Bach's Church Cantatas

Bach''s Church Cantatas guides readers through five contrasting church cantatas, with movement-by-movement commentary and observations about Bach''s responses to the texts, his musical construction, and their effects on the listener. With an overarching theme of Glory from the Gallery, Ruth Tatlow shows how Bach''s stated aim to glorify God through his compositions was implemented in the cantatas. Written in non-technical language, this book is equally accessible for the expert and for those with no prior knowledge. Full of newly researched insights, it is generously illustrated with thirty-six figures and parallel German-English translations of the cantata texts.

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.