The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text Review

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The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text ReviewThere are a few books on J.S. Bach's cantatas for the general readership.(*) However, none rivals Alfred Durr's in its comprehensive coverage, its scholarly information, its lucid writing, and its user-friendly layout. For those who are familiar with Bach scholarship, Durr needs no introduction. He led the editing work of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the new complete edition of Bach's works, and his credential on Bach scholarship is never a question. What one wants to know is whether he succeeded in producing a useful book. In my opinion, he more than did it! This massive volume, nearly 1000 pages in length, has added tremendously to my listening pleasure and deepen my understanding of Bach's cantatas. In a word, indispensable for me and, I think, for anyone enjoying Bach's cantatas. This is especially true with the recent releases of Bach box-sets which contain almost no information about the works.
This book is organized in 3 parts. Part 1, Introduction to Bach's Cantatas, includes a history of the genre before Bach, a chronological survey of the cantatas, and a 6-page discussion on performance practice. This covers the first 71 pages of the book. Part 2, Church Cantatas, and Part 3, Secular Cantatas, cover all Bach's cantatas. For each cantata, Durr includes libretto in German-English parallel text (translated by Jones), estimated time,(**) instrumentation, a history of the work, and descriptions of each movement. The time signatures and keys are indicated on the upper-right corner of the texts. Many descriptions receive music examples integrated in the text.
There are 3 way to find a cantata. Durr chose to organize the works according to the practical purposes for which they are written. The church cantatas, which constitute the majority, are ordered by their place in the liturgical calendar, and the secular cantatas by the types of occasion or venues for which they were written. The other 2 ways to find a cantatas is by the alphabetical order (of the beginning text) and by BWV numbers, which form 2 indexes at the end of the book.
Also included are: a table of abbreviation in the beginning, an extensive bibliography and a glossary of term at the end of the book.
This book is not meant to be at the cutting-edge of the Bach scholarship. There are other more specialized, more scholarly updated books on Bach's cantatas, notably Eric Chafe's Analyzing Bach Cantatas. However, for the general readership, nothing approaches this book in its comprehensiveness, depth, lucidity, and usefulness. It is a bargain even at the current price.(***)
Most highly recommended.
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(*) 1. Gillies Whittaker: The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach (Oxford, 1959).
2. Richard Stokes: J. S. Bach: The Complete Cantatas.
[1 & 2 both treat every Bach's cantata then known.]
3. Alec Robertson: The Church Cantatas of J. S. Bach (New York, 1972).
4. Charles Terry: J. S. Bach Cantata Texts, Sacred and Secular (London, 1926).
5. Melvin Unger: Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts: An Interlinear Translation with Reference Guide to Biblical Quotations and Allusions (Lanham, Md., 1996).
6. Murray Young: The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: An Analytical Guide (London, 1989)
(**) Estimate time is usually on the slow side. My conjecture is that this was the performance practice at the time of publication of the first (German) edition (1971).
(***) Buying tips: Oxford University Press' monographs on music tend to be more expensive in the U.S.. For this book, as well as Chafe's, the budget-conscious readers are advised to check out book vendors in the UK, e.g. Amazon's UK site.The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text Overview

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