Many scholars and music lovers hold that J.S. Bach is a modern figure, as his music seems to speak directly to the aesthetic, spiritual, or emotional concerns of today's listeners. But, by eighteenth-century standards, Bach and his music in fact reflected and forcefully promoted a premodern world and life view. In Bach against Modernity, author Michael Marissen offers a new look at Bach that considers problems of inattentiveness to historical considerations in academic and popular writing about Bach's relation to the present. He also puts forward interpretive reassessments of key individual works by Bach and examines problems in modern comprehension of the partly archaic German texts that Bach set to music. Lastly, he explores Bach's music in relation to premodern versus enlightened attitudes toward Jews and Judaism and enquires into the theological character of Bach's secular instrumental music. Throughout, the book provides overlooked or misunderstood evidence of Bach's private engagement with religious and social issues that he also addressed in his public vocal compositions. Marissen ultimately argues that, while we are free to make use of Bach and his music in whatever ways we find fitting, we ought also to guard against miscasting Bach in our own ideological image and proclaiming the authenticity of that image, and hence its prestige value, in support of our own agendas.

About the Author
Michael Marissen is Daniel Underhill Professor Emeritus of Music at Swarthmore College, where he taught from 1989 to 2014. He has also been a visiting professor on the graduate faculties at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania. His publications include The Social and Religious Designs of J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos; Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach's St. John Passion; An Introduction to Bach Studies (co-author Daniel R. Melamed); Tainted Glory in Handel's Messiah; Bach & God; and essays in The Huffington Post and The New York Times.

Reviews
There is a widespread feeling among music lovers today that 'Bach is a good friend of mine,' and that if he were alive in this era, he would surely be an 'ultra-modern' person who was good at Facebook and Twitter-after all, his music appeals so much to us! I find Michael Marissen's new book discussing Bach, rather, in opposition to modernity to be a wonderful model of historically-informed analytic criticism, not only against 'modernism,' but also against the current easy-going commercialism and triumphalistic secularism that prevent us from truly deepening our understanding and enjoyment of Bach. Wholeheartedly welcome! * Masaaki Suzuki, music director of Bach Collegium Japan *
This is a thought-provoking, incisive, and hugely enlightening collection of essays from one of the most respected and original thinkers in Bach studies today. Marissen's razor-sharp wit and crystal-clear prose cut through some of the enduring myths of modern Bach reception to reveal different, unexpected, and sometimes uncomfortable facets of the man and his music. * Bettina Varwig, University of Cambridge *
Marissen,... provide us with an excellent demonstration of the variety of issues with which we must contend and exemplary models of how to negotiate the challenges that we encounter. * Daniel F. Boomhower, Notes: the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association vol. 80 *



Book Information
ISBN 9780197669495
Author Michael Marissen
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 336g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 145mm * 18mm