On the Cantatas of J.S. Bach

Within the music of Bach flows an intense awareness of our human condition, of our heart as the sibling of the soul. These commentaries are concerned with Bach's enabling artistry, its elemental contemplations, and the persistence of their relevance. It is a personal exploration. It is written for those who seek the same.

 

In the cantatas for Trinity I through VII, the five aspects of the human condition that Bach dwells upon are first, the relationship of money to morality; second, the linkage between compassion and individual salvation; third, the influence of condemnation upon the sense of redemption; fourth, the correlation of identity and the need to understand otherness; and fifth, how the sacred is invested in the secular and are, thus, identical.