111 Can Listening to Bach Really Cure Illness? Bach and His Reputation in Life and After Death
Bach is ever-new to those who listen often, yet the charm of his works remains undiminished. What was Bach's life like? Was he the benevolent old gentleman depicted in his portraits? Why did his employer consider him merely an average candidate, third in line for the job? Why did his fame remain long buried after his death? Can Bach's music really cure illness? And how did he embed his name into his works? In this episode, hosts Sha Qingqing, Zheng Shiliang, and Bo Qiao discuss various issues surrounding the musical figure of Bach. The Geyersbach mentioned in the episode, who, after Bach "challenged" him with a work, teamed up with others to ambush the latter's piece, is speculated by Christoph Wolff, former director of the Bach Archive and Professor Emeritus of Music History at Harvard University, to perhaps be BWV 15, Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen. However, Wolff emphasizes that this is merely his speculation. Based on this speculation, Geyersbach should have been responsible for the continuo part, and the corresponding movement might be: Auf, freue dich, Seele, du bist nun getröst'. We included this passage in the episode when discussing this work, but there is no conclusive evidence that it is indeed this piece.
Original Chinese title & description
111 听巴赫真的可以治病么？巴赫和他的生前身后名
巴赫，常听常新，但其作品迷人的程度却丝毫不减。巴赫的人生是怎样的？他是那个如画像般慈祥的爷叔么？为何他的雇主认为他不过是个求职第三顺位的平庸之辈？为何他的声名在其去世后长期埋没？巴赫的音乐真的能治病么？他又是如何把自己的名字嵌入到作品中的？本期节目，沙青青、郑诗亮、伯樵三位主播一起聊了聊围绕在巴赫这个音乐人物周边的种种议题。 节目中提及的盖耶斯巴赫（Geyersbach）因巴赫用作品“刁难”他而伙同他人伏击后者的作品，据巴赫档案馆前馆长、哈佛大学音乐史荣休教授克里斯托弗·沃尔夫（Christoph Wolff）的推测，此作品或许为BWV15, Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen，但沃尔夫强调这仅仅是他的推测。根据这一推测，盖耶斯巴赫应该负责的是通奏低音部分，对应的分曲也许是：Auf, freue dich, Seele, du bist nun getröst'。节目中我们在讨论到此作品时置入了这一段，但并无确凿证据表明就是这首作品。
Participation credit “本期参与者”：沙青青（微信公众号：13号埋立地、小红书：Sha-13号埋立地）。
Original episode page ↗