A Brandenburg Concerto Touchdown Dance
The Brandenburg Concertos present a lovely combination of variety and unity – and this is what makes them so meaningful.
Bach
“Help Me Lament”: Grieving Good Friday through Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
Amidst the whirling weeks of the year, Good Friday dawns and demands attention. Christ’s words—“do this in remembrance of Me”—ring still in our ears from their reading Maundy Thursday, and we feel the struggle of slowing to remember anything when days are packed so full and pass so swiftly; even the long discipline of Lent …
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Play That Old-time Music
Editor’s note: This essay is part of our series of monthly reflections on important works of music. Every month we’ll bring you a new post just like this one. Thanks to Lindsey Brigham for spearheading this project.
Choosing Bach in a Brothel Culture
This morning, my four students and I strolled leisurely through a biographical sketch of J.S. Bach, narrated back some of the astounding details of his life (20 children!), and then spent ten minutes listening to one of his concertos. It was a peaceful and soul-filling way to begin our day. As the last note ended, …
3 Mistaken Assumptions About Classical Music (through the Lens of Vivaldi’s “La Follia”)
A maze of mismatched tables and chairs hosts a dozen simultaneous conversations. Some folks hunch forward, both elbows on the table, in fervent discussion; others lean back in the chairs, the better to illustrate their talk with expansive gesturing. On the tabletops, in hands, and (every now and again) spilled out onto the floor are …
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