This is an excerpt from the first of the six volumes of the Bach cantatas series. Trinity Sunday, which falls on June 4 in 2023, is the feast of the Trinitarian actuality: the three persons co-eternal, co-equal, and consubstantial, who are one, uncreated being. The triadic doctrine is intimated in the Scriptures but largely evolved and […]
Individual Cantatas
J.S. Bach, Cantata 1 – Feast of the Annunciation of Mary
March 25th is the feast of the annunciation of Mary, for which Bach composed his cantata BWV 1. I am reminded of a moment in August several years ago when I was riding the bus along Jasper Avenue in Edmonton. The middle-aged man in the last seat by the window, holding his prayer beads in […]
Dante: Paradiso 1 – Congruence of the One and the Many
The stated theme of Paradiso is the coevality of unity and multiplicity. This theme and its many variants appear frequently in Biblical scripture, frequently as the Trinitarian formulation and as the concept of the indivisibility of the mortal and the divine, which congruence contains the absolute interrelationship of the bond of fate in its manifestation […]
J.S. Bach, Cantata 54, Oculi (Lent 3), Satan and Sin
From On the Cantatas of J.S. Bach: Epiphany to Lent. Lent is the penitential preparation for Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on the night before Easter Sunday. Lent lasts forty days, hence it is also known as Quadragesima (meaning ‘fortieth’), from which originate the terms Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, and Septuagesima for the preceding Sundays. […]
Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden I:II:1 – Nearing the Apex of Midnight
Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden, Part One, II:1 . I am wakened to stumble Into the Maritime thunderstorm Of my aging, Lightning flashing through the blinds, Falling water smashing at the house. I picture Dürer in self-portrait With paper almost too wet To sketch on. Cantata strains Of Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen Play very […]