{"id":133,"date":"2025-06-09T07:20:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T11:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/?p=133"},"modified":"2025-06-09T07:20:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T11:20:15","slug":"the-cantatas-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/2025\/06\/09\/the-cantatas-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cantatas [Part 1]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-143\" src=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_150445-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_150445-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_150445.jpg 398w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\nI\u2019ve been reflecting a bit on the impact of endowments and how they allowed for two performances every [interval] from 1753 to 1928, only interrupted by hyperinflation. The influence of that endowment on music over the years is truly staggering; it transformed so much and left a lasting legacy that astounded me.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-139\" src=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-169x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"169\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-864x1536.jpg 864w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-676x1202.jpg 676w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552.jpg 926w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On a related note, when I consider the financial aspects, I can\u2019t help but think about the social mobility it provided to some of the boys in the choir. It opened up opportunities for them in significant ways.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-141\" src=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_143130-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_143130-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_143130-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_143130-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_143130-1536x865.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_143130-2048x1153.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_143130-676x381.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In his cantata BWV12, I found it fascinating to observe where he made edits. He composed without a pencil, so it\u2019s interesting to notice where he had ideas written down before setting them to music.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-142\" src=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-1-169x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"169\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-1-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-1-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-1-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-1-864x1536.jpg 864w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-1-676x1202.jpg 676w, https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/458\/2025\/06\/20250605_145552-1.jpg 926w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It was intriguing to see that Bach didn\u2019t issue strict dictates; instead, he offered directives to the university students in his inner circle who were involved in poetry. He would ask them to take one specific Lutheran hymn with eight stanzas and rearrange it. They were to keep the first and last stanzas intact while reworking the others into four or five movements. I find this collaborative approach quite intriguing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been reflecting a bit on the impact of endowments and how they allowed for two performances every [interval] from 1753 to 1928, only interrupted by hyperinflation. The influence of that endowment on music over the years is truly staggering; it transformed so much and left a lasting legacy that astounded me. On a related<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/2025\/06\/09\/the-cantatas-part-1\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6747,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6747"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions\/146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/bach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}