Listening to Bach : The Mass in B Minor and the Christmas Oratorio

Of all the things we can know about J. S. Bach's Mass in B Minor and Christmas Oratorio, the most profound come from things we can hear. Listening to Bach explores musical style as it was understood in the early eighteenth century. It encourages ways of listening that take eighteenth-century musical sensibilities into account and that recognize our place as inheritors of a long tradition of performance and interpretation. Daniel R. Melamed shows how to recognize old and new styles in sacred music of Bach's time, and how movements in these styles are constructed. This opens the possibility of listening to the Mass in B Minor as Bach's demonstration of the possibilities of contrasting, combining, and reconciling old and new styles. It also shows how to listen for elements that would have been heard as most significant in the early eighteenth century, including markers of sleep arias, love duets, secular choral arias, and other movement types. This offers a musical starting point for listening for the ways Bach put these types to use in the Mass in B Minor and the Christmas Oratorio. The book also offers ways to listen to and think about works created by parody, the re-use of music for new words and a new purpose, like almost all of the Mass in B Minor and Christmas Oratorio. And it shows that modern performances of these works are stamped with audible consequences of our place in the twenty-first century. The ideological choices we make in performing the Mass and Oratorio, part of the legacy of their performance and interpretation, affect the way the work is understood and heard today. All these topics are illustrated with copious audio examples on a companion Web site, offering new ways of listening to some of Bach's greatest music [Publisher description] Modern audiences can learn to listen to Johann Sebastian Bach’s __Mass in B Minor__ BWV 232 and __Christmas Oratorio__ BWV 248 in ways that reflect eighteenth-century sensibilities and that recognize our place in the tradition of the works’ performance and interpretation. The sacred music of Bach’s time recognized both old and new styles. In the __Mass in B Minor__, Bach contrasts, combines, and reconciles them to make a musical point. Listeners can also learn to hear musical types and musical topics that were significant in the eighteenth century, including sleep arias, love duets, and secular choral arias, and how Bach put these types to use. A sensitivity to musical style also offers ways to listen to and think about music created by parody—the reuse of music with new words—like almost all of the __Mass in B Minor__ and most of the __Christmas Oratorio__. Parody, though interesting, is almost never audible and is of little consequence compared with what listening tells us about a piece. Modern performances are stamped with audible consequences of our place in the twenty-first century. The ideological choices we make in performing the __Mass__ and the __Oratorio__, the present-day way of performing the Christmas work in relation to the calendar, and the legacy of reception and interpretation have all affected the way his music is understood and heard today. This Volume Encourages Eighteenth-century Ways Of Listening To J.s. Bach's Mass In B Minor And Christmas Oratorio. It Explores The Concept Of Musical Style, Suggests Ways To Listen To Works Created By The Re-use Of Music For New Words, And Shows How Modern Performances Are Stamped With Audible Consequences Of Our Place In The Twenty-first Century This book encourages eighteenth-century ways of listening to J. S. Bach's Mass in B Minor and Christmas Oratorio. It explores the concept of musical style, suggests ways to listen to works created by the re-use of music for new words, and shows how modern performances are stamped with audible consequences of our place in the twenty-first century. Preface Part I. The Mass in B minor, BWV 232 Part II. The Christmas oratorio, BWV 248 Epilogue : How to listen to Bach.