
Bach's Holy Dread - tintinnabula
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/02/bachs-holy-dread
======
anjc
The depth of devotion evident in Bach's music would almost drive you towards
being more religious. It's powerful.

There's an _excellent_ site which I've looked at periodically for years which
goes through every prelude and fugue in the WTC and gives an interpretation of
them, along with religious interpretations where applicable for structures and
phrases and voices and so on. It also lets you play single bars and things.
It's very good:

[http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/tas3/wtc.html](http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/tas3/wtc.html)

Here's my favorite lament, the C#m fugue, which is relevant given the article:

[http://bach.nau.edu/clavier/nature/fugues/Fugue04.html](http://bach.nau.edu/clavier/nature/fugues/Fugue04.html)

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cocochanel
Thank you for this amazing link!

~~~
anjc
You're welcome!

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michaelsbradley
I've been attending a traditional Catholic parish for several years now, and
over the last year got involved (for the first time in my life) with my
church's choir. I've always loved music and could already read a bit of
Western notation (owing to piano lessons at a young age – thanks, mom!), but
really didn't (and don't) know that much about it, with respect to both theory
and performance. The journey to the "production" side of sacred music has been
an interesting one (still very much ongoing), and I feel quite enriched by
what I've learned and experienced over the last few months. I encourage
everyone to step out of their comfort zone and learn a bit more about music ~
it's rich history and the joy it can bring to so many. Listen to music from 3
centuries past, from 100 and 1,500 years ago!

At Midnight Mass 2016, just a few days ago, we offered Michael Haydn's
(1737–1806)[1] _Missa Sancti Gabrielis_ [2]. The younger Hadyn was a teenager
when Bach died, and his music was shaped in and shaping the period following
the _Baroque_ era (Bach's era), which we identify today as the _Classical_
period.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Haydn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Haydn)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_sEDzrkIM4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_sEDzrkIM4)

~~~
fiatjaf
So, despite not knowing any music from the production side, you manage to
easily enter and sing on the choir? I wanted to do something, but my voice
seems very out of tune for that I despite various efforts I can't get it much
better.

Advise me, please.

~~~
jabv
A decent voice teacher can help with that. Not everyone can be Frank Sinatra,
but you can learn to sing well enough to join an amateur choir if you desire.

To find an inexpensive voice teacher, look up the information for a voice
professor at the nearest college, and ask for a referral to one of their
students (don't shy away from an undergraduate, and be clear you're a total
beginner).

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graycat
I deeply, profoundly, bitterly hate and despise the mainstream media (MSM)
but: Here, with the OP, thank you HN, the Internet, and _The New Yorker_ ,
there is, infinitely welcome as a grand exception, something very worthwhile
-- candidate for one of the crown jewels of civilization!

Thank you Bach, BBC, PROMS, Kathryn Knight, Internet, Google, and YouTube: As
I type this, I'm listening to a good performance, at

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTm_KdxqPPk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTm_KdxqPPk)

Now how to get the rest of the MSM to clean up their act, up their game, and
start to catch up to even 10% of the OP!

~~~
telesilla
For the St. Matthews Passion, this is considered one of the great recordings -
directed by the great Philipp Herreweghe. Truly exquisite. I bought this on CD
a long time ago and had it on repeat for the entire first month.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78XgYWGXDjw&list=PLiJnN4bTWJ...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78XgYWGXDjw&list=PLiJnN4bTWJ116Nifmxsd_BoAZ-
mTpQvuT)

[https://smile.amazon.com/Bach-Matthaus-Passion-Bostridge-
Col...](https://smile.amazon.com/Bach-Matthaus-Passion-Bostridge-Collegium-
Herreweghe/dp/B00002R0ZL?ie=UTF8&redirect=true)

~~~
nicolast
FWIW, it's very interesting to take the various recordings (or recordings of
performances) Herreweghe did over the last 30 years, with various ensembles
(though many with Collegium Vocale of course), and compare the interpretations
(tempo, vocals, dynamics,...). Worth some time.

~~~
telesilla
Do you have a particular favourite?

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tetraodonpuffer
when I read (excellent) music articles like this I just wish they came with a
sidebar with the music excerpts that are being discussed.

~~~
fiatjaf
Well, I think you're supposed to know the music beforehand. What would you do
if the article was a comment on some piece of literature?

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Nullabillity
Then, presumably, it would quote the applicable segments. Or it would, at the
very least, contain a link to the whole article.

~~~
fiatjaf
Quote the entire book, you mean? A comment about a book may not be a comment
about specific segments, but to the entire thing.

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Keyserlingk
Following through that link from anjc leads to this:

[http://bach.nau.edu](http://bach.nau.edu)

Interactive St. Matthew Passion and Mass in B Minor there, plus the Goldberg
Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier

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lochland
Another excellent book on this subject, which examines Bach's counterpoint and
its varied meanings to his contemporary society, including religious meanings,
is "Bach and the meanings of counterpoint" by David Yearsley. A terrific read
full of examples for those interested.

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ilaksh
It almost seems as if some people believe that music hasn't really evolved in
the last century.

I have been binging 'Mozart in the Jungle' and remeber one part where they
were trying to tie into contemporary composition. They just stuck a loop of
some random keyboarding by 'the maestro' into a fairly simple extremely loud
EDM track that mainly expressed violence.

Such subtle evaluation of 18th century sounds with no serious effort to
integrate or bridge the gap with contemporary tools and audiences.

Its a pretentious, irrelevant, backwards-looking fantasy world.

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Ericson2314
Ah, finally an art essay in the New Yorker on something that I'm knowledgeable
about.

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gardano
Folks… despite the 'dreadful' link baiting in the title, this is a pretty
great article.

~~~
_petronius
Nothing linkbaity about it. "Dread" as in "fear of God" is a common theme in
western Christianity, especially around Bach's time (and still is in some
cases today, cf. the Rastafarian dreadlocks being a symbol of respect for the
power of God). And in this sense, "fear" is meant less as "scary haunted
house" kind of fear, and more as respect and obedience to the divine power.

Also of interest: the etymology of the word "dread"[0]; Fear-God Barebone, the
brother of the more famous Praise-God Barebone, for whom the "Barbone's
Parliament" during the English Commonwealth takes its name[1][2]; and the
theological theory behind the idea of the fear of God[3].

[0]:
[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&searc...](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=dread)

[1]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praise-
God_Barebone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praise-God_Barebone)

[2]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barebone's_Parliament](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barebone's_Parliament)

[3]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_God](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_God)

~~~
defen
Puritans had the best names. Praise-God's son was named "Nicholas If-Jesus-
Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebone"

~~~
_petronius
Ah, fantastic. Some cultures still do names like that: I once met a woman from
Zimbabwe whose name translated as "Merciful Lord", which I thought was pretty
cool.

