Death and Life in J. S. Bach's Cantata Ich habe genung (BWV 82)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23193777 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bettina Varwig (Perfect Harmony Health, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 135 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 315-356 |
| Publication date | 2010-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the Royal Musical Association (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0269-0403 • E-ISSN: 1471-6933 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02690403.2010.506271 |
| OpenAlex | W2240285968 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Using the famous death-themed Cantata 82 as a case study, this article offers a model for situating J. S. Bach's cantata output in the wider cultural sphere of early eighteenth-century Leipzig life. Looking beyond the immediate and well-studied liturgical and theological contexts, the article reconstructs a broader range of associations that Bach's music may have evoked for his contemporary listeners, drawing out allusions to operatic topics, popular fears of deadly diseases, fictions of heavenly music and macabre dances of death. By locating the question of musical meaning in the interpretative space between the piece and its historical listeners, the article offers an alternative to conventional hermeneutic approaches that view Bach's cantatas as conveying a singular and clearly audible message of Lutheran doctrine.
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Doctrine · Epistemology · Literature · Macabre · Meaning (existential) · Musical · Performance art · Theology · Historical Influence and Diplomacy · Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
| Citations per year | 0.15 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2013 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |