Overview

What is a cantata? How and why did Bach compose his cantatas? What did cantatas mean to Bach and what do they mean today? In Bach's Church Cantatas Ruth Tatlow addresses these questions through discussion of five of Bach's most beloved works enriched by newly researched insights that will intrigue both first-time and experienced listeners. With the overarching theme of Glory from the Gallery, this guide starts by introducing Bach's aims for his church cantatas. It examines the devotional content, the theology, and the poetic form of the cantata texts to help the reader appreciate Bach's musical responses. By analysing his choice of voices and instruments, compositional construction, structural symmetries, and other features in the music, Tatlow asks what significance these held for Bach, and how understanding this can help the listener of his music today. The text is illustrated by numerous rarely seen images from seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century sources. The book ends by reimagining the cantatas and their glories from galleries for all creeds and cultures. Written in an accessible style for both non-specialists and those already familiar with Bach, Bach's Church Cantatas uses new research and ways of listening to help us better understand and appreciate the variety of cantata styles and their relevance in the modern world beyond their original liturgical setting.

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9780197622506

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Reviews

A helpful beacon is shed on aspects of the musicological minefield in Ruth Tatlow's Bach's Church Cantatas, part of the American Bach Society's series of accessible introductory guides. The author sets herself no easy task in a compact space. Instead of a copious A-Z handbook on every individual work, such as Alfred Dürr's monumental The Cantatas of JS Bach (Oxford: 2005), Tatlow focuses on just five selected case studies. Each considers documented or hypothetical compositional circumstances, the poetry's theological implications and the composer's musical ideas. Along the way, there are abundant high-quality reproductions of salient early printed texts and music manuscripts. * David Vickers, Gramophone * The book's premise succeeds wonderfully, the scholarship is impeccable, and the clarity and friendly tone welcome every sort of reader. Ergo, the book is recommended warmly for all music collections. * B. J. Murray, CHOICE *

Author Information

Ruth Tatlow is a visiting researcher at the University of Gothenburg and co-founder of Bach Network. Her publications include the award-winning Bach's Numbers: Compositional Proportion and Significance, Bach and the Riddle of the Number Alphabet, and the co-edited volume 'La clemenza di Tito': A Reappraisal.

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