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Sign up for our monthly email alertsHandbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts
An Interlinear Translation with Reference Guide to Biblical Quotations and Allusions
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SUBJECTS
Music » Religious
Religion » Music
Music » Reference
Reference » Music
AWARD(S)
1998 National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Publication, Presented by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors
REVIEWS
"...attentive to the more difficult turns of phrase that can be disguised or otherwise compromised in 'poetic translations'..."
— CHOICE
DESCRIPTION
The German church cantata of the eighteenth century was the culmination of a long tradition of Lutheran "sermon music" that used the proclamation, amplification, and interpretation of scripture to teach and persuade the listener. Bach's cantatas also served this didactic purpose and typically incorporate numerous allusions to scriptural passages or themes in their librettos. Unfortunately, many of these passages remain obscure to the twentieth-century musician because they demand a much closer familiarity with the Bible than is common today. The Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts identifies scriptural references for the wording, imagery, and themes that Bach's listeners would have known. In addition, the religious or literary theme of each text is summarized within the specific context of the cantata as a whole. With interlinear translations and a full complement of indexes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melvin Unger is Director of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music (Berea, Ohio), where he also holds the Riemenschneider Chair in Music History and Literature.
