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Present for the New Year - A New Archive Site
(December 30, 2000)
I have a special present for the New Year for you, in the form of a new Site for 'Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive'.
The address is simple: http://www.bach-cantatas.com
The new Archive Site has better look & feel and its content has been largely expanded. The list of the Site's main pages will give you some idea about its content:
Introduction
Index to Cantatas Discussions by BWV number
Index to General Topics about the Cantatas
Index to Discussions about Performers of the Cantatas
Index to Discussions about Bach's Great Vocal Works
The Lutheran Church Year
Order of Discussion in the Bach Cantatas Mailing List
Technical & Musical Terms & Abbreviations
Links to other Sites about Bach Cantatas
Links to other Sites with Reviews of Cantatas Recordings
Links to Sites of Performers of the Cantatas
The new Archive Site is not yet complete and I still have a lot of work ahead of me. But all the discussions about the Cantatas (up to last week Cantata) and the General Topics are already in the Site. Reading the Introduction page and looking at the content of the other Index Pages, you will know what to look forward to. I am managing the new site all by myself. Therefore, I shall be able to update it more often than it used to be.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon Crouch (of our group) for his cooperation, patience, generousity and unstinting help with hosting the Archive in his site in its previous stage.
I look forward to receiving your comments (corrections, suggestions, improvements, etc.) about the new Site.
Enjoy and Happy New Year,
Bach’s Great Vocal Works – on the New Archive Site
(January 15, 2001)
When I launched the New Archive Site, at the end of Year 2000, I wrote in the Introduction page as follows:
"The cantatas are strongly connected to the other Bach's great vocal works (Passions, Masses, Oratorios, Magnificat, etc.). Some of those works, such as Christmas Oratorio or the Lutheran Masses are based on musical material originally composed for the sacred or secular cantatas. Therefore, I thought that it would be appropriate to collect all the discussions about Bach's Great Vocal Works and to edit and arrange them in the same method I used for the discussions about the cantatas. Most of the discussions about the Bach's Great Vocal Works appeared originally in the Bach Recordings Mailing List, but some of them were collected from similar Bach related mailing lists, in order to give fuller picture to the potential reader. The pages dedicated to Bach's Great Vocal Works include also all the known recordings of each work."
I am glad to inform all of you now that the Discussions and Lists of Recordings of Bach's Great Vocal Works are now available for you in the New Archive Site - to look, read, investigate, explore, and enjoy.
The relevant addresses
Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive: http://www.bach-cantatas.com
Index to Discussions about Bach's Great Vocal Works: http://www.bach-cantatas/IndexVocal.htm
Some Remarks
I compiled the lists of complete recordings of Bach's Great Vocal Works and recordings of individual movements from them from every possible source I could find. Nevertheless, I am quite sure that I have missed many.
If you have any additions and/or corrections, please send the information to the Bach Recordings Mailing List and I shall it to the relevant page. . If you want to discuss any of the Vocal Works of J.S. Bach (except the Cantatas), please send a message to Bach Recordings Mailing List. If you want to discuss a Bach Cantata, please send a message to Bach Cantatas Mailing List. The subject line should start with BWV NNN (where NNN is the BWV Number of the Work).
If you are not yet a member of either of those Bach Mailing Lists, you are invited to join. Please enter the following address and follow the instructions, which are very simple. http://www.mcelhearn.com/bach.html If you have any suggestions for improvements, please send me a message.
Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive - Search Facility
(January 22, 2001)
For your convenience I have added search facilty to the new site of Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive.
You can find this new option on the left side of the Home Page (under the link to Terms & Abbreviations) in the following address: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/
You can now easily search the site for a certain Work, a certain Performer, discussions in which you particpiated, etc.
Performers of Bach Cantatas - on the New Archive Site
(January 29, 2001)
When I launched the New Archive Site, at the end of Year 2000, I wrote in the Introduction page as follows:
"Some discussion are dedicated to a certain performer of the cantatas (mostly conductors or singers). All those discussions are collected in special pages. Those pages include also all the known recordings of Bach Cantatas by the relevant performer." To have a more complete picture, I decided to add also a list of the recordings of Bach's Other Vocal Works by the same Performer.
I am glad to inform all of you now that the Discussions and Lists of Recordings of Performers of Bach Cantatas (and Bach's Other Vocal Works) are now available for you in the New Archive Site - to look, read, investigate, explore, and enjoy.
The relevant addresses
Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive: http://www.bach-cantatas.com
Index to Discussions about the Performers of Bach Cantatas:: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/index.htm
Some statistics
a. The most discussed performer is the conductor John Eliot Gardiner.
b. The most prolific performer is the conductor Helnuth Rilling, who has recorded all the Bach Cantatas (both Sacred and Secular) and all of Bach's Other Vocal Works, many of them more than once.
Some Remarks
a. I compiled the lists of recordings of each performer of the Bach Cantatas from every possible source I could find. Nevertheless, I am quite sure that I have missed many. If you have any additions and/or corrections, please send the information to the Bach Cantatas Mailing List and I shall add it to the relevant page.
b. If you want to discuss a certain parformer of the Bach Cantatas, please send a message to the Bach Cantatas Mailing List. The subject line should mention the name of the performer.
c. If you want to discuss any of the Bach Cantatas, please send a message to Bach Cantatas Mailing List. The subject line should start with BWV NNN (where NNN is the BWV Number of the Work).
d. If you are not yet a member of either of the Bach Cantatas Mailing List, you are invited to join. Please enter the following address and follow the instructions, which are very simple: http://www.mcelhearn.com/bach.html
If you have any suggestions for improvements, please send me a message.
Table of Cantata Recording by Major Conductors according to BWV Number - on the New Archive Site
(February 10, 2001)
Following some requests from members of both Bach Recordings Mailing List and Bach Cantatas Mailing List, I compiled a Table of Cantata Recordings by Major Conductors according to BWV Number. The Labels / Conductors in the Table are:
Hänssler / Helmuth Rilling
Archiv / Karl Richter
Teldec / Nikolaus Harnoncourt & Gustav Leonhardt (and a few more)
Erato / Ton Koopman
BIS / Masaaki Suzuki
Brilliant Classics / Pieter Jan Leusink (and Peter Schreier)
Berlin (Leipzig/Dresden) Classics - Günther Ramin, Kurt Thomas, Erhard Mauersberger, Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, Ludwig Güttler, Peter Schreier
The Table will assist you to find easily a certain cantata you are looking for in your library, either as a preparation tothe weekly cantata discussions, or for listening pleasure. You will be able to use it also for the purpose of expanding your collection with missing cantatas or with certain recordings.
The address of the Table is: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Recordings-Table.htm
Please notice, THE TABLE IS VERY BIG AND WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO LOAD!
You can get to this Table also through the Index to Discussions about Performers and their Recordings at the following address: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/index.htm
There is also a link at the bottom of the page of the cantata recordings of each relevant conductor.
Some remarks
a. If you want to discuss a certain performer of the Bach Cantatas, please send a message to the Bach Cantatas Mailing List. The subject line should mention the name of the performer.
b. If you want to discuss any of the Bach Cantatas, please send a message to Bach Cantatas Mailing List. The subject line should start with BWV NNN (where NNN is the BWV Number of the Work).
c. If you are not yet a member of either of the Bach Cantatas Mailing List, you are invited to join. Please enter the following address and follow the instructions, which are very simple: http://www.mcelhearn.com/bach.html
If you have any suggestions for improvements, please send me a message.
Short Biographies of performers of Bach Cantatas – Invitation to contribute
(February 19, 2001)
Since I launched the New Archive Site, at the end of Year 2000, I have constantly thought how this site could have been improved and what is missing to give a fuller picture of the world of recorded Bach Cantatas. Then I realized that actually most of the Bach Cantatas performers are almost unknown. I was looking all over the web and found out that only very few of the performers have a web site or something like a biography available on the web. I have even tried the New Edition of the Grove, and found out that many of those figures do not even have an entry in this respected encyclopaedia.
Then I thought that the best idea would be building a repository of short biographies of all the important (and less important) performers (mainly Conductors and Singers) of the Bach Cantatas (and Bach's Other Vocal Works) in the New Archive Site. I have already started to build this section of the Site by myself. I wrote to the record companies, but most of them were very slow to respond. Only BIS sent me some biographies. Stephanie Triska (of our group) in her kindness contributed a short biography of Andreas Scholl. I collected most of the information about some other artists from linear notes in the booklets attached to the CD's. You can see the already available biographies in the relevant section of the Site (see address below).
Since the Site and its contents are international project, I thought that would be only fair to give everyone of you the opportunity to contribute to this section of the Site. I have a three-step plan and I hope that most, if not all, of you will participate.
Step 1 - Everyone who is willing to participate will send a list of the artists about whom he would like to send a short biography. In that way we shall avoid duplication of contributors about the same artists. Of course, you are limited to the number of biographies, since I assume that there are some hundreds of them (at least).
Step 2 - Each contributor will send the biographies, either to the Bach Cantatas Mailing List (preferred) or to my e-mail address (please send it as plain text in the body of the message and not as an attachment!).
Step 3 - I shall do the editing (if necessary), converting to HTML and adding the relevant links. After that I shall put the biography in the New Archive Site.
The best sources of information for the short biographies are linear notes and concert programmes. When you send a short biography of a Performer of the Bach Cantatas to the Bach Cantatas Mailing List, the subject line should start with the name of the Performer. You can also quote a reliable source. It that case, please mention the name of the Author and the exact source (and date, if available). Please, keep the biography concise (up to 200 words) and check the accuracy of the details. If you have any corrections and/or additions to the details of the biographies in this section of the Archive, or suggestions for improvements, please send me a message.
The relevant addresses
Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive: http://www.bach-cantatas.com
Index to Short Biographies of Performers of the Bach Cantatas: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/index.htm
I am looking forward for your active participation in creating this part of the Site.
Translations of Bach Cantatas texts - Invitation to contribute
(March 3, 2001)
I believe that by now, most of the members of BCML acknowledge the strong connection between music and text in Bach Cantatas and how important it is to understand the textual content of the cantatas in order to expand our enjoyment from Bach's creation.
In order to understand the musical context of the cantata under discussion I usually read its German text using German-Hebrew dictionary. I am also helped by many of the English translations of the German text I can find. Many times I do translations into Hebrew for myself. Until lately I could not find a way to put them on the Website, because it meant that in order to read them, one must have a Browser that supports Hebrew (Character Set and Right to Left). Otherwise, it makes the Hebrew text unreadable Internationally. I have now found the way to do it, by transforming the Hebrew text into picture. I have already put the translation of next week Cantata - BWV 120 (and two others) in the New Archive Site in a special new section, which will be dedicated to the texts of the Bach cantatas and to their translations into various languages.
he original German texts are already available in the Website of Walter F. Bischof in the following address: http://uofapsy.psych.ualberta.ca/bach.html. Each cantata has a separate page, and I could make a direct link to it.
Translations into English by Z. Philip Ambrose are available in his Website in the following address: http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/. Unfortunately, he is using frames and therefore I could not make a link to the translations of each cantata.
I could not find on the Web translations into other languages, such as, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Danish, Portuguese and others.
I can do the translations into Hebrew by myself. I shall be glad to enjoy the contribution of other Israeli members of our group (Ehud, are you there?).
Peter Bloemendaal informed us last month that he is working on his little cantata project, translating Bach's church cantatas from German into Dutch. I suggested hosting these translations in the New Archive Site.
Members from other countries are encouraged to make translations of the Bach Cantatas texts into their languages. If you decide to do so, please send your translation as a plain text in the body of the message and not as an attachment. Send the message to the BCML or directly to me, and I shall convert it into HTML and put it in the New Archive Site.
The relevant addresses
Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive: http://www.bach-cantatas.com
Index to Texts & Translations of Bach Cantatas: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/IndexTexts.htm
I am looking forward for your active participation in creating this section of the Site.
Bach Cantatas Website – Terms & Abbreviations
(April 3, 2001)
Since I launched the Bach Cantatas Website (Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and MList Archive), at the end of Year 2000, I have constantly thought how this site could have been improved and what is missing to give a fuller picture of the world of recorded Bach Cantatas. Then I realized that many terms and abbreviations used in the discussions about Bach Cantatas (and Bach’s other vocal works) are not known to everybody in the group, especially to those who are doing their first steps in this hugely rich world. For those I decided to dedicate a special section in the Bach Cantatas Website, which will include Terms & Abbreviation, both Musical & Technical, that are commonly used in the discussions.
The purpose of this section of the Bach Cantatas Website is to build a vocabulary of Technical & Musical Terms & Abbreviations, used by various contributors in the texts of this Website. I hope it will make for better understanding, easier reading, and more enjoyable listening. Like other sections in the Bach Cantatas Website, this one is also a work in progress.
Since the Bach Cantatas Website and its contents are collective international project, I thought that would be only fair to give everyone of you the opportunity to contribute to this section of the Website.
If there is any Term or Abbreviation regarding the Bach Cantatas, which you do not understand and you want it to be explained, please send a message to Bach Cantatas Mailing List. The subject line should include, of course, the relevant Term or Abbreviation. I hope that one of the knowledgeable members in the BCML (Bach Cantatas Mailing List) will be able to assist you.
If you are a member in the BCML, and you want to contribute an explanation to a Term or Abbreviation regarding the Bach Cantatas, please send a message to Bach Cantatas Mailing List. Please, keep the explanation clear and concise as possible (up to about 100 words). If your explanation will be added to this section, you will be credited by mentioning your name in this section.
If you have any corrections and/or additions to the Terms & Abbreviations in this section of the Bach Cantatas Website, or suggestions for improvements, please send me a message.
The relevant addresses
Bach Cantatas Website (Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List
Archive): http://www.bach-cantatas.com
Terms & Abbreviations Section: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Term/index.htm
I am looking forward for your active participation in creating this part of the Website. Some of the famous abbreviations, like HIP or OVPP, call for explanation…
Bach Cantatas Website - Links Section
(April 9, 2001)
Since I launched the Bach Cantatas Website (a new and shorter name for the previous ‘Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive’), at the end of Year 2000, I have constantly thought how this Site could have been improved and what is missing to give a fuller picture of the world of recorded Bach Cantatas. I have expanded the section of ‘Links to other Sites about Bach Cantatas’ to include (almost) every other Site connected in some way to the Bach Cantatas. Because the number of links is so big, I divided the Links Section into the following pages:
Links to Other Sites
Links to other Sites about Bach Cantatas
- Sites about Bach Cantatas
- Sites about Bach's Other Vocal Works
- General Sites about J.S. Bach & his Music
- J.S. Bach & Bach-related Mailing Lists
Links to Sites with Reviews of Cantata Recordings
- Individual Recordings of Bach Cantatas
- Individual Recordings of Bach's Other Vocal Works
- Collections of Recordings Reviews
Links to Sites of Performers of Bach Cantatas
- Conductors
– Singers
- Choral Groups
- Bach Festivals & Organizations
Links to Sites of Record Labels of Bach Cantatas
- Record Labels of Bach Cantatas
If you have any corrections and/or additions to the Links in this section, please send a message to the Bach Cantatas Mailing List or directly to me.
Furthermore, if you know about a relevant Site, which should (in your opinion) include a link to the Bach Cantatas Website, please inform that Site and /or me.
The relevant addresses
Bach Cantatas Website: http://www.bach-cantatas.com
Links Section: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Links/index.htm
Bach Cantatas Website – Major Update - Performers’ Bios & Links
(July 2, 2001)
In the last couple of months I have been busy with expanding the Short Biographies Section of the Bach Cantatas Website. The bios include mainly singers, conductors, chorus masters, choral and instrumental groups. I have used (almost) every possible source for collecting short bios of performers of Bach Cantatas and Bach’s other vocal works – websites, linear notes, programme notes, record companies, books, etc. Some of the members of the BCML were very helpful in collecting some bios and sending updates and corrections. Some of the performers, or their relatives, or their fans were also very kind to send me material. I am very grateful for everyone who was willing to help. The fruits of this enterprise can be now found in the Bach Cantatas Website. At the moment there are already entries for more than 600 bios in the Website. The Index of which can be found in the following address: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/index.htm
There are also links to the index pages in the Home Page of Bach Cantatas Website: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/
The info for each bio is arranges as follows:
Birth - Date and Place
Death - Date and Place (if applicable)
The body of the bio, including studies, prizes, main steps of the career, repertoire, important recordings, etc.
Source of information for the bio
Name of the contributor
List of the performer’s recordings of Bach cantatas and other vocal works, arranged according to the conductor, and BWV number. The BWV number of each listed cantata is linked to the relevant discussion, if this cantata has already been discussed in the BCML.
Links to other Sites in which there is important information about the performer
All the pages of discussions about the cantatas have also been updated to include links to the performers’ bios. You can now browse easily between the pages. When you see in a discussion about a cantata a performer whom you like and you are interested to know more about him (or her) and which other Bach’s vocal works he (or she) has recorded, all you have to do is pressing the link and you get immediately to the performer’s bio. The relevant links in the Performers Section and the Bach’s Other Vocal Section will follow.
Some bios are still missing, especially of singers from previous generations. Also, I am not immune from doing mistakes, and you might find broken or missing link, wrong or insufficient information, etc. If you want to contribute a short biography of a Performer of the Bach Cantatas, please send a message to me or to Bach Cantatas Mailing List. The subject line should start with the name of the Performer. You can also quote a reliable source. It that case, please mention the name of the Author and the exact source. Please, keep the biography concise (up to 500 words) and check the accuracy of the details. If you have any corrections and/or additions to the details of the biographies in this Section of the Bach Cantatas Website, or suggestions for improvements, plesend me a message.
Bach Cantatas Website hosting Donald Satz’ Reviews of Bach’s Non-Vocal Works
(July 4, 2001)
Donald Satz’ erudite and enlightening reviews of various recordings of Bach non-vocal works are very well appreciated by members of the mailing list groups to which they are sent. The problem is that after they are sent they are no longer available for future readers, unless they are members of those lists and have access to their archives.
I think that it is a shame that these reviews have not had a home until now in a form of a Website. Therefore, I suggested to Don to host them in the Bach Cantatas Website. Gladly he agreed. I see myself honoured, privileged, and proud that he allowed me hosting them and presenting them to the wide public.
I allocated a special section in the Bach Cantatas Website, which is dedicated to his reviews and which also includes some of the feedback to them. They are edited according to the same guidelines I am using to edit the messages included in the Bach Cantatas Website. There is, of course, general index to the reviews, according to BWV number and performers. The internal search engine of the Website covers also the pages of these reviews. The Bach Cantatas Website is non-commercial and it does not include advertisement. I see it as a service to the wide public, especially the Bach lovers’ community.
The index page to the reviews of Bach’s non-vocal works is located in the following address: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NonVocal/index.htm
There is also a link to this index page in the Bach Cantatas Website Home Page: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/ (on the left side).
Enjoy this wonderful collection of reviews
Bach Cantatas Website Newsletter – October 2001
(October 2, 2001)
Home Page – http://www.bach-cantatas.com/
a. The page was minimized, so that the loading time is much shorter.
b. The Introduction part was moved to a separate page http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Intro.htm (there is a link to it in the upper left corner).
c. An option to navigate the site with left menu was added. To use it you have to press the link under the header ‘Navigating Option’in the lower left side, and a Left Menu will be opened. This option uses frames. If you do not like frames, you can always navigate the site with no frames starting from the Home Page. If you want to return to the No Frame option, simply press the link ‘Home Page’ in the upper left side of the Left Menu.
d. Under the header ‘Bach Cantatas Mailing List’ in the upper right corner, you can see now the cantatas under discussion of last week, current week and next week.
How to contribute Page - http://www.bach-cantatas.com/How.htm
This page gives you the guidelines how to contribute to the Bach Cantatas Website and to the Bach Cantatas Mailing List. A link to this page appears in the Home Page under the header ‘Bach Cantatas Mailing List’. Further links to this page will be added at the bottom of each page in the Bach Cantatas Website.
I hope to see many of you participating in the Weekly Cantata Discussions.
New & Upcoming Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Bach's Other Vocal Works
(October 4, 2001)
For your convenience I added a new section to the Bach Cantatas Website. It is called: 'New & Upcoming Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Bach's Other Vocal Works'.
The address is: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Rec/index.htm. There is also a link to this section in the Home Page of the Bach Cantatas Website: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/, under the header 'Additional Information'.
If you know of any New & Upcoming Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Bach's Other Vocal Works (or important re-issues), which do not appear in this section, please send the relevant details in a message to either the BCML or the BRML and I shall add them.
Translation of Cantata Text into Dutch
(October 30, 2001)
Dick Wursten, protestant minister in Antwerp and Bach-lover, has the privilege to organize Bach-cantate concerts in Flanders with the Antwerp College of Music (professional Bach-amateurs). Last weekend they had a concert with introduction and meditation around two of the most famous cantates: the Kreuzstab en the Dialogus BWV 56 & BWV 57. Dick studied a lot on them and made a translation of the texts in DUTCH (or Flemish, which is almost the same) for the booklet.
Dick was very kind to contribute his translations for publication in the Bach Cantatas Website.
He also wrote as follows:
"Just a few words: My translations are based on two widely accepted principia in translating: faithful to the original text AND at the same time oriented towards the language in which you translate. So I tried to stay as close as possible to the original, but it is not a word-by-word litteral translation. When in doubt, I consulted some of my german colleagues... for instance: BWV 57 'als wie ein Wurm in seinem Blute windet'. The only time I gave a paraphrase: is the last line of BWV 56, because a litteral translation of 'zu dem schönsten Jesulein' sounded too stupid... My translation tries to preserve the mystical love that lies behind such formulations. The Dutch word 'minne' is the old term normally used only for the mystical love."
Links to to the original German texts (of the cantatas which have already been discussed in the Bach Cantatas Mailing List) as well as all the available translations of the texts into other languages, being hosted in either the Bach Cantatas Website or in other sites, can be found in the following page: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/IndexTexts.htm
Links to the text and translations of Cantata BWV 56: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV56.htm
Links to the text and translations of Cantata BWV 57: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV57.htm
The many empty places left for translations into French (Kirk, are you there?), Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. mean that more translations would be welcome. I hope to see more contributions from the members of the BCML to this section of the Bach Cantatas Website.
Links to Websites of Members in the BCML
(November 25, 2001)
Some of the members in the BCML have personal websites. Some of these websites are dedicated to Bach, some are not. I added a page to the Bach Cantatas dedicated to these labours of love: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Links/Links-Members.htm
If I have missed somebody, please let me know.
The Bach Cantatas Website is celebrating its First Year’s Anniversary
(December 30, 2001)
Exactly a year ago, on December 30, 2000, I sent the following message:
Present for the New Year – A New Archive Site
I have a special present for the New Year for you, in the form of a new Site for 'Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive'. The address is simple: http://www.bach-cantatas.com
The new Archive Site has better look & feel and its content has been largely expanded. [snip] Reading the Introduction page and looking at the content of the other Index Pages, you will know what to look forward to. I am managing the new site all by myself. Therefore, I shall be able to update it more often than it used to be.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon Crouch (of our group) for his co-operation, patience, generosity and unstinting help with hosting the Archive in his site in its previous stage. I look forward to receiving your comments (corrections, suggestions, improvements, etc.) about the new Site.
Enjoy and Happy New Year,
Where do we stand a year after?
Name
The name of the site was shortened f'Bach Cantatas Recordings Review and Mailing List Archive' to ‘Bach Cantatas Website’.
Some Statistics
When the Bach Cantatas Website was launched, it included about 200 pages and a few pictures. The site has now more than 2,000 pages, more than 2,100 pictures, and more than 50,000 internal links.
When the site was launched the number of visits per day was about 20. Now it is about 150, and the total number of visits in the past year is more than 23,000.
The Bach Cantatas Website today includes:
[a] 108 cantatas: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/IndexBWV.htm
The information about each cantata, which has already been discussed in the Bach Cantatas Mailing List, is split into two pages (at least). The first includes a detailed list of all the known recordings of the complete cantata or of individual movements from it. Where there are many recordings of the cantata, such as the case of BWV 147, the page of recordings is split into sub-pages. The second page all the discussions about the cantata are compiled more or less chronologically. I added inter-links from the page of the discussions to the page of the recordings. So, when you read about a recording in the discussion page, and you want to know more about it, you only have to click on the relevant link. In the cantatas which have been lately discussed I also added pictures of the covers of the CD’s (or LP’s). The most popular cantatas in terms of length of discussions are: BWV 4, BWV 21, BWV 51, BWV 82, BWV 106, BWV 147, BWV 170, and BWV 199. It is interesting to note that many of them are solo cantatas. The most recorded cantatas are BWV 51 (40 complete recordings) and BWV 82 (41 complete recordings).
[b] 191 pages about Bach’s Great Vocal Works: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/index.htm
The pages include for each of Bach’s Other Vocal Works, a list of its recordings and discussions. Where individual recordings is discussed (such as SMP conducted by Harnoncourt) it has a special page. The pages are inter-linked. The most recorded Bach’s vocal work is the Mass in B minor BWV 232 with at least 80 complete recordings (additions to the list of recordings is an on-going research).
[c] 197 pages about Performers of Bach Cantatas & Bach’s Other Vocal Works: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/index.htm
There is a page (or pages) for each conductor, who has recorded at least 3 recordings of Bach’s vocal works. The page lists all the known recordings by this conductor. All the discussions dedicated to individual performers are also compiled in this section. The pages are inter-linked. The most popular conductor in terms of dedicated discussions is John Eliot Gardiner. The most prolific conductor in terms of number of recordings is Helmuth Rilling.
[d] 139 pages of General Topics: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/index.htm
This section includes discussions about general topics related to the cantatas and Bach’s other vocal works, which do not directly belong to any of the above sections. You can find in this Section topics such as Bach and Religion, Bach and Opera, Books, Bach and Numbers, Trumpets in Bach Cantatas, etc. The most popular subject is OVPP (One-Voice-Per-Part).
[e] 1032 Short Biographies: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/index.htm
This section includes Short Biographies of singers, conductors, chorus masters, choral and instrumental groups, who have recorded Bach’s vocal works. Each bio of a conductor includes link to the page of his recordings in the Performers Section. Each bio of other performers includes a list of the performer’s recordings of Bach’s cantatas and other vocal works. Each entry of a recordings in the Sections of Cantatas, Bach’s Great Vocal Works and Performers, include links to the relevant entries in the Short Biographies Section. When applicable, the bio includes also pictures and links to other sites about the performer.
[f] 181 Reviews of Bach’s Non-Vocal Works: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NonVocal/index.htm
Most of the reviews are by Donald Satz, but there are also some by other contributors.
[g] Scores: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Scores/index.htm
This section is based mostly on the contribution of the knowledgeable Thomas Braatz and includes examples from the score (and some commentary) of 16 cantatas. I hope that Tom will continue to contribute to this section. Of course, other contributors are also invited.
[h] Texts and Translations: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/IndexTexts.htm
This section includes some translations of the cantata texts into languages such as English, Dutch and Hebrew. It also includes links to the relevant entries in other cantata sites, such as Walter F. Bischof (original German texts and some French translations) and Z. Philip Ambrose (English translations). This section should be largely expanded, as translations of many cantatas into other languages are missing.
[i] Special Pages
Introduction, Lutheran Church Year, Order of discussion, Table of Cantata Recording by Major Conductors according to BWV Number, Terms & Abbreviations, New and Upcoming Recordings, How to contribute, and more.
[j] Links: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Links/index.htm
This section includes hundreds of Links: Sites about Bach Cantatas and other Bach Sites, Sites with Reviews of Recordings, Sites of Performers, Sites of Record Labels, General Classical Music Sites, Sites of Members in the Bach Cantatas Mailing List, and more.
I am encouraged by the positive feedback the Bach Cantatas Website is getting from all over the world. Many of the feedback messages can be read in the following page: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/About-2001.htm
The enterprise of the Bach Cantatas Website is an international collective project, dedicated mainly to the vocal works of the greatest composer who has ever lived. I want to use this opportunity to thank everybody who has contributed to the material compiled in the Bach Cantatas Website, either through the Bach Cantatas Mailing List (BCML) and the Bach Recording Mailing List (BRML) or by writing directly to me. The name of each contributor is mentioned in the relevant place. Kirk McElhearn deserves special gratitude for his managing of both lists.
I hope to see many of you contributing to the weekly cantata discussions in the BCML. These discussions are the main source for the material compiled in the Bach Cantatas Website. I continue to look forward to receiving your comments (corrections, suggestions, improvements, etc.) about the Website. The instructions how to join the BCML, how to contribute, and how to send me comments, appear in the following page: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/How.htm
I wish you all another Great and Happy Bach Year, |
