• Boulder Bach Festival Website
  • Join Us on Facebook
  • ColoradoGives.org Profile
  • Boulder Bach Newsletter

Boulder Bach Beat

~ Boulder Bach Beat hopes to stimulate conversations about the ways Bach’s music succeeds in building bridges between populations separated by language, culture, geography and time.

Boulder Bach Beat

Tag Archives: Vergnügte Ruh’ beliebte Seelenlust

A Bach Cantatas App

19 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by Edward McCue in Audio Recordings, Bach's Works, Other Artists, World View

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alco Bloom, Alfred Deller, Amazon, Andreas Scholl, antique store, application, cantata, Gary Parker Chapin, God and the Machine, iPad, iTunes, Philippe Herreweghe, Vergnügte Ruh' beliebte Seelenlust, Wikipedia

Bach Cantatas for the iPad

Bach Cantatas for the iPad

Over the past ten years I’ve developed a firm love of Bach’s sacred cantatas, choral works that come as close to prayer for me as I can imagine. I bought Bach cantatas. I listened. I researched. I learned. I alienated family and coworkers.

At one point, looking over my shelves, I realized that I was . . . collecting. Then I reached another point.

So, I’m there in the store looking at a CD of Bach’s Cantatas for Alto conducted by Herreweghe, with counter-tenor Andreas Scholl. This features the cantata Vergnügte Ruh’, beliebte Seelenlust (BWV 170) – one of my absolute favorites. I’ve got at least three versions of it – Alfred Deller’s is my favorite – but there I stood in the store wondering, “Do I own this?”

At one point, I had a 3×5 card with cantata numbers written in very small pencil – that disappeared when I replaced the wallet. So many cantatas! So little memory! Surely there must be an app to help with this!

Created by Alco Bloom, the Bach Cantatas app “is a handy database of Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas and the many versions of them which have been recorded.” The app lists every Bach cantata known (BWV 1 to BWV 215) and every conductor who has recorded said cantatas. The app links to the Wikipedia entry about the cantata (yes, there is a Wikipedia entry for each cantata), so that you can read about the cantatas you own. The app also links to iTunes, so you can buy the cantatas you don’t own.

How to describe the joy this brings me? I understand that, basically, this is an app that helps me keep track of stuff, and helps me buy more stuff. But . . . if you’ve ever spent a happy Saturday reorganizing book shelves; or been thrilled to order an obscure, university press discography from Amazon; or stood in an antique store wondering if the thing you see before you could possibly be that thing . . .

Also, hey, those Bach cantatas. They’re worth a listen. They just might hold up.

Gary Parker Chapin – God and the Machine

Archives

  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011

Categories

  • Audio Recordings
  • Bach Excursions
  • Bach's Life
  • Bach's Predecessors
  • Bach's Successors
  • Bach's Works
  • Books
  • Festival Events
  • Films
  • Interviews
  • Memorials
  • Music Education
  • Organology
  • Other Artists
  • Uncategorized
  • Video Recordings
  • World View

Bach Resources

  • A Bach Chronology
  • About Boulder Bach Beat
  • BWV Catalogue
  • The Liturgical Calendar at Leipzig

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy