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Bach Among the Theologians

by Jaroslav Pelikan

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BACH AMONG THE THEOLOGIANS is Pelikan's appreciation of Bach as a highly creative man who was truly a man of his own time. He puts to rest the somewhat artificial argument about the sacred and secular strains in Bach's work. This "tension" ultimately does not seem to have been as big a deal for Bach as it has become for modern historians, musicians, theologians, etc. Perhaps, because Bach's sense of the sacred was much more encompassing than we highly compartmentalized moderns ever allow it to be. In any case, the fact that so many highly divergent groups want to claim Bach as their own is probably sufficient proof of Bach's transcendent greatness.… (more)
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Pelikan's work is an unsentimental look at the influence of Pietism and evangelical thought on a composer who has been too often oversimplified as "staunchly Lutheran." He questions the assumptions we make based on a standardized "psychobiography."

Not surprisingly, there is not an in-depth engagement with the music (he relies heavily on Spitta, Schweitzer, etc.), but Pelikan does offer some excellent textual analyses. He promotes a re-reading of Bach's career, demonstrating that a lack of sacred output in Cöthen did not necessarily define a "low point" for the composer.

While the book as a whole seems to lack cohesion in some places, it does function very well as a set of separate essays. Particularly cogent are the chapters on ""Mediation on Human Redemption" in the St. Matthew Passion" and "Pietism, Piety and Devotion in Bach's Cantatas." The book is an important contribution to interdisciplinary dialogue about the figureheads of Classical music and should be embraced in that spirit. ( )
  rebcamuse | Jan 10, 2008 |
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BACH AMONG THE THEOLOGIANS is Pelikan's appreciation of Bach as a highly creative man who was truly a man of his own time. He puts to rest the somewhat artificial argument about the sacred and secular strains in Bach's work. This "tension" ultimately does not seem to have been as big a deal for Bach as it has become for modern historians, musicians, theologians, etc. Perhaps, because Bach's sense of the sacred was much more encompassing than we highly compartmentalized moderns ever allow it to be. In any case, the fact that so many highly divergent groups want to claim Bach as their own is probably sufficient proof of Bach's transcendent greatness.

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