano.
Note:IL NUOVO STRUMENTO MAI SFRUTTATO A PIENO DALLO STILE ARCAICO DI BACH

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rapid modulatory sequential movement in the flat direction.
Note:ALTRA STRANA CARATTEEISTICA

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Bach rarely travels so many steps away from the home key
Note:Cccccccccc

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Distant tonal movement in the flat direction in Bach’s church cantatas frequently expresses ideas concerning death, spiritual decay, lament, suffering, vanity, emptiness, and the like.
Note:UN BRUTTO SEGNO L ALLONTANAMENTO

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Capriccio sopra la lontananza del fratello dilettissimo (BWV 992),
Note:ESPEDIENTE USATO ANCHE QUI...OLTRE CHE NELLE CANTATE

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suggest negative associations with the lighter style.
Note:IL GALANTE INQUINATO DA SENTIMENTI NEGATIVI

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Sonata
Note:tttttttttttt

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a sonata would seem, on the face of it, to be much more promising.
Note:ASPETTATIVE PIÙ ALTE DI INCONTRARE IL GUSTO DELLA CORTE...DELUSIONE

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a galant-style work for solo flute with unobtrusive continuo or obbligato keyboard.
Note:QUEL CHE CI SI ATTENDE A CORTE

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flutist would not occupy visually or musically the central position,
Note:MA IN BACH

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contrapuntal style for flute, violin, and continuo.
Note:LO STILE INTRICATO DI BACH

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Giuseppe Tartini’s model with three movements: Slow, Fast, Fast(er).
Note:FORMA USATA WA CORTE CORTE

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Bach’s sonata has four movements in the configuration Slow, Fast Fugue, Slow, Fast Fugue,
Note:CONTRO

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“church sonata”
Note:IL MODELLO DI BACH

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(sonata da chiesa),
Note:1 AUSYERA

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(sonata da camera).
Note:GALANTE

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a strong distaste for all music that “smells of the church.”
Note:GUSTI DI FEDE

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“smell of the church,” could be called anti-galant.
Note:ANTIGALANT

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parallel thirds and sixths
Note:CONCESSIONE 1 ALLO STILE GALANTE

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appoggiaturas marking the phrase endings.
Note:CONCESSIONE 2

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the galant is “baroqued.
Note:IN BACH LE POCHE CONCESSIONI...SONO SUBOTO TRATATE E SEGMENTATE

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traveling outside the ambitus
Note:ALTRA MINA ALLO STILE GALANTE...TIPICO DELLO STILE DA CHIESA...MODULARE VERSO TONALITÀ MOLTO BDISTANTI IN BE MOLLE

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movement in the flat direction is associated with negative topics in his texts.
Note:COMMENTO AI TESTI BIBLICI

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contradicting, rather than supporting, the galant melodic style
Note:EFFETTO NEL CONTESTO DATO

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sonata in concerto style”).
Note:IN BACH GLI STILI SI MESCOLANO CONFONDENDO L ASCOLTATORE INGENUO

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this bourrée-style, concerto-style sonata movement turns out to be a fugue,
Note:ALTRE MISTURE

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The new slow-moving bass line, presented with rhythmically more active counterpoints above it, corresponds to baroque cantus-firmus technique.
Note:GLI STILI ACCUMULATI...SONATA CONCERTO FUGA CANTUS FIRMUS...STILE FRANCESE BOURRÉ STILE ITALIANO CONCERTO VIVALDIANO

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Aestheticians did speak frequently and forcefully of the need for clarity in the representation of styles and genres,
Note:NEL CORSO DELL ILLUMINISMO

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mixtures were certainly tolerated and even encouraged so long as they were “agreeable”
Note:UNICA ECCEZIONE

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the piece’s severity.
Note:IL CARATTERE DELLA SONATA...NN XERTO AGREEABLE...IN CONTRASTO CON CONCERTO E DANZA

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bourrées were especially prized in the eighteenth century for their carefree character.
Note:NELLE MANI DI BACH LA MUTAZIONE DI CARATTERE

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“contentment; pleasantness
Note:I CARATTERI DELLA BOURRÉ NELLA TRADIZIONE DI CORTE

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bourrée style speak straightforwardly of carefree, joyful, and sunny matters.
Note:È VERO XSINO NELLE CANTAT DI BACH

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bourrée conflict with the fugal and cantus-firmus styles
Note:...MA NELLA SONATA DELL OFFERTA ECCO IL CONFLITTO

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If the Royal Theme destroys the sense of what constitutes the subject in this fugue, it also, more subtly, obfuscates the bourrée dance steps
Note:UN MISCHIONE

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The remaining movements of the sonata also mix various genres with opposing Affects.
Note:UN PROCESSO CHE SI RIPETE...MANCANZA DI TRASPARENZA

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French sarabande, the most difficult and sophisticated of baroque dance steps (basically outmoded by the 1740s).
Note:UTILUZZO DI DANZE FUORI MODA

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highly formal dance
Note:COMPLESSITÀ FORMALE

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severe chromatic subject for a dancelike but strict fugue.
Note:L ULTIMO MOVIMENTO

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Canons
Note:Tttttttttttttt

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Bach’s often severely learned canons (contrasting with the galant canon writing of Quantz and others) must almost surely have represented an affront to Frederick’s aesthetic
Note:L AFFRONTO

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Enlightenment writers on music considered canons to be the most learned form of counterpoint. Many of them, not surprisingly, had little good to say about this sort of writing, calling it unnatural, unmelodious, excessively artificial, eye-oriented rather than ear-oriented, and so forth.49 Canons were considered completely at odds with the desire for freedom of expression in music.
Note:ILLUMINISMO VERSO IL CANONE

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“Dictator,”
Note:COME LO DEFINIVA IL MATTHESON

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“delectable variety stands completely to the wayside.”
Note:DOVE STA IL DELIZIOSO?

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church music,
Note:IL LUOGO PROPRIO DEL CANONE

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association with the positive moral and ethical aspects
Note:ASSOCIATO ALLA LEGGE MORALE

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original meaning of the word canon: “rule,”
Note:RIPRESA DELL ETIMOLOGIA

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Ten Commandments).
Note:IL CANONE X ECCELLENZA

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there are ten canons in the Musical Offering.
Note:IMPIEGO A MAN BASSA

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learned contrapuntal keyboard ricercars and a learned contrapuntal sonata da chiesa, both employing tonal procedures uncommon in Bach’s instrumental music but more familiar from his church cantatas,
Note:È CHIARO IL CARATTERE TEOLOGICO DELL OFFERTA

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Law has two functions, the one “civil” and the other “spiritual”
Note:L INSEGNAMENTO DI LUTERO SULLA LEGGE BIBLICA

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public peace and order
Note:COSA DEVE GARANTIRE

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God-instituted offices of government, parents, and teachers.
Note:TRAMITE CHI OPERA

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God’s Law in its civil sense.
Note:IL RIFERIMENTO DI BACH

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the function of the Law is to make people feel its power, recognize their sin,

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ALTRA FUNZIONE DELLA LEGGE....TROPPO ELEVATA MA PUR SEMPRE UN MODELO

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experience God’s wrath, and be led to repentance
Note:UNA LEGGE CHE EVIDENZI IL PECCATO E ISPIRI IL PENTIMENTO

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The gospel (that is, “good news”) stands alongside it.
Note:LA LEGGE NN È IL SOLO SEGNO DIVINO

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Law and gospel, according to Luther, have opposite functions,
Note:DOPPIA FUNZIONE

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the gospel preaches forgiveness of sins through Christ.
Note:FUNZIONE DEOL VANGELO

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The Law leads into death; the gospel proclaims eternal life
Note:OPPOSIZIONE

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The Law places humans under the wrath of God (what Luther calls God’s “alien work”); the gospel brings grace
Note:OPPOSIZIONE 2

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Bach’s ten canons in the Musical Offering are possibly tied up with Luther’s understanding of the theological function of the Law.
Note:TESI

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Seek, and you will find”).
Note:INTESTAZIONE DEL CANONE 9...MATTEO 7 E LUCA 9

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use of the term ricercar (which means “to search/seek out”)
Note:ALTRO INDIZIO

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What humans ultimately seek, to the Lutheran mind, is salvation.
Note:OGGETTO DELLA RICERCA

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justification appears to be a recognition of one’s need for grace and an appeal to God’s merciful bestowal of it.
Note:COME GIUNGE LA SALVEZZA

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“cry out,” “ask,” “seek,” and “knock.”
Note:I VERBI DI LUTERO...IMPLORARE

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a reminder of the theological function of the Law: recognition of sin and the need for receiving God’s grace.
Note:COME INTERPRETARE L EPIGRAFE AL NONO

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Abraham Calov’s Bible with Lutheran commentaries
Note:NELLA BIBLIOTECA DI BACH E NEI SUOI APPUNTI LA CONFERMA

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Chafe concludes that Bach seems here to highlight what Walter Benjamin called the “disproportion between the unlimited hierarchical dignity with which [the monarch] is divinely invested and the humble estate of his humanity.”
Note:NEI DUE CANONI INTESTATI ALLA GLORIA DEL RE....CANONI CON UNA ASCESA MINATA DA TONI E MODULAZIONI MELANCONICHE

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Canon 4
Note:OGGETTO DI ANALISI

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Bach’s German preface suggest a heavily theological tone
Note:UNA LINGUA...E UNA CULTURA ODIATA DA FEDE

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the word Opfer (“offering,” “sacrifice”) is set dramatically larger
Note:NELLA DEDICA

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For Bach to write “consecrate an offering” makes his dedication “smell of the church”
Note:LINGUAGGIO CURIALE

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similar expressions in his Calov Bible.
Note:LA LANCIA ONTE DI ISPIRAZIONE

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excerpt from Exodus 29
Note:Cccccccc

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“to glorify,”
Note:ALTRO VERBO SINTOMATICO

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odd in a secular dedication, especially one to Frederick the Great.
Note:ANOMALIA

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it presumably refers to different notions of glory.
Note:PUZZA DI CHIESA

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from the first, third, and fourth versions of the St. John Passion (BWV 245).

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I PRECEDENTI DELL ESPRESSIONE

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the notion that Christ’s glorification as the king of humanity centers on his suffering on the cross.
Note:GLORIA NELLA TEOLOGIA LUTERANA...TEOLOGIA DELLA CROCE

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finding joy in suffering;
Note:PRATICA LUTERANA

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Frederick, by contrast, wrote frequently and forcefully in favor of a view very much opposed to Bach’s.
Note:SUL TEMA DELLA GLORIA

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Great minds labour only for fame,
Note:CONCEZIONE MONDANA

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like the Law, glory might be said to have two senses, the one essentially spiritual and the other more worldly. Bach captured this in the St. John Passion and in the preface to the Musical Offering by using for the one verherrlichen (literally, to glorify in the sense of “to make Godlike,” to suffer) and for the other rühmen (to glorify in the sense of “to make known”).
Note:I DUE SENSI

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Canon 4
Note:ESEMPIO DI GLORIFICAZIONE

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traditional baroque associations of majesty and glory
Note:LINEA DI BASSO

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the line becomes deregalized, because at half speed, the dotted rhythms
Note:NEL CANONE

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The melancholy Affect and the deregalized canonic solution link regal fortune (worldly works, glory) not to splendor, might, and fame but to the theology of the cross.
Note:SIGNIFICATO

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Conclusion
Note:Tttttttttttttttt

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“[A preacher] need not guard his mouth nor take into view gracious or wrathful lords or noblemen,
Note:DIFFICILE CHE BACH SI TRATTENGA...I SUOI COMMENTARI PARLANO CHIARO

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the ways of severe learned counterpoint (as opposed to the ways of galant homophony or galant fugues and canons) and of the theology of the cross.
Note:UNA MUSICA CHE ESPRIME UNA TEOLOGIA BEN PRECISA

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loving one’s neighbors implies imparting one’s God-given knowledge to them.
COME ESPRIMERE L AFFETTO VERSO IL RE?

LA COLONNA SONORA DELLA RAGIONE

LA COLONNA SONORA DELLA RAGIONE

I musicologi illuministi consideravano il canone la forma di contrappunto più cervellotica e ostile al piacere. La definivano “innaturale”, “non melodiosa”, “eccessivamente artificiale” e “orientata verso l’occhio piuttosto che verso l’orecchio”. I canoni erano considerati in disaccordo e in opposizione con il nuovo e legittimo desiderio di libertà espressiva nella musica. Il Mattheson, per esempio, sentiva nel canone “puzza di Chiesa”, oltre a scorgervi un’aurea “dittatoriale”, macchinosa, goffa e “torbida”; qualcosa che si poneva in antitesi alla “delizia dell’ascolto”, il vero fine a cui il compositore deve tendere.

Si sarà capito che – nonostante le sigle di Quark e i libri di Douglas Hofstadter – se c’è un compositore in netta contrapposizione con lo spirito illuminista questi è stato Johann Sebastian Bach, uno che viveva di canoni. Da sempre bollato come “arcaico” e “in odore di sagrestia” fu a lungo accantonato fino alla riscoperta in epoca romantica.

Sarà stata la coda di paglia ad aver indotta il buon Pierino Angela a ripiegare su un'aria (in versione jazzistica)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wmf_APgxkg

DUE PESI DUE MISURE?

DUE PESI DUE MISURE?

A Wagner l’hanno fatta pagare cara, la sua musica viene sempre collegata all’ideologia nazi, devi quasi ascoltarla di nascosto. Purtroppo per lui Hitler considerava il Parsifal una perenne fonte d’ispirazione. Bach invece l’ha passata liscia nonostante una buona parte della sua produzione sia stata la consapevole colonna sonora del più feroce anti-ebraismo luterano.

HL Chapter 3 Bach’s Cantata on the Destruction of Jerusalem

Chapter 3 Bach’s Cantata on the Destruction of Jerusalem
Note:3@@@@@@@@@@@@

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anonymous sixteenth-century painting now known by the title Gesetz und Gnade (“law and grace”)
Note:NELLA CHIESA DI LIPSIA DOVE B LAVORÒ

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a powerful series of theologically conventional contrasts of type with antitype.
Note:OGGETTO

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Moses is shown on his knees at the edge of a precipice, receiving stone tablets—the law
Note:SULL ESTREMA SINISTRA

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Mary, with wavy blond hair, is shown receiving a cross-bearing baby Jesus
Note:A DESTRA

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Adam and Eve break God’s law
Note:IN ALTO

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Jesus, with heavenly rays beaming from his head, suffers on the cross (a sort of tree) and is shown conquering death.
Note:IN BASSO

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serpent amid exodus encampments of the Hebrew
Note:IN ALTO A DS

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a large church of Christian worship amid the established city of God,
Note:IN BASSO A SIN

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on the left, a neatly long-bearded, fancy-headdress-bearing, unidentified prophet, richly clad in red;
Note:SULL SFONDO TRE FIGURE...PRIMA

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nimbus-bearing John the Baptist, poorly clad in red;
Note:SECONDA

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a seminaked man.
Note:LA TERZA IN MEZZO

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man without grace”).
Note:ISCRIZIONE SOTTO IL PROFETA BARBUTO

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proclaimer of Christ”).
Note:ISCRIZIONE SOTTO IL BATTISTA

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The picture appears to show humanity per se presented with a Hercules-like choice between the virtues of redemption and life on the one hand and the vices of sin
Note:L ALLEGORIA...IL PROFETA È IL VECCHIO CHE RIFIUTA UN NUOVO PATTO CON DIO

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an extraordinary tree; its right side teems with foliage, while its left side is completely withered.
Note:DAVANTI A TUTTO

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following inscriptions: at the left, Moses mit dem Gesetz. / Der Sünder. / Propheten (“Moses with the law. / The sinner. / Prophets”); and at the right, Unsere Rechtfertigung. / … Anzeiger Christi (“our justification. / … proclaimer of Christ”).
Note:SOGGETTO COMUNE...QUADRO SIMILE NELL ALTRA CHIESA DI LIPSIA DOVE B LAVORÓ

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judgment about the progress made in moving narratively from the historical failings of an old Israel under the law
Note:L ALLEGORIA DI QS QUADRI È CHIARA

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the triumphs made possible for a new Israel grounded in faith through God’s grace.
Note:LA META

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law is considered “good” only insofar as it is a necessary step leading forward to the inclusion of the grace
Note:LA BONTÀ RELATIVA DELLA LEGGE

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Thesis
Note:Tttttttttttt

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Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgendein Schmerz sei wie mein Schmerz (BWV 46),
Note:OGGETTO ANALISI

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contrasts between the first three and the last three of its six movements.
Note:CARATTWRISTICA

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Bach’s musical setting of Cantata 46 projects a theological anti-Judaism similar to that of the St. Thomas and St. Nicholas law-and-grace paintings
Note:TESI

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a response to a highly emotional and, in my view, alarmingly ill-informed 1998 academic conference discussion
Note:UNA RISPSTA AI TEOLOGI CHE SCAGIONAVANO BACH

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the Tenth Sunday after Trinity was the one time in the Lutheran church year when the liturgy focused specifically on the matter of historical and spiritual “Israel,”
Note:IL GIORNO PRESCELTO x LA CANTATA

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“Did Bach personally espouse anti-Jewish contempt?”
Note:QUI LA BIOGRAFIA NN C ENTRA

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“What does Bach’s church cantata mean?”
Note:QUELO CHE CI INTERESSA

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Lucan and Josephan Background for Bach’s Cantata 46
Note:Ttttttttttttt

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Luke 19:41–48,
Note:IL VANGWLO DELLA DOMENICA

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Jesus is depicted weeping over the future destruction of Jerusalem and driving merchants out of the Temple.
Note:MERCANTI

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Temple were indeed destroyed by the Romans in the first century,
Note:STORIA

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it was widely agreed that this represented God’s punishment
Note:PRESSO I CRISTIANI

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sternly warning the Lutheran parishioners of their own similar sinfulness and possible similar punishment.
Note:I CATTIVI LUTERANI PARAGONATI AGLI EBREI

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General Theological Background for Bach’s Cantata 46
Note:ttttttttttt

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Bach owned a large number of books on religion and theology,20 and his various biblical commentaries,
Note:MOLTO UTILI A COMPRENDERE LA SUA MUSICA LITURGICA

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For just as the Jews want neither to see nor hear his Word, God therefore subsequently wants also neither to see nor hear their shouting,
Note:LE DURE PAROLE DI LUTERO SULL EVENTO

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Heinrich Müller, a seventeenth-century Lutheran
Note:ALTRO ESEMPIO DI PREDICHE DELLA DCIMA

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Since, however, even there they did not want [to repent], they subsequently no longer found mercy.
Note:EBREI CONDANNATI

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Johann Olearius, another seventeenth-century Lutheran theologian,
Note:ALTRO ESEMPIO

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God warns: render yourself open to repentance, or else God will punish;
Note:OLEARIUS

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The Libretto from Bach’s Cantata 46 and Its Specific Theological, Biblical, and Liturgical Contexts
Note:Tttttttttt

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authorship is unknown,
Note:LIBRETTO

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a musical counterpart to the Bugenhagen-Josephus vespers reading of the destruction of Jerusalem;
Note:PRIMA PARTE

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spiritual application of the story to the daily lives of his listeners.
Note:LA SECONDA PARTE

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The choral lines of the first movement are a massive, motet-style, canonic (that is, “law”-like) prelude-and-fugue
Note:PRIMA PARTE OLD STYLE

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The last movement is a typical four-part Lutheran chorale harmonization, with extremely atypical short instrumental interludes,
Note:SECONDA PARTE NEW STYLE

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Much like the particular way in which the pairs in the Leipzig church paintings are juxtaposed,
Note:ANALOGIA

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the texts of the internal recitative and aria pairs
Note:PRIMO OGGETTO DI ANALISI

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The first recitative and aria narratively address Old Jerusalem
Note:IL PRIMO

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the second pair then addresses only the church.
Note:SECONDO

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libretto contains a remarkable number of key expressions also found in a printed sermon by Heinrich Müller
Note:SERMONE GUIDA

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the tenor recitative of Cantata 46 further echoes Müller, Luther, and other writers in Bach’s library by teaching not merely a critical but also a strongly contemptuous attitude toward the city
Note:IL DISPREZZO DEL TENORE

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destruction of Jerusalem was a punishment from God
Note:PER MULLER È VVIO

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not in their stubbornness per se but in their not wanting to be otherwise.
Note:LA COLPA

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From a passage Bach marked in his Calov Bible Commentary,
Note:SAPPIAMO CHE BACH CONOSCEVA LA TEOLIGIA DELKA CATASTROFE COME CASTIGO

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the remaining Jews have to experience the same sort of thing for over 1600 years,
Note:SECONDO CALOV

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Under Calov’s “1600,” Bach wrote “1700.”
Note:SECONDO BACH...ATTUALITÀ DEL CASTIGO

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What exactly constitutes Jerusalem’s sin
Note:Ttttttttttt

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The Lutheran theologian Christoph Scheibler
Note:UNA VERSIONE

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Idolatry—this is the greatest sin for which the Lord has [ever] punished his people…
Note:ECCO LA COLPA

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sin than that the Messiah promised to them was sent, and yet they did not want to accept the same, rather [they wanted to] have him cut off and killed,
Note:MA C È DI PIÙ...DEICIDIO

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not recognizing and being turned to Jesus.
Note:LA COLPA

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Oh, better that you were utterly destroyed
Note:IL LIBRETTO DI BACH

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having the tenor recitative explicitly call the loss irreparable.
Note:LA CONDANNA DI BACH VA OLTRE LUTERO E DIVENTA ETERNA

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the first (586 BCE) or the second (70 CE),
Note:A QUALE DISTRUZIONE DEL TEMPIO CI SI RIFERISCE...POCO CHIARO

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“there has befallen the City of God an irreparable loss of the Most High’s favor.”
Note:LA CONSEGUENZA È CHIARA

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Old Jerusalem was right to lament its having lost God’s favor
Note:CONFERMATE MOLTE PROFEZIE

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The present-tense verbs in the last five lines of the recitative
Note:PUNITI ORA...GLI EBREI

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be read in “historical present tense,”
Note:LETTIRA PIÙ PROBABILE

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Support for perhaps simply viewing the latter part of the recitative as narratively admonishing Jews of only the first century is weakened by several considerations
Note:L AMMONIMENTOVALE ANCHE ORA

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noting how frequently the descendants of Old Jerusalem who are not turned to Jesus are characterized as blasphemers in the theological literature
Note:NUMEROSI PRECEDENTI...NELLA STESSA BIBLIO DI B

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Judaism’s ongoing and ever-current rejection of Jesus.
Note:ATMOSFERA NEI TESTI LUTERANI

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what does it mean to say that “God … breaks the staff in judgment”?
Note:E POI...SEMPRE NEL RECITATIVO...C È UN ALTRO PROBLEMA

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Commenting on 2 John 1:9, the Calov Bible
Note:MA SENTIAMO IL LUTERO LETTO DA BACH

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[We Christians know] that [the Jews] still do not have the proper God, for they do not want to hear his Word,
Note:COMMENTO DI LUTERO

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and therefore the Jews, with their lying and blaspheming, lie to and blaspheme not us but God
Note:ANCORA

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“children of whoredom” the descendants who pursue the synagogue and the blaspheming of God,
Note:ANCORA

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Bach’s Cantata 46, too, appears to allege that those who are not now turned from the ways of the old to the new covenant are to be understood as utterly condemned,
Note:...E BACH SEGUE

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not only temporally but also eternally,
Note:E SI VA OLTRE...I FIGLI DEI FIGLI DEI FIGLI

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by asserting that “God ‘breaks the staff’ in judgment,”
Note:DOVE SI SISTEMA ONCRETIZZA QUESTA ASPREZZA

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appropriated from Zechariah 11:10 in Luther’s particular rendering:
Note:DA DOVE ORIGINA QUELL ESPRESSIONE DEL RECITATIVO

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I took my staff Gentle, and broke it into pieces, that I would annul my covenant, which I had made with all of the peoples [of Judah and Israel.]
Note:PAROLE DI ZACCARIA...IL BASTONE ROTTO È LA ROTTURA DELL ALLEANZA

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Jews were punished by God in the year 70 and that this was not merely a temporary measure:
Note:ANCHE X MULLER LA COSA È CHIARA

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Consider, for example, Scheibler,
Note:MOLTI ALTRI SI ACCODANO

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On Judgment Day [‘the Day of the Lord, following after this life, which is our day’]55 no tears will save you
Note:MULLER

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Related ideas are also found in the Olearius Bible.

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ALTRA FONTE DALLA BIBLIO

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The notion that those who are not turned to the grace of Jesus shall be utterly condemned—that is, not only temporally but also eternally—is also expressed clearly and forcefully in several devotional and liturgical prayers
Note:ALTRE FONTI...

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The Leipziger Kirchen-Staat provides the following prayer for the occasion:
Note:PREGHIERA DECIMA SETTIMANA A LIPSIA

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the following collect for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity:
Note:SEMPRE A LIPSIA

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The contrast of an eternally cursed “old Zion” with an eternally blessed “new Zion”
Note:LA TIPICA ANTITESI

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from the hymn book listed in Bach’s library as the Wagneri Leipziger Gesangbuch:
Note:FONTE DELL ANTITESI...

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eternal condemnation for those who remain committed to Judaism was expressed altogether unambiguously in the Lutheran catechism,
Note:ALTRA FONTE X LA CONDANNA ETERNA

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Bach’s Musical Setting and Its Theological Import
Note:Tttttttttttttttttt

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opening chorus from Cantata 46
Note:OGGETTO

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powerful lament on the destruction of Jerusalem;
Note:LAMENTO

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tonal centers far and wide,
Note:IL CENTRO

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it never leaves the minor modes.
Note:TUTTAVIA...

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unsettling harmonies and chromaticisms abound while the choral lines move forward in canon,
Note:A UN CERTO PUNTO...TIPICO DI BACH QUANDO RINVIA ALLA LEGGE CHE SPROFONDA...IL CANONE E L EBREO

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For the Lord has made me full of distress on the day of his fierce wrath”),
Note:IL VERSO SUCCESSIVO...

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tempo speeds up, and canon gives way to permutation
Note:RELATIVO COMMENTO MUSICALE

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the same melodic lines are continually shuffled among the various voices.
Note:ALTRO ESPEDIENTE BACHIANO

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What contributes thereafter to the relentlessness of this fugue is its almost complete lack of episodic material.
Note:UNA FUGA SPOGLIA...QUASI OTTISA

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and somewhat monotonously,
Note:Ccccccccccc

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a striking harmonic catabasis to the distant key of F minor.
Note:ALLA TERZA RIPRESA C È era NA FRATTURA TONALE DELLA LINEA DI HASSO

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the harmonic breach of section 2, it seems then, acts as a sort of “destruction,”
Note:DISYRUZIONE

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reflecting the chorus’s biblical lines concerning the Lord’s fierce wrath
Note:EFFETTO DELLA COLLERA

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musically highlights the charged import of the various expressions employed in its libretto.
Note:STRETTA CONNESSIONE

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“an irreparable loss
Note:QUI UN PASSAGGIO TONALE SINGOLARE...SIAMO ALLA CADENZA NEL RECITATIVO DEL TENORE

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striking leap of a minor tenth between the first and second words
Note:LE DUE PAROLE

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read before its revision in the original performing part as only a minor third.
Note:PRIMA DELLA REVISIONE

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“Gomorrah”

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ALTRE ASPRESSIONI DEL RECITATIVO

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“Christ’s enemy”

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“God … breaks the staff in judgment”

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linked by melodic tritone, the diabolus in musica
Note:DIABOLOUS IN MUSICA NWL MEXDIOEVO

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“to condemn someone,”
Note:ROMPERE IL BASTONE SECONDO LA LESSICOGRAFIA DI KEITH SPALDING

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sentencing somebody to death,
Note:OVVERO

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“final judgement has been pronounced.”
Note:OVVERO

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On the whole, Bach’s tenor recitative in Cantata 46 is extraordinary, even for him.
Note:NEL COMPLESSO

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a remarkable concentration of dominant and diminished-seventh chords.
Note:CONCENTRAZIONE

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unusually disjunct vocal line accompanied by several continuo instruments
Note:ALTRA CARATTERISTICA

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Bach’s musical setting of this recitative is no unwitting, straightforward, stereotyped, or conventional affair.
Note:CONCLUSIONE...TUTTO VOLUTO

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There follows a ferocious aria
Note:MA IL PICCO NN È IL RECITATIVO

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the singer declares to the city that its punishment was slow in coming,
Note:MALEDIZIONE...LENTA MA FOLGORANTE

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God was angry with the city for rejecting Jesus
Note:CONCETTO

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God simmered before finally blowing up and using the Romans to destroy
Note:LE MODALITÀ

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The string writing is set in the tradition of Monteverdi’s stile concitato:
Note:COME È RESA LA FEROCIA

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The trumpet’s first gesture is to outline a tonic chord B-flat, D, F, B-flat, with a jarring A
Note:UN ENTRATA STONATA

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a prolonged series of sixteenth-note oscillations between the second and third degrees
Note:LA CHIUSURA ASSURDA PER IL TEMPO DEGLI OTTFONI

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odd trumpet part,
Note:NELL ARIA....RICHIAMA L ASSALTO ROMANO COSÌ COME NARRATONEL SESTO LIBRO DO JOSEPHUS

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two knights, and one trumpeter,
Note:L AVANGUARDIA DELL ATTACCO ROMANO SECONDO JOSEPHUS

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the sound of the trumpet [Trompeten-Schall], aroused such impressions in them that they thought a great band of the enemy would have to have climbed up the citadel.
Note:LE TROMBE SIMULANO UNA GRANDE FORMAZIONE X TERRORIZZARE GLI EBREI

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Sin and the New Covenant
Note:Tttttttttttttttt

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the second part of Cantata 46,
Note:OGGETTO DEL ANALISI

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the “grace” side
Note:DALLA LEGGE ALLA GRAZIA

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the alto appears to speak directly to Bach’s church audiences.
Note:NEL LIBRETTO SI USA IL VOI PER MINACCIARE PUNIZIONI SIMILI A QUELLE DEGLI EBREI

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(Christian) sinners are also described as having the true possibility of salvation, that is, if they are properly turned to Jesus.
Note:UNICA DIFFERENZA

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the Old Jerusalem/Israel of the synagogue and Temple has been replaced in God’s favor by the New Jerusalem/Israel of the Gentile church
Note:L INSEGNAMENTO TEOLOGICO DELLA CANTATA...PASSI MOLTO SOTTOLINEATI NEI COMMENTARI BIBLICI TANTO AMATI DA BACH

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Luther’s notion that God’s covenant with Old Israel is to be strictly distinguished from the new covenant;
Note:ENFASI

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there was nothing special about their disdain toward Judaism; they were, so the claim goes, equally condemning of the theologies of Islam, Roman Catholicism, and so on, holding each of these attitudes for the same reasons,
Note:DIFESA MINIMIZZATRICE: LA CONDANNA DEL GIUDAISMOL NN È POI DIVERSA DALLA CONDANNA DI CATTOLICI E ISLAM...CANTATE 18 E 126

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what should one make, for example, of those South Africans during apartheid who said that they could not properly be labeled antiblack because their passionate desire to be kept apart from the Bantu was not essentially different from their desire to be kept apart from the Indian and Pakistani populations in their country?
Note:ANALOGIA X DIMOSTRA L ASSURDITÀ DELLA DIFESA

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the bass aria’s poetry focused on the threatening hellish notion that God wants to take vengeance on those who are not turned from the ways of impenitent Old Jerusalem; the alto aria’s poetry focuses on the comforting heavenly notion that Jesus wants to protect upright Christian believers from God the Father’s eternal wrath.
Note:CONFROKNTO TRA LE DUE ARIE NELLE DUE PARTI...LA PRIMA MALEDICE ISRAELE...LA SECONDA I PECCATORI CRISTIANI MA LASCIA APERTA UNA VIA

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Pairs of recorders
Note:TIPICA FORMAZIONE DAI SIGNIFICATI PIÙ VARI...PRESENTE ANCHE NELLA SECONDA ARIA

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sunny pastoral themes in Cantatas 180
Note:SIGNIFICATO 1

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sorrow in Cantata 13
Note:2

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death in Cantatas 81
Note:3

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Curiously, in the textually hopeful alto aria from Bach’s Cantata 46, the recorders adopt much more the sorrowful manner
Note:L UTILIZO DEI FLAUTI NELLA 46

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What may be called an exquisite monotony of musical form also contributes to this alto aria’s
Note:MONOTONIA => DOLORE...STRANO EFFETTO

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Conclusion
Note:Tttttttttttt

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to call Christians to turn away from their own sin,
Note:IL PUNTO PRINCIPALE

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theological anti-Judaism
Note:ESSENZIALE X VEICOLARE IL MESSAGGIO

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the verbal polemic in Bach’s Schauet doch is not particularly vitriolic.
Note:SI PREFERISCE OCCULTARE

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His cantata is altogether temperate, for example, compared with Luther’s violence-espousing
Note:UNICA ATTENUANTE

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there can be no real problem of theological anti-Judaism in the narrative of Bach’s cantata.
Note:TESI IMPOSSIBILE DA SOSTENERE

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Bach’s magnificent harmony and counterpoint appear to cast a certain pall of melancholic resignation or sorrowful, apprehensive uncertainty over the poetry’s assurances and entreaties in the second half of the work.
NN SI APRE MAI ALLA SPERANZA PIENA...A VOLTE ANCHE CONTRADDICENDO IL LIBRETTO