J. S. Bach: The Complete Cantatas
Music
Synthetic audio, Automated braille
Summary
In Lutheran Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries, Sunday church services were five hours long. There would be prayers, liturgy, communion, an hour-long sermon, congregational hymn singing and a 15- to 25-minute "cantata" composed of chorus, vocal solos, and… a hymn. These are sometimes referred to as "sermons in music." For a period of five years from 1723 to 1728 Johann Sebastian Bach wrote one of these cantatas almost every week. Sadly, almost 100 of these are lost. Bach's roughly 210 surviving cantatas are a major component of the western musical canon. This book contains their texts and English translations along with those for the Christmas and Easter oratorios. These surviving cantatas contain approximately 245 soprano arias, 223 alto arias, 249 tenor arias, 259 bass arias, many duets, a few trios and a couple of quartets. And all of them are inspired and inspiring. For this Bookshare edition, DAISY markup is provided so that each cantata title is at level 1 and each cantata movement is at level 2. To search for a particular cantata, type BWV, a space, its number, and another space. Each movement is presented fully in its original language (usually German) and then in English translation. To search for a particular movement (Sheep May Safely Graze, for example) which is the ninth movement of Cantata 208, type 208.9. Or to find the text of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring which is the sixth movement of Cantata 147, type 147.6. To quote Bach about music, its only purpose "is the praise of God and the recreation of the soul." Using a music service to which you subscribe or YouTube, ask it to play Bach Cantata 1 or Bach Cantata 51 or Bach Cantata 140 and see if you feel these works of music accomplish their composer's objective for you. For a sense of Bach's humor, ask your music service or YouTube to play Bach Cantata 211 (the Coffee Cantata) or Bach Cantata 212 (the Peasant Cantata). For instrumentation of all the cantatas and their individual movements, see the web site bach-cantatas.com because instrumentation is not included in this book. That site also provides commentary and translations into several other languages as these works continue to have worldwide interest.