Sunday, February 9, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

HomeArts & EntertainmentINTERVIEW: Berkshire Bach...

INTERVIEW: Berkshire Bach Society presents ‘Bach and God: Troubling Voices’ with musicologist Michael Marissen, Jan. 24 and 25

There is no getting around it: J.S. Bach was a devout follower of Martin Luther, who at times expressed vehemently antisemitic views.

Great Barrington — The Berkshire Bach Society (BBS) will host a reading of “Bach & God” (2016) and other works by musicologist Michael Marissen at Simon’s Rock’s Kellogg Music Center on Friday, January, 24, 7 p.m., and at the Koussevitzky Arts Center at Berkshire Community College on Saturday, January 25, 4 p.m. BBS Artistic Director Eugene Drucker will host a discussion with the author following the book readings.

The idea that art is only about form and proportion and beauty is a very modern one that would never have occurred to Bach or his predecessors. Many admirers of J.S. Bach like to imagine him driven solely by artistic motivations, detached from any religious intent. The universal appeal of his music seems to suggest a “Universalist” spirit reminiscent of Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis.”

But Bach was no Universalist. He based his liturgical works on Christian texts, and many musicologists argue (convincingly) that his counterpoint sometimes puts a decisive Lutheran spin on its text.

Counterpoint is a structured approach to polyphony whose purpose is to achieve balance, independence, and clarity among voices. Its rules are not amenable to religious doctrine. Yet musicologist Michael Marissen, author of “God & Bach” and many other writings, argues that Bach used counterpoint to create symbolism and emotional depth, all in service to a decisively Lutheran theological message.

I spoke with Mr. Marissen this week by telephone. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

EDGE
In “Bach & God,” you assert, among many other things, that Bach promulgated Lutheran theology through his counterpoint. Is that even technically possible? How do you see it?

MARISSEN
I see the way Bach writes music as sort of reflecting Lutheran patterns of thought. That’s the way I would put it.

EDGE
So, in your writings, you describe those patterns? You describe the connection between counterpoint and Lutheranism in a way that a music student can understand?

MARISSEN
I hope so. I think so. One question that always comes up is, why do you need to concern yourself at all with the religious world of Bach? The music is just so fantastic that you can enjoy it as it were on its own terms. You don’t need to drag in all that doctrinal stuff … In fact, for a lot of people, the true essence of Bach is about the powerful emotions it evokes, not any sort of doctrinal or intellectual, content.

EDGE
We think of Bach’s music as universal, transcending all of its religious roots.

MARISSEN
Yeah. And that, I think, is very seriously untrue. But the reason so many people take this view—and the reason it seems to work for people—is that they don’t actually know much about the world that Bach comes from.

EDGE
Was Bach anti-Jewish?

MARISSEN
All indications are that Bach must have accepted at least some of Martin Luther’s anti-Jewish views. I mean, it would be very unusual for him not to.

EDGE
Why would it be unusual?

MARISSEN
Because Bach had to work from a set of texts that contain anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic sentiments.

EDGE
Will you talk about those texts at your book reading?

MARISSEN
Yes, but the larger point I’ll be making is that being informed about Lutheranism can really enrich your experience of Bach’s music—and make you much more aware of what it means to be a human being now, what it meant to be a human being then, and to be clear about the things we all genuinely have in common—as well the things we don’t. It’s partly a matter of ethics and honesty.

***

Hear musicologist Michael Marissen read from his books “Bach and God,” “Bach against Modernity,” and other writings focused on J. S. Bach’s musical Lutheranism. Marissen will appear at the Kellogg Music Center at Simon’s Rock, 84 Alford Road, Great Barrington, at 7 p.m., on Friday, January 24, and at the Koussevitzky Arts Center on the campus of Berkshire Community College, 1350 West Street, Pittsfield, at 4 p.m., on Saturday, January 25. More information and tickets are available here.

spot_img

The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.

Continue reading

PREVIEW: Berkshires Jazz presents sax chameleon Scott Robinson, ’10 by Sax’

Robinson is deeply rooted in bebop, swing, and classic jazz traditions, often channeling the influence of players like Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins.

INTERVIEW: Jumaane Smith Quintet celebrates the Romance of Nat King Cole Feb. 14, at Linde Center

The appetite for high-quality jazz in the Berkshires seems to be insatiable, judging by the response it has gotten at Tanglewood lately.

AT THE TRIPLEX: A tribute to David Lynch

Lynch created a cinematic universe where there was a darkness lurking under the picture-perfect Americana that often feels forced upon us.

The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.