Religious Struggle in the Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach

“Leave me, o scornful world, in troubled loneliness!”

Miranda Wilson
Lionel Hampton School of Music

Presented with support of the Provost’s Office and University Honors Program

Abstract

The music of J. S. Bach has such universal appeal because it speaks to universal human experience. Suffering, alienation, death, yearning, redemption: these are the big questions Bach addresses in his sacred vocal music. This year’s Idaho Bach Festival (October 15-17) features some of Bach’s most heart-rending settings of religious texts: “Lass, o Welt, mich aus Verachtung in betrübter Einsamkeit” (“Leave me, o scornful world, in troubled loneliness”) and “Ich habe genug” (“I have enough”). This presentation will explore Bach’s musical treatment of serious religious subject matter in these compositions and will include a performance of movements from his Six Suites for Solo Cello.

Biography

Miranda Wilson is assistant professor of cello and double bass at the Lionel Hampton School of Music, University of Idaho. She is co-artistic director of the Idaho Bach Festival.