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Some Points in Bach's Treatment of the Chorale
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2020
Extract
There is no department of existing musical compositions which to me seems a more unending subject of interesting study than the chorale as it appears in Bach's works, vocal and instrumental. Bach's chorales have a value of their own, not only in a musical point of view, as a sheer pleasure to the cultivated ear, but as throwing light on the nature, limits, and functions of the tone-art. When the future Lessing appears and writes a new “Laocoön,” he will find that Bach's chorales will considerably assist him in any endeavour to fix the limits of our art and in discussing what the true aim of music should be. I shall have repeatedly to return to this point in the course of my paper. I cannot examine it in detail, as so many matters have claimed mention that I shall but slightly allude to each; and I must ask your pardon if the paper should appear discursive.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © Royal Musical Association, 1897
Footnotes
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Works quoted: Erk's collections of Bach's Chorales (Edition Peters, Nos. 21–2); Carl von Winterfeld's “Der evangelische Kirchengesang “; Spitta's “J. S. Bach” (English edition)
References
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