Bach and Religion / Theology
Discussions - Part 8

Continue from Part 7

Bach, music, and religion

Ed Myskowski wrote (January 10, 2012):
Opening statement to the notes by Dr. Ashok D. Ranade to the CD <Sacred Music of India>, released by Silk Road Communications, 2007):

<It is said, and truly so, that all over the world wherever there is religion there is music. But, one may ask, is the reverse equally true?> (end quote).

We have Bachs response to that question, in his marginal note to 2 Chronicles:

<Wherever there is music, there is God.>

No passengers on Spaceship Earth, we are all crew. In one of the early USA rocket launches, associated with SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestial Intelligence) goals, a recording (not a vinyl LP, I trust!) was included. Two of the selections, as I recall, were Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations, and a Chuck Berry tune (perhaps Roll Over Beethoven?). Wags reported that the first words back from Space were <Send more Chuck Berry!>

Ed Myskowski wrote (January 10, 2012):
Ed Myskowski wrote:
< Two of the selections, as I recall, were Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations, and a Chuck Berry tune (perhaps Roll Over Beethoven?). >
The Bach/Gould is listed this way on Wikipedia:

<Germany/Canada -- The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue No.1 in C major -- Bach Glenn Gould>

The Chuck berry was (is?) Johnny B. Good. Could that be Johnny Bach?

Bruce Simonson wrote (January 12, 2012):
Ed Myskowski wrote:
< <Wherever there is music, there is God.>
No passengers on Spaceship Earth, we are all crew. In one of the early USA rocket launches, associated with SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestial Intelligence) goals, a recording (not a vinyl LP, I trust!) was included. Two of the selections, as I recall, were Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations, and a Chuck Berry tune (perhaps Roll Over Beethoven?). Wags reported that the first words back from Space were <Send more Chuck Berry!> >
Carl Sagan, when he asked his colleagues for suggestions on what audio to include on this Voyager disk, got something like this back from Freeman Dyson: "I'd send just Bach ... but that would be showing off."

Incidentally, there were video images too, including this one, one of my favorites: http://re-lab.net/welcome/images/image108.gif

Also, Sagan had audio of children from all over the world, say, in their native language "hello, from the people of planet earth". His son got to say it in English ... it's quite moving, I think to hear this, and realize that it's on its way to the edge of the universe. (Sagan's nephew was in my dorm at college, back in the day).

Ed Myskowski wrote (January 14, 2012):
Bruce Simonson wrote:
< Carl Sagan, when he asked his colleagues for suggestions on what audio to include on this Voyager disk, got something like this back from Freeman Dyson: "I'd send just Bach ... but that would be showing off." >
Thanks for sharing the anecdote, a clever statement.

Anthony Kozar wrote (January 14, 2012):
Bruce Simonson wrote:
< Carl Sagan, when he asked his colleagues for suggestions on what audio to include on this Voyager disk, got something like this back from Freeman Dyson: "I'd send just Bach ... but that would be showing off." >
I've been hearing/reading/thinking about the Voyager Gold records a number of times recently after listening to some RadioLab shows that talk about them. This quote from Dyson is great, btw, thanks :)

One thought I've had is that I'm fairly impressed with the musical selections of the persons who put together the record. Wikipedia points out that Bach is "the most represented artist, appearing three times". With only 27 tracks of music, one could argue that Bach is overrepresented, but
...
None of the selections that I'm familiar with are what I would call "Classical Lite" either. No "Air on the G String" for our alien neighbors. Two of the Bach selections are ones I likely would have chosen myself: Brandenburg no. 2 and Gavotte en Rondeaux from the 3rd Violin Partita. And the third is Gould, so in my NSH opinion, I'd say that they "got it right".

;-)

If you're curious to know more, here are the articles that describe the records:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_Voyager_Golden_Record

Julian Mincham wrote (January 14, 2012):
[To Bruce Simonson & Ed Myskowski] I had always heard this comment attributed to Lewis Thomas who was, I think, a Dean from Yale university. And told slightly differently. When asked what should be put in a space probe to demonstrate the achievements of mankind to an alien civilisation he said' without doubt, 'the complete recorded works of JS Bach' But then he paused and said 'But of course that would be boasting!'

But I looked the guy up and he died well before we sent out any space probes!

Intriguing. It's a wonderful comment whoever said it; can anyone verify exactly who did say this and the form in which the comment was made??

Paul Farseth wrote (January 14, 2012):
[To Julian Mincham] Lewis Thomas, director of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Institute, was author of an essay called "On Thinking about Thinking" published, I believe, in his column "Notes of a Biology

Watche" in THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE in the late

1970s. What I remember from the article is his advice to the reader to put Bach's St. Matthew passion on the phonograph and turn the volume all the way up. "That is the sound of the whole human brain thinking all at once." The essay was anthologized in one of the 3 collections of Thomas's NEJM essays.

Bob Brennan wrote (January 14, 2012):
[To Julian Mincham] William F. Buckley, in a Bach tribute written years ago, noted that the astronomer Carl Sagan had attributed the "boasting" comment to Lewis Thomas, a biologist at the Sloan-Kettering Institute. To which Buckley adds: "There are those who believe it is not merely to boast, but to be vainglorious to suggest that the movements of Bach's pen could have been animated by less than divine impulse."

The full tribute can be viewed at this link. It is the finest tribute to Bach I've ever seen: http://www.enotalone.com/personal-growth/5501.html

Ed Myskowski wrote (January 16, 2012):
Bob Brennan wrote:
< William F. Buckley, in a Bach tribute written years ago, noted that the astronomer Carl Sagan had attributed the "boasting" comment to Lewis Thomas, a biologist at the Sloan-Kettering Institute. To which Buckley adds: "There are those who believe it is not merely to boast, but to be vainglorious to suggest that the movements of Bach's pen could have been animated by less than divine impulse." >
I have taken a moment to ponder the proper response. I believe it is important, and accurate, to point out that it is Buckley, not Sagan, who mentions the divine impulse.

Bach, when asked to what he attributed his results, responded: <I work hard.>

His dedication of that hard work to God (SDG) is unquestioned.

Bach as preacher

Zachary Uram wrote (May 1, 2020):
http://www.veritas.org/bach-preacher/
Bach, a Preacher? (Lecture in video)
Robin Leaver
The Veritas Forum (January 17, 2001)
You’ve all heard of Bach the Composer—but Bach the Preacher? Robin Leaver, former president of the American Bach Society and visiting professor at Yale, gives a theological take on a musical genius. In the process, Leaver explores exactly why music is such a powerful tool for communicating truth, especially truth about the life and story of Jesus Christ.

Great article

Zachary Uram wrote (May 1, 2020):
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/arts/music/bach-religion-music.html
Johann Sebastian Bach Was More Religious Than You Might Think (Article)
By Michael Marissen
The New York Times (March 30, 2018)
Bach biographers don’t have it easy. Has there ever been a composer who wrote so much extraordinary music and left so little documentation of his personal life?
Life-writing abhors a vacuum, and experts have indulged in all manner of speculation, generally mirroring their own approaches to the world, about how Bach must have understood himself and his works.

Julian Mincham wrote (May 1, 2020):
[To Zachary Uram] I don't doubt at all Bach's faith and interest in matters of religion and how music related to them. Why else would he have taken so much trouble to achieve the 'heavenly' proporions and symmetrys in his movements (see Ruth Tatlow's book Bach's Numbers: composition, proportion and significance'). My own view is that Bach had little interest in whether his music survived on earth or not--but he had ambitions to ensure that it was good enough to continue to be performed in Heaven.

Barry Buehler wrote (May 1, 2020):
The article does not mention notations directly on his manuscripts "SDG" (Soli Deo Gloria).

There are also Bach quotes available which make his faith clear.

I think the case for his fervent belief is much stronger than weaker case the article makes.

Kim Patrick Clow wrote (May 1, 2020):
Barry Buhler wrote:
< The article does not mention notations directly on his manuscripts "SDG" (Soli Deo Gloria). SDG" (Soli Deo Gloria) >
Exactly! Most baroque composers (e.g. Graupner, Fasch, Telemann, Stölzel et al) wrote that inscription on their music manuscripts as well too. They were all fervent believers. Telemann's body of letters and his autobiographies CLEARLY indicates this, and Stölzel's authoring a good number of his cantata texts is another.

William L. Hoffman wrote (May 1, 2020):
Then there is Bach's calling: "a well-regulated church music to the glory of God" ( http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Well-Regulated-Church-Music.htm.

Jeffrey Solow wrote (May 1, 2020):
[To Julian Mincham] Who doubts Bach's religious sincerity? I always considered that to be a given!

Julian Mincham wrote (May 2, 2020):
Jeffrey Solow wrote:
< Who doubts Bach's religious sincerity? I always considered that to be a given! >
I think that's what I am saying--just offering a bit of evidence

Linda Gingrich wrote (May 2, 2020):
[To Jeffrey Solow] There is another interesting, though possibly legendary, glimpse into Bach's mind toward God, and one I find deeply touching. In the last days of his life as he lay blind in bed, he revised, with the help of a friend, an organ chorale based on the chorale "Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein" BWV 668 (When we are in greatest distress). It is thought that, as part of his revisions, Bach changed the title to "Von deinen Thron tret ich hiermit" BWV 668a (Before thy throne I now appear), a text often sung to the same melody. Both Wolff in The Learned Musician and Pelikan in Bach Among the Theologians make the case that although we don't know for sure what happened in Bach's last days, he knew he was near death and that in this, his last musical work, he revealed his state of mind and heart. The hymn strophes, which Wolff includes, take on added significance in light of his impending death.

I personally hope it is true!

Jyrki Wahlstedt wrote (May 2, 2020):
[To Jeffrey Solow] IIRC, I saw a mention somewhere that his Bible was well-used. That shows something…

Bach's Sacred Music Theology: Martin Petzold

William L. Hoffman wrote (August 17, 2010):
Among major Bach studies produced in recent years are two of the most exacting, unique, and anticipated publications related to Bach's theology as found in his vocal music: the Martin Petzoldt (1946-2015)¹ final two volumes of his four-volume study Bach-Kommentar, Theologisch-musikalische Kommentierung der geistlichen Vokalwerke (Bach Commentary, Theological and Musical Commentary on the Sacred Vocal Works, https://www.bachakademie.de/en/schriftenreihe.html). Following publication of the first two volumes of the sacred cantatas, Volume 1, Trinity Time omnes tempore, second half of the. Church year (2004) and Volume 2, Advent to Trintyfest de tempore, first half of the church year (2007), Petzold spent his remaining years studying the major Christological vocal works by categories as well as occasional music of joy and sorrow, published posthumously and possibly constituting the fourth and fifth cycles in Petzoldt's final two volumes of Bach Kommentar:² Volume 3, the festive and occasional cantatas and the Passions (2018), and Volume 4, Latin Church Music (Masses and Mass movements and Magnificat), and the motets, as well as the registers (indices) of all four volumes (2019). Volume 3 covers the cantatas for the Marian feasts of Purification (Mariae Reinigung), Annunciation (Mariae Verkündigung), and Visitation (Mariae Heimsuchung), as well as the sacred festive observances of John the Baptist (Johannistag), Town Council (Ratswahl), St. Michael, the Reformation, the 1730 Jubilee of the Augsburg Confession, Church and Organ Consecration, Wedding Cantatas and Chorales (BWV 250-52), Funeral Cantatas, Cantatas with No Recognizable Purpose (BWV 97), and the Good Friday Passions (BWV 244, 245, 247). The final Volume 4 deals with Masses and Mass Movements (BWV 232-242), the Magnificat (BWV 243(a), and the Motets (BWV 225-230, BWV 1164=Anh. 159), as well as the General Registry, Vols. 1-4.

Produced under the auspices of the Internationale Bach Akademie Stuttgart and published by Bärenreiter (Kassel), the project reveals "Bach’s Bible interpretation as a key to understanding his sacred works" (https://www.baerenreiter.com/en/shop/product/details/BVK2398/). While the German-language volumes focus on the biblical passages as cited in Bach's works, they provide considerable contextual information as well as "extended quotations —usually on the gospel but sometimes also on the epistle of the day—from the biblical commentary by Johann Olearius that is known to have been in Bach's personal library," says Leaver in his on-line review of the initial volume (https://muse.jhu.edu/article/183079. To aid in his composition of text-driven vocal music, Bach had a theological library equivalent to a Lutheran pastor. Dr. Norbert Bolin as editor³ oversaw the publication of this scholarly collection of the Bach Kommantar with musicological consultation of Volumes 2-4 (Don O. Franklin did Volume 1), and completed volumes 3 and 4 from the research of Dr. Petzoldt.

Church Year Cantatas

Petzoldt's initial volumes on Bach's sacred cantatas follow the tradition of understanding these "musical sermons" as the primary core of Bach's calling of a "well-regulated church music to the glory of God" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_cantata). Two important previous studies of biblical references in the sacred cantata texts are: Melvin P. Unger, Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts (1996)⁴ and Ulrich Meyer, Biblical Quotation and Allusion in the Cantata Libretti of Johann Sebastian Bach (1997),⁵ with an analytical review of the two cantata text studies by Bach scholar Daniel R. Melamed.⁶ Petzoldt's cantata studies by church-year services include the feast day oratorios as expanded cantatas (BWV 11, 248, 249), as well as undesignated pure-hymn chorale cantatas (other church opportunities BWV 97, 100, 117, 192) and special occasion cantatas whose texts he finds are appropriate for specific church-year services (BWV 189, 1083, 150. Cantatas appropriate for church-year or other services, according to Petzodt, are: BWV 97 for the 5th Sunday after Trinity or the town council installation (1734, Ibid. III: 579); BWV 117, 100, and 189 (Melchior Hoffmann) for the 12th Sunday after Trinity; BWV 150 for Jubilate (3rd Sunday after Easter, 1728-31); BWV 143 for town council (1709), and cantata motet BWV 1083 for the 11th Sundaafter Trinity (1744-47). These occasion dates generally are not accepted by Bach scholars.

Major Vocal Works

The breadth and depth of Bach's major vocal works is outlined in the 1750 Obituary as compiled by son Emanuel in the works list of known music existing only in manuscript, much of which he was the heir and guardian in the estate division primarily with older brother Friedemann.⁷ After the general category of five annual cycles of church pieces in cantata format is the grouping of occasional music, both sacred and profane (NBR: 304): "Many oratorios, Masses, Magnificats, several Sanctus, secular cantatas [dramata], serenades; music for birthdays, namedays, and funerals, wedding cantatas [Brautmessen], and also several comic vocal pieces." Following are the five Passions (one for double chorus), and "some double chorus motets." Publication of Bach's music began in 1850 with the Bach Gesellschaft Ausgabe and in 1950 came the first works catalogue, Bach Werke Verzeichnis (BWV), in various categories, with its third edition due this year from the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, replacing the incomplete Bach Compendium (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Ref/IndexRef-BC.htm).⁸

While various monographs on Bach's cantatas have been published, including text translations (on-line, see Bach Cantatas Website, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/index.htm), much less has been produced in the remaining areas of vocal works although more studies are beginning to appear as other works (music lost, texts only) enter the Bach BWV canon, along with new studies, revised editions,⁹ putative reconstructions, and variant versions. A number of choral music studies are found in English: Stephen Daw, Bach, the Choral Works (1981);¹⁰ W. Murray Young, The Sacred Dramas of J. S. Bach: A Reference and Textual Interpretation (1994);¹¹ The Sacred Choral Music of J. S. Bach: A Handbook, ed. John Butt (1997);¹² Gordon Jones, Bach's Choral Music: A Listener's Guide (2009),¹³ and Marcus Rathey, Bach's Major Vocal Works: Music, Drama Liturgy (2016).¹⁴ An essential compliment to the sacred music studies is John S. Setterlund's Bach Through the Year: The Church Music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the Revised Common Lectionary (https://www.amazon.com/Bach-Through-Year-Sebastian-Lectionary/dp/1932688870: "Look inside"), with a listing and concise explanation of Bach's music appropriate for church year services and special occasions involving both Bach's single-year lectionary and today's expanded three-year lectionary.

Petzoldt's Writings Surveyed

Like Petzoldt, Marcus Rathey deals with the elements of liturgy and parody in Bach's major vocal works, two topics beginning to be studied by Bach scholars. Starting in 1996 with three articles in Christoph Wolff’s three-volume study of The World of the Bach Cantatas, Petzoldt began systematically to explore the biblical and chorale influences and their theological underpinnings in Bach’s increasingly poetic texts. In the first volume, Petzoldt shows the service liturgy and Lutheran practice tradition instituted by Martin Luther that Bach developed musically in the early years at Arnstadt and Mühlhausen, in The Early Sacred Cantatas, are articles that established the “Liturgical and Theological Aspects,” and the importance of “Bible, Hymnbook, and Worship Service” in his earliest works (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995), see Amazon.com: "Look inside."

In the second section of Volume I (the only one translated and published in English), “The works and their World,” Petzoldt in “Liturgical and Theological Aspects” (pp. 109-124), begins with the initial development of Bach’s youthful, traditional cantatas, with almost no poetry, only biblical quotations – primarily psalms -- and select Lutheran chorales. He summarizes the musical characteristics and textual materials suggesting that Bach created these early works with a conceptual “metatext” theme, introducing interpretive chorales quotations as a dialogue to scriptural passages in worship with movements in symmetrical, sometimes palindrome form. Then Petzoldt sounds his theme that “a theological look at Bach’s early librettos and the way they were set to music already establishes the essential traits of his relation to this important foundation of his art and his connection with it” (p.115). At Weimar, Bach’s librettos become theologian Erdmann Neumeister’s musical sermons with closing, summarizing, four-part chorale stanzas. Petzoldt provides detailed analysis of the Neumeister’s type exegetic texts with traditional commentary. Bach’s succeeding collaboration with Weimar Court poet Salomo Franck shows the establishment of a regular form of alternating recitatives and arias, and a closing chorale. Petzoldt shows that Franck develops a structured, accessible “metatext,” with more homiletic than dogmatic emphasis. Bach’s creative response “shows a thorough understanding of Franck’s intentions.” (p.122).

In the succeeding article, “Bible, Hymnbook, and Worship Service” (125-142), Petzoldt begins with “The Liturgical-Historical Context of Bach’s Early Cantatas.” Bach evolved from the earliest cantatas (actually concertos and motets), almost-entirely for “incidental services,” to cantatas written for the Mass Propers Gospel-driven main service, as a liturgical musical sermon. At the same time, in the next section, “Liturgical Orders of Service According to the Service Books and Hymnbooks,” Petzoldt lays the groundwork to show the established, limited traditional Lutheran practices in the towns of Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. Petzold lists the liturgical elements, the various Proper readings for the appropriate Sunday and Feast days, the Latin Mass ordinary sections of the Kyrie-Gloria and the usage of Luther’s vernacular German alternatives, especially in the Credo, the sermon portion or Luther’s service-section of the word (sermon), and the service-section of Sacrament (Communion), with the prescribed, interspersed German hymns. The service in Weimar, with an infusion of comprehensive hymn books adhering to the church year, allowed Bach to create the beginning of his first church-year cantata cycle with their Propers readings, as well as the incomplete Orgel-Büchlein chorale preludes mostly for the de tempore first half of the church year on the major events in the life of Jesus Christ. In the closing section, “Order of the Gospels and De Tempore,” Petzoldt observes: “It must be emphasized that there is hardly another musician among Bach’s contemporaries who made such unrestricted reference to the Gospels in his cantatas or showed such commitment to them” (p. 129f). This observation is founded on the hermeneutic (interpretive teaching) faith and accuracy with which Bach also interprets and handles his texts everywhere,” as well as his skillful adaptation of early Weimar cantatas in Leipzig to different but specific related services.

Bach's Spirituality Debate

The impetus for Petzold’s undertaking began during the great debate, ignited in the early 1960s by the leading Protestant music writer, Friedrich Blume, over the depth and even sincerity of Bach’s spirituality that had grown to the point that early in the Twentieth Century Bach was called the “Fifth Evangelist.” With the new dating of Bach’s three-plus annual church service cycles in the late 1950s, showing that Bach had composed most of his cantatas in the first four years as Cantor at Leipzig, beginning in 1723, not throughout his tenure that ended with his death in 1750, dominating his interests at the rate of a new cantata each month. Blüme in "Outlines of a New Picture of Bach"¹⁵ argued that this new creative picture shows that Bach was not consumed by sacred music and his calling of a “well order sacred music to the glory of God,” but that he had other, temporal, worldly interests in his musical art, particularly a broad spectrum of instrumental music. In effect, Blüme, living in Easter German in Bach country ruled by Communism, perhaps went beyond political dogma (doctrine, and perhaps dialect!) intentionally to challenge Bach scholars, especially those who were content to accept the spiritual and traditional Lutheran image wrought by the venerable Albert Schweitzer, Friedrich Smend, and Arnold Schering, in order to think beyond the canonized image of Sebastian Bach.

In response, theologian and Bach scholar Güther Stiller produced the milestone 1970 study in German, finally published in English in 1984, JSB and Liturgical Life in Leipzig (St. Louis MO: Concordia Publishing). This lead to many published essays and studies under the auspices of the Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft für theologische Bach Forschung, beginning in 1976 “largely through the efforts of Walter Blankenburg and Christoph Trautmann,” says Mel Unger in his American Bach Society’s “Notes” Fall 2000 review of the organization’s first 20 years by editor Renata Steiger (see American Bach Society: Newsletter Fall 2000, Book Review). “The organization seeks to revive an interdisciplinary hermeneutic in Bach studies, in which an historically informed study of Bach’s texts illuminates his music, and conversely, analysis of the music illuminates the texts.” These theological, source-critical Bach studies examined Bach’s theological library of major Lutheran writers and their influence on his texts (in a library that any Lutheran pastor would have treasured), as well as the primary source of Bach’s liner notes in his Calov interpretive bible. Other scholars began compiling detailed lists of biblical illusions and quotations in his vocal music (Ulrich Meyer).

Petzoldt with his dissertation in 1985, “Studies of theology in the life story of Johann Sebastian Bach,” began publishing various books and articles. “Petzoldt believes that preachers developed their sermons with the specifically designated cantata texts in mind, but this view was called into question by Hans-Joachim Schulze,” notes Unger (Ibid.). After the first two articles in The World of the Bach Cantatas, Vol. 1, Petzoldt published in German the extensive article, “Liturgy and Music in Leipzig’s Main Churches” in Die Welt der Bach Kantaten, ed. Christoph Wolff, vol. 3: Johann Sebastian Bachs Leipziger Kirchenkantaten (Metzler/Bärenreiter, Stuttgart/Weimar, Kassel, 1999) pp. 68-93, Thomas Braatz English translation https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Leipzig-Churches-Petzold.pdf. Petzoldt also published in this volume “Theological Aspects of Bach’s Leipzig Cantatas,” that lead to his Bach Kommentar.¹⁶

Petzoldt Posthumous Commentary

Following his untimely death in 2015, Petzoldt was honored with various essays, including reprints/translations of his work. These include his English-language essays, "The Theological in Bach Research" (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Books/B0219.htm: paragraph beginning "Finally, from an historical perspective . . . ."),¹⁷ and "Bach as Cantor of St. Thomas in Leipzig, 1723-1750."¹⁸ Tributes to Petzoldt include Robin A. Leaver's "In Memoriam: Martin Petzoldt," and Don O. Franklin's "Remembrance of Martin Petzoldt," both found in Bach Notes, Newsletter of the American Bach Society (ABS), No. 23 (Fall 2015, 1ff), found online (https://www.americanbachsociety.org/Newsletters/BachNotes23.pdf). Petzoldt spoke once before the ABS in 1994, "Ecclesiastical Texts in Bach's Ascension Day Oratorio,"¹⁹ and was co-author with Peter Wollny of the Preface to the Carus facsimile edition of the oratorio (Carus-Verlag). Petzoldt also authored Bachstätten: Ein Reiseführer zu Johann Sebastian Bach (A travel guide to Bach’s cities),²⁰ expansion of 1992 Bachstätten from 12 to 42 Bach cities. This was the forerunner of Christoph Wolff's The Organs of J. S. Bach: A Handbook (Amazon.com: "Look inside"), and Robert and Traute Marshall's Exploring the World of J. S. Bach: A Traveler’s Guide (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Books/B0217.htm), which show that the greater world of Bach as an amazing universe.

Epilogue

Finally, Leaver's article on "Churches" in the The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315452814: Chapter 8 abstract), dedicated to Petzoldt, offers a wide perspective on Bach in God's World. Leaver, who is one of the leading authorities on Bach's Lutheran theology, is planning a book provisionally entitled "A Liturgical Handbook to the Vocal Works of Bach" (source Daniel Martin Lewis, Interview with Robin Leaver, http://danielmartynlewis.com/bachconversations/interview-robin-leaver/).

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

¹ Dr. Martin Petzoldt: biography, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Petzoldt; publications, Bach-Bibliographie.
² Bach-Kommentar, Vol III, Fest- und Kasualkantaten, Passionen (2018, Bärenreiter), and Vol. IV, Messen, Magnificat, Motetten, Registeren (2019, Bärenreiter), Kassel: Bärenreiter, Stuttgart: Internationale Bachakademie).
³ Dr. Norbert Bolin: biography, Google Translate; publications, Bach-Bibliographie.
⁴ Melvin P. Unger, Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts, An Interlinear Translation with Reference Guide to Biblical Quotations and Allusions (Lanham, MD Scarecrow Press, 1996); Amazon.com: "Look inside"; references in cantatas BWV 1-200, 248, 249, also extensive Selected Bibliography and various indices.
⁵ Ulrich Meyer, Biblical Quotation and Allusion in the Cantata Libretti of Johann Sebastian Bach, Studies in Liturgical Musicology No. 5 (Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 1997); description, contents (Google Books); book (some pages omitted, Google Books); German and English Introduction, references to cantatas by church year, Advent to Trinity time to festival and special occasions (omits oratorios BWV 248 and 249).
⁶ Daniel R. Melamed review, "Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts: an Interlinear Translation with Reference Guide to Biblical Quotations and Allusions," Music & Letters, vol. 79, no. 1, 1998, p. 114+; Gale Academic Onefile.
⁷ Cited in William L. Hoffman "Theology," Bach Cantatas Website Article (2014), https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Theology[Hoffman].htm (browser copy-paste).
⁸ Bach works catalogues: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Johann_Sebastian_Bach#BWV_Chapter_2, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/BWVSystem-4.htm; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis.
⁹ Bach NBA revised editions, Bärenreiter.
¹⁰ Stephen Daw, The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: the Choral Works (Rutherford NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1981); Malcolm Boyd review, https://academic.oup.com/em/article-abstract/11/3/365/487088?redirectedFrom=PDF; Daw bibliography (recordings, books reviews) https://academic.oup.com/em/article-abstract/11/3/365/487088?redirectedFrom=PDF. First major study of Bach's vocal works; emphases on chronology, philology, recordings.
¹¹ W. Murray Young, The Sacred Dramas of J. S. Bach: A Reference and Textual Interpretation (Jefferson NC: McFarland & Co., 1994), Amazon.com. Contents: Magnificat, Passions (BWV 244-247), Masses (BWV 232-236), motets (BWV 225-231, 118), motet movements in cantatas, Anna Magdalena Notebook sacred songs, chorales; textual (English translations) and musical analyses.
¹² The Sacred Choral Music of J. S. Bach: A Handbook, ed. John Butt, Gloriae Dei Cantores (Brewster MA: Paraclete Press, 1997), Amazon.com: "Look inside." Contents: introduction; essays on singing, chorales, ornamentation, translations, bibliography and library sources.
¹³ Gordon Jones, Bach's Choral Music: A Listener's Guide, Unlocking the Masters Series No.20 (New York: Amadeus Press, 2009); Amaszon.com: "Look inside." Contents: 30 church cantatas, SJP, SMP, MBM, motets, oratorios, Magnificat, with CD.
¹⁴ Marcus Rathey, Bach's Major Vocal Works: Music, Drama, Liturgy (New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 2016); Amazon.com: "Look inside." Analytical review, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Books/B0216.htm.
¹⁵ Friedrich Blume, "Outlines of a New Picture of Bach," trans. Stanley Goodman, in Music and Letters 44 (2016: 214-217), Jstor).
¹⁶ Petzoldt was Professor of Systematic Theology at the Theological Faculty of the University of Leipzig, Chairman of the Bach Gesellschaft, and co-editor, Musik und Kirche. A list of his publications is found at Bach-Bibliographie.
¹⁷ Martin Petzoldt, "The Theological in Bach Research," in Compositional Choices and Meaning in the Vocal Music of J.S. Bach, Contextual Bach Studies No. 8, ed. Robin A. Leaver; Festschrift for Don O. Franklin, ed. Mark A.Peters, Reginald L. Sanders (Lanham MD: Lexington Books. 2018), Amazon.com: "Look inside"; Abstract, Bach-Bibliographie.
¹⁸ Martin Petzoldt, "Bach as Cantor of St. Thomas in Leipzig, 1723-1750," in Bach, Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, Vol. 46 No. 2 (Berea OH: Baldwin-Wallace College, 2015: 7-21); Jstor, bibliographical notes Bach-Bibliographie ; Article Introduction, Robin A. Leaver, "The Historical Context of Martin Petzoldt's Paper on Bach's Cantorate in Leipzig" (1-6), article Jstor.
¹⁹ Martin Petzoldt, "Ecclesiastical Texts in Bach's Ascension Day Oratorio" (reference Bach-Bibliographie.
²⁰ Martin Petzoldt, Bachstäten Ein Reiseführer zu Johann Sebastian Bach (Insel Verlag, 2000), Amazon.com.

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To Come: New Master Musicians Bach Biography from David Schuenberg.

Bach & Religion: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
Bach the Evangelist: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3