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This podcast is available on 10 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

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The WTF Bach Podcast

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by Evan Shinners

4.9(136 reviews)

148 episodes

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Podcast Overview

J.S. Bach explained — music analysis, Baroque history, counterpoint and performance practice. A classical music podcast for listeners who want to understand what they're hearing. Weekly analysis of Bach's music: Well-Tempered Clavier, Brandenburg Concertos, St. Matthew Passion and more. Classical music education for all levels. <a href="https://wtfbach.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">wtfbach.substack.com</a>

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Recent Episodes

June 30, 2026

139: Bach's Second (or Third) Cantata

At just 22 years old, Bach set the immortal words of David, ‘Out of the depths I cry to thee, O Lord.’ From the opening bars, we see depths, cries:The second and fourth movements already show Bach’s interest in using chorale melodies in his cantatas. To the Psalm text, Bach adds a 1588 Hymn by Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, asking for mercy, Erbarm dich mein. How lucky we are to see seeds of the Matthew Passion planted as early as 1707!The finale uses a fugue with a countersubject to paint one single line of text: And he will redeem Israel is painted with lively 16th notes, joyful even, while, from all his sins appears as a rising chromatic line. Bach, with a fugue, realizes theology: I forgot to mention in the episode: The fugue in the last movement was arranged as a fugue for organ in g minor, BWV 131a. The attribution to Bach has been contested, but it nevertheless makes for a wonderful fugue playable by one person. When I was making my own electric rendition of the fugue, I was struck by how similar parts are to the organ fugues in c minor, BWV 537, a very late work, but also the youthful BWV 551, both of which were covered on this show. I like <a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/8284yshc64M?si=b_KWsbefNXwKAS0j">this recording</a> a lot, have a listen!Wow! That’s Fabulous.<a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/hJ6TEkPH7mw?si=LfrBkmbZgGI9qC4w">Rudolph Lutz’ performance</a><a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/4HSmklrYJ_Y?si=E6yGsWPcczYXz2wa&t=1182">Masaaki Suzuki’s recording</a>We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at <a target="_blank" href="http://wtfbach.substack.com">WTFBach.com</a>This is the only place Evan checks comments regularly.You can also make a one-time donation here:<a target="_blank" href="https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach">https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach</a><a target="_blank" href="https://venmo.com/wtfbach">https://venmo.com/wtfbach</a>Thank you for your help!Concepts Covered:Bach's Cantata BWV 131, "Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir," composed in 1707 when the composer was just 22 years old in Mülhausen, organist at St. Blasius Church, stands as a remarkable setting of Psalm 130 for bassoon, oboe, strings, and continuo. This sacred cantata integrates the 1588 Lutheran hymn text by Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, "Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut," demonstrating Bach's early mastery of chorale melody integration in cantata structure. The fugal finale translates theological meaning through musical architecture. The cantata's closing movement exists in an organ arrangement (BWV 131a.) N.B. the dedication to Dr. Georg Christian Eilmar, clergyman at St. Mary's Church. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at <a href="https://wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe</a>

June 23, 2026

138: Bach's Very First Cantata

— Who is Doctor Conrad Meckbach, and what is he doing in the middle of cantata 150?!Using clues from a clever acrostic spread throughout the text, scholars have securely dated this cantata to Bach’s years in Arnstadt. Penitential in theme, it would have been performed during Lent, 1707. It is now considered Bach’s earliest cantata.You Oughta Cantata!The finale, an early chaconne, (as I forgot to mention in the episode!) served as Brahms’ inspiration for his own chaconne in the last movement of his last symphony. Brahms was one of the editors of the Bach-Gesellschaft when this cantata was first published, so here we see the remarkable moment where the 22 year-old Bach inspires the 52 year-old Brahms. Note the similarities in shape, the flute line in particular:Bach’s early cantatas are full of sudden tempo changes. These cantatas are Wagner’s harbingers much more than the later models. The text wholly dictates the mood— even the shapes of the fugue subjects— the choir, unlike in the later cantatas, drives the drama through the majority of movements. This page, for example, looks typical of the early style:The beginning of the 4th movement particularly beautiful. The words ‘lead me’ are painted with a rising scale passing through each part, one section leading the next:See the acrostic (Doktor Conrad Meckbach) via Hans Joachim Schulze’s work:https://bjb.publia.org/bjb/article/view/2270/2196<a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/9iPQRgG1KKY?si=5GWQrEczjM3FAECP&t=2966">Ton Koopman’s recording:</a><a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/PZ7VuG_0YYI?si=jwH4TcCgHY6IOjcS&t=1136">Masaaki Suzuki’s recording:</a> BWV? Bach Would Vouch!We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at <a target="_blank" href="http://wtfbach.substack.com">WTFBach.com</a>This is the only place Evan checks comments regularly.You can also make a one-time donation here:<a target="_blank" href="https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach">https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach</a><a target="_blank" href="https://venmo.com/wtfbach">https://venmo.com/wtfbach</a>Thank you for your help!Concepts Covered: BWV 150, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, For You, Lord, I Long, as Bach’s first cantata, the acrostic found in Hans Joachim Schulze’s work: Who was Doktor Conrad Meckbach, and what is he doing in the middle of an early Bach cantata? Arnstadt vs. Mülhausen. Bach’s tone painting in his early years, the text driving the fugal shapes. We discuss form to Early Bach, how Bach’s early years rely on a freedom of form, whereas later in his life he narrows the focus on form— quite the opposite of the trend of most artists in history. Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at <a href="https://wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe</a>

June 16, 2026

Inner Monologue: A Classical Musician's Thoughts at a Party

Am I the only one who hates when people ask what I ‘do?’ Composed first as a dialogue, I decided to make this more stream of consciousness, as today is <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomsday">Bloomsday</a> (though this is not the least bit Joycean.) With which Evan will you sympathize? I imagine many of my colleagues have experienced similar thoughts… or am I the worst…?Are musicians, ‘artists?’ Or perhaps, are artists that make music, musicians?Is taste merely a matter of class? Where does preference stop and ‘snobbery’ begin? Do you agree with <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinction_(book)">Pierre Bourdieu</a>’s judgment of taste?Do you like Sibelius?Spread Your Fingers:Yeah.Evan.Likewise.What I…? Oh what I do…Right, well, if you ask me what I do, I’m going to tell you: I breathe, I walk, I sit, I sleep, just like you! Just like you. What I do.I might venture that I’m an inventor, or no longer need to work, because, right out of university, you see, I came up with a really clever patent for trampolines that has prevented the paralysis of hundreds of bouncing children— if not thousands.Yes, yes, every month, every month checks. …for all the new trampolines in the world that have my… device somewhere on the side of the, trampo—Yes, it is odd being rich from trampolines. But, I’ll take what I can get.That’s a good line, ‘odd being rich from trampolines.’I’m also a professor of 18th century German religion at an online University in …sssSingapore!Singapore? You ask. Yes, yes, Singapore.Do you, lecture online, what with the time change and all that?Yes, yes, with the, with the time change.Truth hurts: I play the piano and harpsichord and organ. You’ll ask, ‘Is that all you do.’Is that all I do. Is that all I do. Let’s say I were the 17th best flamenco dancer in the world, but I had to supplement this with bus driving.‘Hey! There’s Evan the bus driver’ not ‘Hey, there’s Evan, the 17th best flamenco dancer in the world.’ You might consider me a fairly good dancer, best dancer in the village even— but I’d still be, ‘Hey, there goes Evan the bus driver.’ But if suddenly, suddenly, flamenco paid well enough where I could stop driving the bus,‘Hey! There’s Evan the flamenco dancer.’I wouldn’t have gotten any better or worse at dancing the whole time.I hate these parties where people ask you what you do. I want parties where that’s not allowed, where you lead with, what is your favorite color? The no small talk party. You guys going to the no small talk party? It’s actually going to be enjoyable.Somewhat vibrant green bordering on blueish… what’s yours? Oh did you meet Sheila? She also likes the greenish blues!What’s your main fault? Hey Dave, nice to meet you, what’s your main fault. You ever cheated on someone, Dave? Who is your favorite heroine in fiction?Yes, that’s all I do. All I do is play the piano. Oh, it must be so nice to be able to make a living with your passion.I hate it when people say that. Passion. Overused word.Yes, it is. It’s a good life. I’m healthy I’m happy. I am healthy and I am happy. What did that guy say on Instragram? ‘every day, wake up, sip lemon stare into the sun and say, today is going to be a great day, today is going to be a great day…’Yes, I should say this to myself more often. I am grateful.But sometimes— sometimes!— I wonder if I had given it all up to be the snowplow man, I wouldn’t have to remind myself to remind myself to be grateful. Just— pkcchhhh— plow the roads, up at at ‘em before even the well-employed! Thermos full of coffee, heater blasting, 20 below out, but I’m in a T-Shirt in here… pkchhhhh— plow the snow, plow the roads— what’s on the radio? Not my colleagues and thank god for that. Who’s got time to remind themselves to be grateful now? Snowplow man! Honk Honk!Do you have any idea what it’s like to not be accountable to anybody but yourself, to make your own deadlines, to create your own goals, make your own structure? If suddenly people woke up and had to create their own work, no one would get out of bed! When robots replace everything, no one will know what to do, but I’ll carry on exactly as I always have. I got fugues to learn man! Let the robot sweep my house, do my laundry, but unless the robot’s gonna write in useful fingering, I’m busy! No one will ever pay to hear robot pianists.Oh …my god. Robot Pianists.These parties. These parties. This vapid socializing! Look, if 95% percent of success is showing up, I’ll take 5% of my potential fame, thank you— You’re a pianist? Oh, I heard this fantastic pianist play the most incredible Schumann — or was it Schubert…’Was it me? Oh, wasn’t me?! As if they were any good, I wouldn’t be overcome with jealousy, and if they were mediocre, I wouldn’t abhor them for destroying our profession with mediocrity!Don’t talk to a musician about musicians. Unless you’re drinking buddies with Leo van Doeselaar, I have no interest whatsoever in your anecdotes.But shouldn’t I be glad to speak to someone who goes to the symphony— who even goes to the symphony?I should! I’m not! Last thing you do when you meet a working actor is talk about all the movies you’ve seen. Wasn’t Brad Pitt great?! Get a life.This thinly disguised sacred— sacred humility placed upon us by none other than Beethoven, of course, and the fact that we may no longer enjoy music for the reasons we once fell in love with it… likely a classical musician. You guessed it. I must look it. Over qualified. Underpaid. Bitter. Do I have the posture of a classical musician? You bet.And then, I don’t know what’s worse, ‘do you like Sibelius? I used to take music lessons as a kid I never learned how to read do you ever listen to Eric Clapton?’ Did you know that actually Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney don’t know how to read music’ Well it’s about f***** time they did! If they’re such geniuses, have ‘em solve a treble clef.Doesn’t read music. This kills me. It’s like talking about your favorite author who doesn’t read. No really, he doesn’t know how to read! He just talks into a microphone!And you enjoy that?Yes, yes, now would be a bad time to mention your nephew is a DJ. Is there a defibrillator nearby, because I’m going to need to revive the part of me that just died.Also a musician. Also! a musician. What because he makes sound? There, did you count that glass that just fell off the table a musician, also a musician? I’d rather listen to broken glass than your nephew. Ha! What you think about that?!Lots of people took music lessons, lots of people can pick up an instrument and play a little something, and a lot of these people, especially the men, fancy themselves ‘good at music.’ Hence, I’m gonna put musician in my bio. Art lover, coffee historian, dog walker, musician.So...?Well, so a lot of people know how to play ping-pong too. And I feel like the olympic ping-pong player.Is… that a phrase?You remember the olympic ping-pong player who once explained, ‘there is no other sport where, if you tell someone you’re a professional, people respond by saying… ‘I dunno! I’m pretty good…’So I’m out to prove I’m an olympic musician, and I’m better at music than this party of non-professional musicians. Exactly.Exactly. Okay. This is where we are. Measuring yourself against non-professionals… Oy. I need a drink. Where is the bar.It was only recently pointed out to me that feeling like an imposter is a good sign, really, because real imposters never have imposter syndrome. Turns out the real imposters think they’re ‘pretty good!’So… I want people to know, that even though I’m a professional, and the world thinks I’m really good. I still think I’m really bad, at music.Okay.Do I really think that I’m bad at music? Well, I didn’t practice enough today… Didn’t practice enough the last seven years really. Oh well, I never had the dreaded 9-5…The dreaded… the dread— This is exactly what I’m talking about! this is the 9-5 man!What, writing dialogues featuring split personalities.Indeed! Hear, hear!Everything is research, even the way I’m going to order this drink is a performance.‘Negroni please. No garnish.’Ha ha, no garnish. Bet that threw him off. He wasn’t expecting that little bit of flare. that was my improvised cadenza. Being an artist is crazy work.Ugh, did I say artist? Artist! I hate that word artist.Are we not an artist?Not for us to say.Musician. Musician, now this is fine. I can go over to that piano and entertain this whole party. Can your DJ nephew do that? Schmuck.Sit down and play a little Scott Joplin, Evan.Coming right up.Got any Schubert in there?I dunno, Johnny, does a bear crap in the woods?Hahaha.They’d be so charmed.Only a musician can do that. An artist —why they need curation. They need their tools handy or they can’t create. I can make music on a bottle cap. Musicians don’t just sit around waiting for the muse to whisper…Do people think that?Everybody thinks that! That’s the Cliche! For most people music is American Idol. It’s a lucky break. That’s all success is: a lucky break— everyone wants to know how I can make ends meet if they couldn’t. Can’t be hard work, couldn’t possibly be hours of grueling hard work, what did I have a good manager or something?Author, director, educator, socialite, content creator, cat mom, musician…Puke! Vomit creator. Can you add that one please? Vomit creator.What do you do?I’m a Vomit creator.Accurate, accurate!Maybe like, entertainer… Something demeaning. You’re in the entertainment business— but I’m on the quest for truth.Well, I mean… some pop musicians do understand harmony… yes, yes, I did learn a lot from playing rock music, some classical musicians, actually a lot of classical musicians are more like gymnasts… like robot gymnasts.Oh my god. Robot Pianists. Robot pianists doing flips!Snob.Oh, fine. I’m a snob. At least it’s an anagram of Boss… Ha!Wait, no it’s not. It’s an anagram of …No BS, there you go. Yes! Fine! I don’t tolerate BS.Call the person a snob who spends his life studying something— when he declares it more rewarding than your pop culture—’he’s a snob— he’s locked in the library working on things that have been studied for centuries— what a snob!’Please, please. Give a man a computer, he’s a DJ for a day. Teach a man to strum, he’s in a band for life.Did… Did I just make that up? Someone should make that a phrase.Sorry, once you’ve read the complete poetry of John Keats, Rupi Kaur just ain’t doin’ it for ya.It’s about the personal voice, though—Oh— please! Quoth the vomit creator!But isn’t taste just a matter of social class, that any judgement about art you make is a matter of your social positioning?So, am I just good at music because my parents could afford to buy a piano? Stupid Pierre Bourdieu. Go away.Yeah, you know, I read Bourdieu because I was trying to figure out why people like you make me feel dumb for going to see rock orchestras or thinking Elton John is the best living piano player…So, is aesthetic judgment just exclusion dressed up?You’ve spent your entire life behind a piano, and a DJ can threaten you by just enjoying the very thing you claim to love? So what if the DJ enjoys music all his life, onto his deathbed, that it gives him spiritual sustenance and lasting happiness? The IV is drippin’ in the morphine, he’s writing out his will, grinning, still listening to the faint BMPP BMPP BMMP four on the floor, carrying him unto the Pearly Gates. What, you want him to collapse into intellectual poverty because he doesn’t know the notes of a B-flat minor scale?Yes! Yes! Collapse. Collapse! Writhe!Ugh. So predictable. I’m such a bore.Oh there he is! Honey, you’d better buy this ‘artist’ his next drink— you know how eating and drinking is quite a financial burden for them… Haha ha. Ahaha haha.”—If you or someone you know is suffering from self-employment, call the emergency number on the bottom of your screen. Harpsichord is not recommended for people who are estranged from a wealthy distant relative worth less than 2.1 million dollars. Self-employment may not be right for you. If you are suffering with the need for external validation or the ability to blame others for your problems, consult an employer. To send WTF Bach a care package, become a paid subscriber on Substack. WTF Bach may need staples of food and clothing to make it through the rest of the year. For his appropriate shoe size, visit WTF Bach dot com. Side effects of WTF Bach may include: anxiety about irregular income, compulsive email-checking and the inability to explain what you do at dinner parties. Ask your accountant if WTF Bach is right for you.Oh Bach’s Art! The Prelude to my Heart!We Rely Exclusively on Paid Subscriptions! Help WTF Bach endure:Join at <a target="_blank" href="http://wtfbach.substack.com">WTFBach.com</a>This is the only place Evan checks comments regularly.You can also make a one-time donation here:<a target="_blank" href="https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach">https://www.paypal.me/wtfbach</a><a target="_blank" href="https://venmo.com/wtfbach">https://venmo.com/wtfbach</a>Thank you for your help! Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at <a href="https://wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe</a>

148 total episodes available with 14 transcripts

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What is The WTF Bach Podcast?: J.S. Bach explained — music analysis, Baroque history, counterpoint and performance practice. A classical music podcast for listeners who want to understand what they're hearing. Weekly analysis of Bach's music: Well-Tempered Clavier, Brandenburg Concertos, St. Matthew Passion and more. Classical music education for all levels. <a href="https://wtfbach.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">wtfbach.substack.com</a>
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates daily.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 10 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.

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