Bach Cantatas
I've been toying with the idea of producing a new translation of the texts to all of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas for over 10 years now. Their poetry is neither particularly lovely nor, to modern ears, inspiring -but I think having an understanding of what texts Bach used as the foundations to his glorious music is nevertheless important. From them, you get a profound sense of how the Lutheran theology of the day (and no doubt the rotten state of 18th Century medicine and social provision) set a cast upon Bach's mind, and the minds of his contemporaries: a peculiar-to-us longing for death, a trusting relationship in a God who might chastise but would not be cruel and so on. Above all, I think, a quite fatalistic outlook on life: it's beyond our control, what will be will be, it's all for the best and God's ordaining it behind the scenes anyway.
Just as an appreciation of Dickens' literature is enhanced in not-particularly concrete ways by having a broad understanding of the social context of his times in mid-nineteenth century England, so I believe one's appreciation of the music of Bach's cantatas can be enhanced by an understanding of the words he was setting. [...]