A Moment of Bach

Widerstehe doch der Sünde (BWV 54): opening


Listen Later

Gift!! (That is..."poison" in German.) Put up your guard and resist the curse and poison of sinning -- this is the admonition which Bach gives us in this cantata for solo singer, strings, and continuo. The very first chord with its unstable harmony hits us with this force. 

We explore how Bach achieves this and other shocking dissonances even a few progressions (retrogressions?) which don't follow harmonic rules. Clearly the heartbeat bass line could be our resistance against sin -- but does the beautiful sequence of rising notes above represent indelicate passion, or the fight against it?

 

Widerstehe doch der Sünde as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, sung by alto Maarten Engeltjes and led by Lars Ulrik Mortensen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBwjv-QJhIk

Companion video interview with the vocalist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGjJDFP-AyM&t=0s

Companion video interview with the conductor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQNxeXKRiJg&t=0s

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

A Moment of BachBy Alex & Christian Guebert

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

56 ratings


More shows like A Moment of Bach

View all
Common Sense with Dan Carlin by Dan Carlin

Common Sense with Dan Carlin

11,326 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

722 Listeners

Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,469 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,483 Listeners

Science Vs by Spotify Studios

Science Vs

12,103 Listeners

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast by Joshua Weilerstein

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

2,112 Listeners

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum by Dan Carlin

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum

8,234 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

6,751 Listeners

Classical Breakdown by WETA Classical

Classical Breakdown

199 Listeners

The WTF Bach Podcast by Evan Shinners

The WTF Bach Podcast

53 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

3,043 Listeners

The Science of Birds by Ivan Phillipsen

The Science of Birds

784 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

13,053 Listeners

The Nietzsche Podcast by Untimely Reflections

The Nietzsche Podcast

182 Listeners

Ones and Tooze by Foreign  Policy

Ones and Tooze

346 Listeners