Exploring Death and Spirituality in Bach's Actus Tragicus

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Johann Sebastian Bach’s Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (Actus Tragicus), BMV 106 focuses heavily on the concept of death, considering it is a funeral cantata. The various movements of the cantata demonstrate the overall theme of death: God’s will being the right time, the inevitability of death, and the long-awaited meeting with Jesus after death. These different aspects of the concept of death are either representing death under the Law (the Old Testament) or under the Gospel (the New Testament). The ‘Sonatina’ that begins the piece displays the overall concept of death, while the second movement focuses on the concept of death under the Law. The work begins with a ‘Sonatina’ in a major key, EbM. Initially, this seems counterintuitive, …show more content…

These sections can be divided into even smaller sections, with section a having three subsections. All of section a is based on Acts 17:28 from the Bible, which reads “For in Him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, we are His offspring.” This is from the Old Testament of the Bible, otherwise known as the Law before Christ. This theme is extremely important to this work; so significant, in fact, that this work’s alternate title, Actus Tragicus, suggests the concept of God’s will. Actus Tragicus is translated from the German Trauerspiel, which is a tragedy play that focused on bereavement over the human condition. From a Lutheran standpoint, humans cannot overcome their own selves, and they must trust in God and His plan. (232 online) According to Acts 17:28, humans are unsustainable without God, so they live for and through him. They must trust that God is ever-knowing and to believe in His will. Using the word “offspring” also proposes that humans must have respect for him, considering the fifth of the Ten Commandments: Honor your father and your mother. Calling people the offspring of God implicates that He is the almighty father, meaning people must honor Him. This, in turn, calls on humans to have trust and respect in His will, and to believe that they will meet Him someday. Acts 17:28 also states that we “move” and “live” through God. While this obviously means that people live not for themselves, but for God, it also suggests that life is dynamic, whether it be through events that occur or the fluctuating emotions people feel throughout their time living for God. Even in just this one section of the second movement, Bach displays various styles from subsection to subsection, suggesting that the emotions surrounding death can be different and ever-changing. (230

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