Biblical Quotation and Allusion in the Cantata Libretti of Johann Sebastian Bach

The libretti of Johann Sebastian Bach's church cantatas, which function in parallel to the liturgical propers of the Sundays and festivals of the church year, are rich in biblical language and imagery. In this pioneering work of systematic research, Meyer demonstrates in detail how these liturgical libretti quoted and alluded to the text of Luther's German Bible. The book, which has been compiled with the interests of both scholar and performer in mind, assists the fundamental understanding of the liturgical functions of these cantatas of Bach, as well as being an important resource for further theological, musical, and linguistic study. Cantatas are grouped by liturgical use or church festival. An extensive index listing of Cantatas in numerical and alphabetical order increases the usefulness of this book, which is also an important contribution to our knowledge of this distinctive genrea of late baroque poetry. The text is in both English and German.