Meditation guide
Always was, is, and always shall be.
- Jun 22, 2020
- 6,089
I don't like classical music EXCEPT THIS OH MY GOD...
Pluto
Meowing to go out
- Dec 27, 2020
- 3,856
Thanks for sharing. A fine performance. I grew up around music like this.
Bach himself was very devout, according to many of the quotes attributed to him.
One of the other gifts of appreciating music of this (Baroque) period is the ability to taste the radically different society of our antecedents of a mere 300 years ago. Pipe organs were among the largest, most complex, most finely-crafted and sophisticated machines that humans had ever created. Baroque-era churches were among the grandest and most ornate buildings at least in European history. Such was the richness of society's piety.
There was no recording or broadcasting in those days, so the only music was that which was performed live. One can only marvel at what a sublime experience it must have been.
Yet for all the Christian devotion, it's interesting to note that there was some overlap between the lifetimes of Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and JS Bach (1685-1750). A very slow cultural transition away from a deeply religious historical period had commenced, in favour of rapid developments in scientific understanding and technological progress so familiar to us today.
In some ways, our modern world is enlightened by the absence of unquestioned superstition and the dominance of traditional social structures like monarchies and popes. Yet in another sense, contemporary society feels viscerally cheap, unsavory and disposable; one that has discarded divinity in favour of base human instincts decorated only by the superficial light of technology.
Are we better off? This is a very un-rhetorical question. But it is a reminder that the modern world is not the only way that humanity can operate, nor is it some final end-point of evolution, being just another step on a vast journey to nowhere in particular.
Anyway, back to Baroque. Here's another of Bach's finest works, Jesus, Bleibet Meine Freude performed by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir.
Bach himself was very devout, according to many of the quotes attributed to him.
One of the other gifts of appreciating music of this (Baroque) period is the ability to taste the radically different society of our antecedents of a mere 300 years ago. Pipe organs were among the largest, most complex, most finely-crafted and sophisticated machines that humans had ever created. Baroque-era churches were among the grandest and most ornate buildings at least in European history. Such was the richness of society's piety.
There was no recording or broadcasting in those days, so the only music was that which was performed live. One can only marvel at what a sublime experience it must have been.
Yet for all the Christian devotion, it's interesting to note that there was some overlap between the lifetimes of Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and JS Bach (1685-1750). A very slow cultural transition away from a deeply religious historical period had commenced, in favour of rapid developments in scientific understanding and technological progress so familiar to us today.
In some ways, our modern world is enlightened by the absence of unquestioned superstition and the dominance of traditional social structures like monarchies and popes. Yet in another sense, contemporary society feels viscerally cheap, unsavory and disposable; one that has discarded divinity in favour of base human instincts decorated only by the superficial light of technology.
Are we better off? This is a very un-rhetorical question. But it is a reminder that the modern world is not the only way that humanity can operate, nor is it some final end-point of evolution, being just another step on a vast journey to nowhere in particular.
Anyway, back to Baroque. Here's another of Bach's finest works, Jesus, Bleibet Meine Freude performed by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir.
