Re: bach cantatas, no Gould

[john burke <john.burke@mindspring.com>]

on 9/26/00 7:59 PM, Jim Morrison at jim_morrison@SPRYNET.COM wrote:

> Anybody else have some cantata recommendations?

BWV 8, "Liebster Gott, wann werd' ich sterben?"
BWV 21, "Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis"

Others that I can't be sure of the BWV number for:

"Wo soll ich fliehen hin?"
"Himmelskönig, sei wilkommen"
"Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim?"
"Brich den Hungrigen dein Brot"
"Schauet doch und sehet"
"Was frag' ich nach der Welt?"

The cantatas (with the other sacred vocal works) are the point of contact
between Bach's music and *explicit* meaning; they are thus the richest
possible source of understanding of meaning in his instrumental music as
well. I'm not a scholar, but I recommend Schweitzer as a fine introduction
to this topic (the fact that Schweitzer was also an admirer of Wagner gave
him a special insight into Bach's vocal music as "Gesamrkunstwerk,' "total
works of art," in their own way. A person could spend a very rewarding and
endlessly interesting life just studying, listening to, and (best of all)
performing the cantatas.

--best, jvb