by Evan Shinners
Experience the music of Bach as you never have before. For music lovers, to professional musicians, let WTF Bach guide your mind through a contrapuntal journey. <br/><br/><a href="https://wtfbach.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">wtfbach.substack.com</a>
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April 18, 2025
<p>Today, Good Friday 2025, marks 300 years since Bach performed the St. John Passion in Leipzig. … but it started like this:</p><p>But wait, I thought the St. John Passion was:</p><p>In this episode, beyond outlining the basic revisions between the 1724 and 1725 (and a few other) versions of BWV 245, we’ll study how people heard passion music, the purpose of a passion setting, and how Bach, by changing the opening and closing movements, or swapping an aria here and there, envisioned he might guide the listener into a different state of reflection to receive the same Gospel. </p><p>Today’s performers were M. Suzuki, H. Rilling and P. Herreweghe. Here is a link to <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimarer_Passion">the Weimar Passion theory</a> I mentioned. Finally, the excerpt by Daniel Melamed comes from his excellent book: Hearing Bach’s Passions. Revised ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, 73–74. </p><p><strong>We Rely On Listener Support! How to Donate to this Podcast:</strong></p><p>The best way to support this podcast, is to <strong>become a paid subscriber</strong> at <a target="_blank" href="http://wtfbach.substack.com">wtfbach.substack.com</a></p><p>More paid subscribers = monthly merchandise giveaways. Rock WTF Bach Swag.</p><p>You can also make a one-time donation here:</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach">https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://venmo.com/wtfbach">https://venmo.com/wtfbach</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://cash.app/$wtfbach">https://cash.app/$wtfbach</a></p><p><strong>Thank you for listening! Thank you for your support.</strong></p><p>Reach us at Bach (at) WTFBach (dot com)</p><p><strong>Concepts covered:</strong></p><p>Various <strong>versions of BWV 245</strong>, especially the <strong>1724 and 1725 layers</strong>, analyzing changes in opening and closing choruses, <strong>aria placement</strong>, as well as theological emphasis. Topics include Lenten music practices, the music during <strong>tempus clausum</strong>, the Passion oratorio, <strong>Passion hymns</strong> such as “O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß,” the liturgical and devotional role of chorales, and how Bach’s compositional decisions recalibrate the listener’s reception of the Johannine Passion text. We discuss <strong>changes in orchestration </strong>and the change in venue from <strong>St. Thomaskirche</strong> to <strong>St. Nikolaikirche</strong> in 1724.</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to WTF Bach at <a href="https://wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe</a>
March 27, 2025
<p>The organ held a central role in the life of a baroque keyboardist. Not only was an accomplished harpsichordist or clavichordist comfortable playing with their feet, but the art suggests that the repertoire often called for ad libitum pedal additions. </p><p>In J.S. Bach’s second collection of chorale prelude for organ, he introduces obligato pedal parts. Below is an image from his Bach’s earliest chorale settings for organ, as preserved in the Neumeister Collection:</p><p>Whereas we do not see any explicit pedal markings, we imagine the adept player added them when tasteful. A decade or so later, Bach’s chorale settings look more like this:</p><p>Note the small staves on the left, indicating that the source still had two staves, but the counterpoint in the pedal is specifically called for. Here is the autograph:</p><p>That little “P.” below the bottom staff is the clue. The title page of the Orgelbüchlein contains a flowery description, indicating its intended use:</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16459/pg16459-images.html">Here is the text of Saint-Saëns’ charming autobiography</a>.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://wtfbach.substack.com/p/bach-store-is-back-also-neumeister">And here is the episode where I introduce the </a><a target="_blank" href="https://wtfbach.substack.com/p/bach-store-is-back-also-neumeister">Neumeister Collection</a><a target="_blank" href="https://wtfbach.substack.com/p/bach-store-is-back-also-neumeister">.</a></p><p>And I’m going to starting posting my latest YouTube videos in these posts, as extra Bach analysis can hurt no one. Are you a subscriber?</p><p><strong>We Rely On Listener Support! How to Donate to this Podcast:</strong></p><p>The best way to support this podcast, is to <strong>become a paid subscriber</strong> at <a target="_blank" href="http://wtfbach.substack.com">wtfbach.substack.com</a></p><p>More paid subscribers = monthly merchandise giveaways. Rock WTF Bach Swag.</p><p>You can also make a one-time donation here:</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach">https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://venmo.com/wtfbach">https://venmo.com/wtfbach</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://cash.app/$wtfbach">https://cash.app/$wtfbach</a></p><p><strong>Thank you for listening! Thank you for your support.</strong></p><p>Reach us at Bach (at) WTFBach (dot com)</p><p><strong>Concepts covered:</strong></p><p>Baroque organ musicJ.S. Bach organ worksBach chorale preludesHistorical performance practiceAd libitum pedal techniqueNeumeister Collection BachObbligato pedal BachOrgelbüchlein analysisEarly Baroque keyboard musicBach pedal technique</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to WTF Bach at <a href="https://wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe</a>
March 13, 2025
<p>A beloved cantata from Bach’s early 20s, the Actus Tragicus anticipates the future of opera more than it foreshadows Bach’s own later cantatas. Albert Schweitzer’s beautiful writing on Bach features heavily in this episode. </p><p>Here is the tuning video with chorale in question toward the end of the episode:</p><p></p><p><p>WTF Bach is a listener-supported publication. To receive new episodes, to support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p><p>Let’s have a look at BWV 106. I focus on the two recorders and their almost unison playing. The effect of one flute dropping a few notes from their otherwise identical melody is marvelous:</p><p>The theme of the cantata joins the Old-Testament ‘fear of death’ with the New-Testament ‘joy in death.’ Bach combines both testaments’ text in multiple movements. This idea of the soul rising above the old world, ‘as if hastening hither from another,’ musically detached from the fugue in the lower voices, a soprano floats over the texture, quoting Revelations:</p><p>And who can forget this moment? It even looks striking to the eye:</p><p>We find a similar image of the comforted soul floating above the music in the duet toward the end of the cantata. Over Jesus’ dying words, the alto slowly sings a Lutheran hymn:</p><p>Bach so carefully wants to paint the idea of peace in death, he gives one word (sleep) its own dynamic:</p><p>Performers today were: Masaaki Suzuki, Joshua Rifkin, Rudoplh Lutz. The additional organ chorale at the end of the episode is BWV 616. </p><p><strong>We Rely On Listener Support! How to Donate to this Podcast:</strong></p><p>The best way to support this podcast, is to <strong>become a paid subscriber</strong> at <a target="_blank" href="http://wtfbach.substack.com">wtfbach.substack.com</a></p><p>Enough paid subscribers = exclusive content, monthly merchandise giveaways!</p><p>You can also make a one-time donation here:</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach">https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://venmo.com/wtfbach">https://venmo.com/wtfbach</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://cash.app/$wtfbach">https://cash.app/$wtfbach</a></p><p><strong>Thank you for listening! Thank you for your support.</strong></p><p>Reach us at Bach (at) WTFBach (dot com)</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to WTF Bach at <a href="https://wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe</a>
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