Bernard Chasan wrote:

>A dissenting opinion:
>
>The Passions in particular are so wedded to the central Christian story,
>and so clearly derive their expressiveness from that narrative, that I,
>also a Jewish agnostic, choose not to listen to them.  For me the glory
>of Bach resides in the keyboard music.

Sort of raises the question, if a composer of J.S.  Bach's stature had
lived in Germany during Hitler's reign and had composed music of the
depth and splendor found in Bach's Passions glorifying the Fuehrer and
celebrating Nazism and all it stood for, what would be our reaction to
that composer's music today?  My answer is, I don't know.

I do know that, although I'm no Christian, I like much of Bach's
religious music, especially his b minor Mass and his Magnificat in D,
as well as those cantatas that I've heard.  However, except for the
"Ruhet Wohl" towards the end of the St. John's passion, I don't respond
as warmly to his St. Matthew's and St. John's Passions.  At first I
thought it might be that, as a speaker of German, I found the German
texts too offensive, but they didn't bother me so much in the Cantatas.
That, in turn may be because (as a non-believer) I find them too ludicrous
to be offensive, whereas the Passions strike closer to home.  As it is,
I'm thankful for Bach's music, choral and instrumental, that I do like
and won't examine the gift horse too closely.

Walter Meyer