A toast for Judith: J.S. Bach's Wedding Quodlibet, BWV 524

(Hebrew)

Authors

  • Ido Abravaya Author

Keywords:

Wedding Quodlibet (BWV 524), Hebrew text, Bach semi-improvised pieces, quodlibets

Abstract

 J. S. Bach's Wedding Quodlibet (BWV 524) occupies an enigmatic status in his oeuvre: The handwriting of the (torso) autograph is certainly Bach's. Much less certain is whether Bach was also its composer. 
There is hardly any musical trait which characterizes   Bach, who might have refrained from composing polyphonic or fugal writing during this time.  Instead, the piece features short, humorous allusions to various musical genres (recitative, chant, lamento, chaconne, fugue etc.), a veritable 'Musical Joke' in a Mozartian spirit. The nonsensical text makes clear the circumstances of its composition. It must have been made for a Wedding, or a family reunion of the Bach Family, where semi-improvised pieces, so-called 'quodlibets', were sung, as testified by Forkel, Bach's first biographer. As a present for Judith Cohen, I present here a Hebrew translation of this unusual text, probably created as a family co- production. 

Author Biography

  • Ido Abravaya

    Ido Abravaya, musicologist (Ph.D., Tel Aviv University, 2000), formerly member of the Music Department at the Open University of Israel (OUI), and Music Critic of Haaretz daily (Tel Aviv). Principal research interests include: the music of J. S. Bach and Baroque music. He is author of On Bach’s Rhythm and Tempo (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2006);  articles, numerous textbooks in music for the OUI, and hundreds of press articles (music criticism etc.). His doctoral dissertation Studies of Rhythm and Tempo in the Music of J. S. Bach was awarded the Landau Foundation Prize (2000).

     

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Published

2016-07-01

Issue

Vol. 13 (2016)

Section

Articles