Chris Bonds writes, in response to Bill Pirkle:

>Let's go slowly here.  Is there a risk in saying that there may be
>meanings in Bach that he himself wasn't aware of? How can we eliminate
>the possibility that we MAY be reading our own feelings and thoughts into
>the music instead? The way people hear and respond to music changes over
>time.

The extent of this change over time is debatable.  The main outlines of
the emotions and feelings expressed by Bach can be determined by listening
to the passions and the cantatas where the text provides a kind of Rosetta
Stone.  But we don't really need this aid- we can simply reflect on the
fact that the passions remain deeply expressive and moving music to
listeners today.  I have to assume that those slow inward grief stricken
variations in the Goldberg Variations are meant to express grief.  Any
other response is simply perverse.

Professor Bernard Chasan
Physics Department, Boston University