Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach's St. John Passion: With an Annotated Literal Translation of the Libretto

Rating:
Summary: Brief, But Informative
Review: Although I have no training in music whatsoever, I was nonetheless, drawn into Marrisen's fascinating essay. (Calling this slim volume a book is really a misnomer. I literally finished it in one 90 minute sitting.)Brevity, notwithstanding, this is a carefully written analysis of the theological worldview that influenced one of Bach's most artistically lovely, if controversial pieces. He readily admits that a poisonous strain of Lutheran anti-Semitism infected the ecclesiatical community of which Bach was a part , while at the same time offering that some evidence exists to support the idea that Bach may not have subscribed to such thinking. In the end, I do not know if I was necessarily convinced by Marrisen's argument. Much more needs to be said about Bach's perspective in light of his entire corpus. Focusing on one work is an interesting, but finally too selective technique. Even so, Marissen does a good job of encouraging the reader to approach, even works of artistic power as beautiful as Bach's with the critical eye the historically anti-Semitic Christian West demands.

Rating:
Summary: Brief, But Informative
Review: Although I have no training in music whatsoever, I was nonetheless, drawn into Marrisen's fascinating essay. (Calling this slim volume a book is really a misnomer. I literally finished it in one 90 minute sitting.)Brevity, notwithstanding, this is a carefully written analysis of the theological worldview that influenced one of Bach's most artistically lovely, if controversial pieces. He readily admits that a poisonous strain of Lutheran anti-Semitism infected the ecclesiatical community of which Bach was a part , while at the same time offering that some evidence exists to support the idea that Bach may not have subscribed to such thinking. In the end, I do not know if I was necessarily convinced by Marrisen's argument. Much more needs to be said about Bach's perspective in light of his entire corpus. Focusing on one work is an interesting, but finally too selective technique. Even so, Marissen does a good job of encouraging the reader to approach, even works of artistic power as beautiful as Bach's with the critical eye the historically anti-Semitic Christian West demands.

Rating:
Summary: Careful consideration of an unanswerable question
Review: How does one measure a musical composer's thoughts and attitudes? When a composer does not provide the words to his own music, what are we to judge him by? And when the words are drawn from a sacred text or determined by a liturgical context? With a composer like Wagner who vehemently embraced a nationalistic gestalt, it is easy to understand the accusations of anti-Semitism. With Bach, it is less so.

Consequently the brevity of Michael Marissen's 36-page essay on the subject of anti-Judaism in Bach's St. John Passion. Marissen's methodology is to briefly examine the parts of John's Gospel that have caused scholars to deem it the most anti-Judaic of the four canonical Gospels, to review the choral responses to the biblical texts in light of Lutheran theology as it would have been understood a century after the Reformer's death (Bach owned many volumes of Luther's writings as well as the Calov and Olearius Bible Commentaries), and to compare what Bach actually did with what he could have done (as evidenced by what other musicians did and by the approaches taken in such popular culture forms as the passion plays). Only rarely does Marissen turn to an analysis of the music to make his points. He does this in his discussion of cadence in relation to Jesus' sense of his own identity (p. 12-14) and in his discussion as to whether Bach used fugue to express the obstinacy of Jesus' Jewish adversaries (p.30 ff). Musical discussion within the text is keyed to the recording of Sigiswald Kuijken (editio classica 77041-2-RG, BMG Music), though an Appendix of Musical Examples lists seven other recordings of the work as well.

The central essay is well argued and easy to follow. The footnotes are extensive and helpful, as is the list of Works Cited. The Annotated Literal Translation of the Libretto, which makes up the second half of the book, uses different type treatments to help the reader distinguish between Gospel text, chorale responses to the biblical narrative, and aria/arioso responses. The book also includes a 5-page Appendix on Anti-Judaism and Bach's Other Works (namely, the Cantatas for the 10th Sunday after Trinity and the St. Matthew Passion).