Matthew Cron
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040191
- eISBN:
- 9780252098413
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040191.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This chapter provides an eighteenth-century context for Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas with obbligato organ by showing how their various components engage in a larger discourse about the German ...
More
This chapter provides an eighteenth-century context for Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas with obbligato organ by showing how their various components engage in a larger discourse about the German Baroque organ: namely, its intimation of Heaven. There are almost 200 surviving church cantatas by Bach, eighteen of which contain movements where the organist transitions from a continuo player to a concertist. Modern scholarship has considered such compositions primarily from two perspectives: a historiographical perspective, which places them in the larger context of the history of the keyboard concerto; and a compositional perspective, which considers them as examples of the arrangement and reworking of previous musical material. This chapters examines how a particular yet widespread way of thinking about the organ gave rise to a fruitful context for the obbligato organ cantata in the early eighteenth century by analyzing Bach’s works from the perspective of an original listener—that is, as a member of the congregation. It argues that Bach’s libretto guided his instrumentation and that he often took advantage of the longstanding identification of the organ with Heaven.Less
This chapter provides an eighteenth-century context for Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas with obbligato organ by showing how their various components engage in a larger discourse about the German Baroque organ: namely, its intimation of Heaven. There are almost 200 surviving church cantatas by Bach, eighteen of which contain movements where the organist transitions from a continuo player to a concertist. Modern scholarship has considered such compositions primarily from two perspectives: a historiographical perspective, which places them in the larger context of the history of the keyboard concerto; and a compositional perspective, which considers them as examples of the arrangement and reworking of previous musical material. This chapters examines how a particular yet widespread way of thinking about the organ gave rise to a fruitful context for the obbligato organ cantata in the early eighteenth century by analyzing Bach’s works from the perspective of an original listener—that is, as a member of the congregation. It argues that Bach’s libretto guided his instrumentation and that he often took advantage of the longstanding identification of the organ with Heaven.
Matthew Dirst (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040191
- eISBN:
- 9780252098413
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040191.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
A publication of the American Bach Society, this book pioneers new areas of research into the life, times, and music of the master composer. This volume is a collection of groundbreaking essays ...
More
A publication of the American Bach Society, this book pioneers new areas of research into the life, times, and music of the master composer. This volume is a collection of groundbreaking essays exploring various aspects of Johann Sebastian Bach's organ-related activities. Bach's report on Johann Scheibe's organ at St. Paul's Church in Leipzig is reconsidered. The likely provenance and purpose of a collection of chorale harmonizations copied in Dresden is clarified. The ways various independent trio movements served Bach as an artist and teacher is investigated. The origins of concerted Bach cantata movements are sought, spotlighting the organ and proposing family trees of both parent works and offspring. Finally, the book provides a broad cultural frame for such pieces and notes how their components engage in a larger discourse about the German Baroque organ's intimation of Heaven. The book provides an eighteenth-century context for Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas with obbligato organ by showing how their various components engage in a larger discourse about the German Baroque organ: namely, its intimation of Heaven.Less
A publication of the American Bach Society, this book pioneers new areas of research into the life, times, and music of the master composer. This volume is a collection of groundbreaking essays exploring various aspects of Johann Sebastian Bach's organ-related activities. Bach's report on Johann Scheibe's organ at St. Paul's Church in Leipzig is reconsidered. The likely provenance and purpose of a collection of chorale harmonizations copied in Dresden is clarified. The ways various independent trio movements served Bach as an artist and teacher is investigated. The origins of concerted Bach cantata movements are sought, spotlighting the organ and proposing family trees of both parent works and offspring. Finally, the book provides a broad cultural frame for such pieces and notes how their components engage in a larger discourse about the German Baroque organ's intimation of Heaven. The book provides an eighteenth-century context for Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas with obbligato organ by showing how their various components engage in a larger discourse about the German Baroque organ: namely, its intimation of Heaven.
