Bach, Johann Sebastian

Music historian Markus Rathey explains why and how J. S. Bach composed his choral works as he did. (54 minutes)

Ken Myers offers a detailed introduction to J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, a work composed to be sung on six occasions from Dec. 25th to Jan. 6th

Tova Leigh-Choate on the roots of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio

Ken Myers looks at the history of an Advent hymn written by St. Ambrose in the fourth century, adapted by Martin Luther in the sixteenth century, and transformed by J. S. Bach and many others in the years since. (21 minutes)

Calvin Stapert on the long history of recounting Christ’s sufferings musically

In this lecture, Paul Munson guides listeners into a deeper theological and musical appreciation of J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. (1 hour 48 minutes)

FROM VOL. 137 Musicologist Michael Marissen discusses the masterful way in which J. S. Bach uses musical idiom and quotation by way of theological counterpoint to the texts of his sacred vocal works. (13 minutes)

Music can be likened to a cathedral, says professional guitarist Gordon Kreplin, when it creates through silence and sound a meditative space into which one may enter and encounter God. (14 minutes)

FROM VOL. 67 David Bentley Hart describes how the Christian understanding of Creation as beauty and gift, as the outward expression of the delight the Trinity has in itself, reveals a vision of reality different from the pagan or fatalist vision of reality. (12 minutes)

For Good Friday, Ken Myers tells the history of the text and music behind the popular hymn, “O Sacred Head, now wounded.” (27 minutes)

In light of Passiontide and Holy Week, Ken Myers revisits three interviews — with Calvin Stapert, Robin Leaver, and Christoph Wolff — that provide an illustrative background for listeners to appreciate J. S. Bach’s theological attentiveness and scholarly genius. (36 minutes)

Calvin Stapert on the experience of joyous order in Bach’s music

David Bentley Hart on why Johann Sebastian Bach is the greatest of Christian theologians

Ken Myers encourages an understanding of the Church as a particular culture that should be nourished and sustained, and then describes the history of an Advent hymn written by St. Ambrose. (27 minutes)

In preparation for Holy Week, Ken Myers presents a whirlwind music history lesson with musical examples from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. (22 minutes)

Calvin Stapert on the evolution of an ancient musical-liturgical tradition

A conversation with Markus Rathey and Michael Marissen about Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion. (12 minutes)

Divine glory and human suffering

FEATURED GUESTS: Gilbert Meilaender, James L. Nolan, Joel Salatin, Michael Di Fuccia, Robin Leaver, and Michael Marissen

FEATURED GUESTS: Bob Cutillo, Hans Boersma, Dana Gioia, Matthew Levering, Bruce Gordon, and Markus Rathey