Do you have a recurring desire to dig a bit deeper into all this worship of Bach? Perhaps you've already discovered and enjoyed a bit of Bach's instrumental music, but have so far been turned off by the vocal stuff. I'm here to help you find out once and for all if there is any singing in Bach which will really turn you on. (Partial disclosure: I like a few things where the whole choir is singing, and you may as well; and I don't like most of the rest.)

If you read about the different categories of Bach's music, you will find that singing mostly occurs in things called cantatas and masses. Here we will look only at the cantatas. These are relatively short, multi-section works lasting anywhere from fifteen to forty minutes or so, and much of their content can be safely ignored in the effort to find the good bits, as I will explain.

Bach's approximately 200 surviving cantatas are mostly church music; you can read all about them on Wikipedia. All you need to know at this point is that every cantata is divided into several sections or "movements," and that very, very few of all these many hundreds of movements are really worth listening to. (Cue howls of rage from Bach freaks.)

Go to Youtube and type in "Bach cantata." You will get a zillion results, of course. I want you to plow your way through a few of these at random, no matter how much it hurts, so you can get the general idea. In each cantata, the first movement or two is usually (but not always) where the best stuff is found; typically the whole band plays and sings. If the Youtube page contains useful information, it will list and name each movement, often with timestamps so you can navigate among them. First movements are often called by such terms as Chorus, Sinfonia, Chorale, Chorale Fantasia, etc.

After the (hopefully nice) introduction, there will usually be a Recitative or an Aria (all these names will look a little different depending on the language used). A Recitative is that kind of half-speaking-half-singing you get in operas, when the characters are doing some dialogue between the big musical numbers. In Bach cantatas, this is almost always boring, and 95% of Recitatives sound the same. Skip over them. Next might be another Chorus of some kind, which is always worth checking out.

Arias (or "ariosos") are pieces for solo or duet voices, and you have to be a big opera fan or whatever to like them. Listen to a few, perhaps the bug will bite you and you'll become a big Bach wanker, hurray for you! But if it's not your thing, then skip them all, every time.

At the end of the cantata is almost always a Chorale. Even if the first movement was called a Chorale, this is different. It is almost always a relatively simple and straightforward (for Bach) setting of a simple church-type hymn, and is usually very short. You should always listen to these, and even better, get the music from imslp.org and try to sing your part of it (Soprano Alto Tenor or Bass.) It is fun! Don't worry about the German, just sing doo doo doo, or hum, or whistle.

After you've worked your way through a few cantatas, you should know how to get around them very fast. The simple rule of thumb is: Avoid Recitatives and Arias, and give at least a quick listen to everything else. Be patient and make an honest effort! There are some really fantastic things buried in all that stuff!

See

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bach_cantatas

for a list. Every cantata has a BWV number which you can paste into Youtube. You can also look at

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/bachjs/rateindx.php

for one man's personal rating of all the cantatas, but it's nothing more than the opinions of a random Bach fanatic. Don't think for a second that you will agree very often with his rankings; for one thing, he actually likes arias. The list is useful for the brief and informative little comments on each cantata.

(One final recommendation. When you find a videotaped live cantata peformance, just listen to it; don't watch it. Bach never intended, much less dreamed, that all these ugly musicians would be directly in your face in high-resolution close-up shots. It's distracting and depressing. After you've satisfied your morbid curiosity, hide the videos. This topic is probably worth a separate discussion, so let's start it somewhere else.)

 

My favourite is Cantata 54 (a somewhat bland answer i know) and if i'm honest i only really love the exquisite harmonic progression that underpins it...

A great rendition by Glenn Gould and co., well worth a watch all the way through : (approx 10 mins onward for Cantata 54 itself)

Glenn Gould: "...and it might perhaps never again be possible for us to own more than a glimpse of that inordinate sense of ecstacy that Sebastian Bach never thought to question..."

 

(site you find all kind of midi in case someone don't know - sorry) thanx for post Maxxx0

http://www.kunstderfuge.com/bach.htm

 

I`m not a classical music expert ( not to say a total noob ), but the conductor, performer(s) and interpretation make a difference the way one perceives a piece ( nothing new here... ). So, just to say I like this or that Bach cantata - by Whom? (Conductor, performer...). These are some of my favourites.

St Matthew Passion
Collegium Vocale Gent
Conducted by Philippe Herreweghe ( Who is a Doctor, Psychologist and Conductor, WTF...)

Bach - Mass in B minor (Proms 2012)
Choir of the English Concert
Harry Bicket conductor - My favourite Credo (53:48) and Angus Dei (1:40:40)

I like Keith Jarret`s version of Well Tempered Clavier - Goldberg Variations


22 - Variatio 21 (Canone alla Settima) (a 1 Clav.)
https://mega.nz/file/A6ggHTyI#Af0ifYkCR44WYIeNA7TWL7VxBiVxktoNJwZFve6MxMc

The Netherlands Bach Society is the oldest ensemble for Baroque music in the Netherlands, and possibly in the world.
https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en

Also, an interesting Documentary by Sr. John Eliot Gardner: Bach - A Passionate Life

"The Art of Fuge" (1:25:10) and ends with "Gute Nacht, o Wesen"

Maxxx0 "Bach never intended, much less dreamed, that all these ugly musicians would be directly in your face in high-resolution close-up shots" - well...
Sorry if I`m a little out of context and went too far.

 

Last edited: Jul 23, 2021