Word: bache
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...remarkable demonstration of "living in uncertainties", the Boston Cecilia performed Bach's St. John Passion with grace and skill, singing with feeling without appearing tactless. Brave enough not to gloss over the anti-Semitism of the piece with a simple program note or disclaimer, The Boston Cecilia and All Saints Parish presented the panel discussion, "Art and Anti-Semitism: Perceptions of Anti-Semitism in the St. John Passion...
Manned by James Carroll, Boston Globe columnist and former Catholic Priest; Rabbi Sanford Seltzer of Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline; Christoph Wolff, celebrated Bach scholar and Dean of Harvard's Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; and Stephan Jay Gould, a self-proclaimed "agnostic Jew" and Harvard professor of paleontology, the panel neither skirted nor mistreated the issue...
Wolff directed the discussion away from Bach himself, claiming that Bach added little or nothing to the anti-Semitism of the text of the book of John. In fact, the arias that Bach added are far more devotional than accusatory, whereas the gospel texts repeatedly blame "die Juden" for the crucifixion. John depicts the Jews as a vengeful, cowardly mass that appeals to Pilate and Caesar's law to do their dirty work for them...
...which the St. John Passion is performed around Easter time. Stephan Jay Gould, whose participation was more appropriate than one would think (he actually sang in the chorus for each performance), eagerly responded that despite the discomfort that both Christians and Jews feel in performing parts of the piece, Bach's St. John Passion deserved to be performed on its artistic merit...
...simplicity of this argument did not satisfy some audience members, but Gould maintained that Bach's St. John Passion was not a gratuitous choice: it is one of only two Passions by Bach, both universally recognized masterpieces. Himself a member of The Boston Cecilia Board of Directors, Gould's argument seemed analogous to the Cecilia's decision to both perform the Passion and to hold the anti-Semitism discussion: Great art should be performed, and when it is controversial, that controversy must be faced. But this seems to be a stop-gap argument. Was The Boston Cecilia primarily motivated...