LDV302

Enveloped in their subtle ornamentation or finely wrought in inextricable polyphony, these tremendous chorales are not suspended in some inaccessible world which dooms them to admiration of a purely aesthetic kind. While the power of these works stems from Bach’s genius, their substratum evokes the religious assemblies for which they were intended and a desire to involve people collectively in the office, following Luther’s wishes; and the same substratum also reminds us of the ceremonial contingencies on which these works are dependent, independent of the remote artistic realm to which the concert now limits them. Thus immersed in this religious context which gave rise to music that affects us more today through its own genius, we begin to imagine (more surely than in prostrating ourselves before the indescribable beauty of the harmonies) the busy daily life of the organist and Cantor, going about his duties, at home and in church, at the table and in the organ loft, and delivering his masterpieces as an accomplished service. 28 BACH_TE DEUM / DE PROFUNDIS