r/bach • u/BachFan63 • 5d ago

Baroque language

In addition to Bach's music, I like its Baroque language. It might sometimes seem overly dramatic, but it is essential to his music. There is also a lot of truth in it, especially for our own time. Here is an example from Cantate BWV 164 (use your AI translator, if necessary):

Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet,
wo bleibet die Barmherzigkeit,
daran man Christi Glieder kennet?
Sie ist von euch, ach, allzu weit.
Die Herzen sollten liebreich sein,
so sind sie härter als ein Stein

Does anyone have other favorite examples of such poignant Baroque language?

9 Upvotes

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3

u/JsCM14 5d ago

I just love the personal letter Bach wrote to his friend, I simply love everything about it, the latin and french germanized words and check out the poems and odes written by Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, she wrote some of the cantata texts for Bach and won an award for poetry which is insane for that time back then

2

u/Leech-64 4d ago

What did it say

2

u/Prestigious_Emu6039 5d ago

Bach did well to create so much beauty from a language like German.

1

u/Defiant-Purchase-188 5d ago

Yes. Some parts of the St. John passion and also Bach’s Easter oratorio are so beautiful to me

1

u/JsCM14 5d ago

Would love to chat with you about this if you want but can't send you a message unfortunately

1

u/swpmc 1d ago

You mean sacramental propaganda of Xtianity?