Discussing Bach

ISSN 2633-9951

Discussing Bach is a multimedia web-based publication that succeeds Bach Network’s peer-reviewed journal Understanding Bach (2006–2017). Featuring scholars engaged in groundbreaking research, each issue of Discussing Bach comprises an Editorial Introduction, a link to a live video discussion with optional subtitles, an Authorised Transcript of the live discussion for citations purposes, and a list of further reading and listening. Topic-specific articles may also be published.

The aim of Discussing Bach is to stimulate discussion of new research insights. Scholars are selected to contribute because of the impact of their latest research discoveries, as well as their peer-reviewed publications, whether already in press or under contract, and/or because they are sponsored by a competitive research programme.

Our latest issue: Discussing Bach 6 (December 2023)

Published on 5 December 2023

The Future of Bach Sources

Editors: Andrew FramptonRuth Tatlow

An edited live discussion, recorded on 14 June 2023, with Manuel Bärwald, Andrew Frampton,  Ruth Tatlow, and Bettina Varwig 

Video with optional subtitles (CCs)

Editorial Introduction (full text)

Authorised Transcript (full text)

Further reading

Ruth Tatlow, On Bach’s Church Cantatas (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

Bettina Varwig, ‘Embodied Invention: Bach at the Keyboard’, in Rethinking Bach, ed. Bettina Varwig (New York; Oxford University Press, 2021), 115–140

Bettina Varwig, Music in the Flesh: An Early Modern Musical Physiology (University of Chicago Press, 2023).

Bettina Varwig, ‘Bach’s Hands’, Bach: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (forthcoming).

Janice B. Stockigt, Andrew Frampton, and Frederic Kiernan, ‘Zelenka, Jan (Lukáš Ignatius) Dismas’, Grove Music Online (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018).

Selected performances of works referred to in the discussion

Cantata (BWV) 29, ‘Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken’. Netherlands Bach Society, dir. Jos van Veldhoven, 2014, https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-29

Cantata (BWV) 51, ‘Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen’. Chorus and Orchestra of the J. S. Bach-Stiftung, dir. Rudolf Lutz, https://www.bachipedia.org/werke/bwv-51-jauchzet-gott-in-allen-landen/

Cantata (BWV) 82, ‘Ich habe genung’. Chorus and Orchestra of the J. S. Bach-Stiftung, dir. Rudolf Lutz, https://www.bachipedia.org/werke/bwv-82-ich-habe-genung/

Cantata (BWV) 196, ‘Der Herr denket an uns’. Netherlands Bach Society, dir. Jos van Veldhoven, 2019, https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-196

Mass in B minor, BWV 232, Netherlands Bach Society, dir. Jos van Veldhoven, 2017, https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-232

Jan Dismas Zelenka, ‘Laudate pueri’, ZWV 81, in Zelenka, Psalmi Varii Separatim Scripti, Ensemble Inégal & Prague Baroque Soloists, dir. Adam Viktora, Nibiru Records, 01652235/DNI165, 2018.

N.B. Updates on the topic in the form of new publications by the four contributors will be posted here.