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The resonance of Johann Sebastian Bach's music, although it may seem a truism, exceeds the limits of the Baroque and reaches up to the present day, in the expression of his more than a thousand pieces, verging on perfection. This article aims to argue the thesis that the musical work of the German composer can be seen as a universal paradigm of the colossal and the sacred, aesthetic attributes that would make his legacy one of the moments of greatest epiphany in the history of music. With a methodological and theoretical nod to Derrida, the paper is carried out through a philosophical deconstruction, showing as its main result that The Well-Tempered Clavier and the chorale Jesus bleibet meine Freude [Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring], would be, in effect, iconic expressions of the colossal and the sacred, respectively. The way of approaching the thesis is ascribed, from the beginning, to a rather orthodox perspective, that is, recognizing that the possible colossal or the possible sacred in Bach's work can only be truly corroborated through an interpretation attached to the composer's genuine spirit, and this spirit only lives in the original score of each piece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Trichothiodystrophy (TTD) is a rare hereditary disease whose prominent feature is brittle hair. Additional clinical signs are physical and neurodevelopmental abnormalities and in about half of the cases hypersensitivity to UV radiation. Although the mutations involved in this condition have been characterized, the correlation between the molecular defects and the plethora of clinical symptoms is not well understood. Recently, the presence of a redox imbalance in TTD has been suggested although no clear evidence has been reported on this aspect. Methods: In the present study, we evaluated the redox status of fibroblasts isolated from a TTD patient. In addition, to understand the ability of TTD cells to respond to oxidative insults, the cells were challenged with H2O2. Mitochondrial O2•− and mitochondrial membrane potential were measured in different oxidative conditions. In addition, protein levels of NRF2 and BACH1 were also analyzed in response to H2O2. Results: The results suggested an aberrant mitochondrial response to oxidative stimuli, an increased baseline oxidative stress status in TTD, and an altered NRF2/BACH1 level. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the altered redox homeostasis in TTD pathogenesis and mitochondria functionality. Significance statement Focusing on mitochondria homeostasis and redox imbalance could represent an alternative therapeutic target for this condition to improve patients’ clinical features.

Objective: Cognitive impairment is now recognized as an impending public health crisis. About one-third of adults are concerned about their cognition, and the prevalence of objective cognitive impairment is much higher among those with neurological disorders. Existing screening tools are narrowly focused on detecting dementia in older adults and must be clinician-administered and scored, making them impractical for many neurology practices. This study examined the utility of a brief, self-administered, computerized cognitive screening tool, the Brief Assessment of Cognitive Health (BACH), in identifying cognitive impairment in adults. Methods: 912 adults (ages 18–84) completed BACH and a neuropsychological battery. Multivariable models were developed to provide a BACH index score reflecting the probability of cognitive impairment for individual patients. Predictive accuracy was compared to that of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in a subset of 160 older adults from a Memory Disorders clinic. Results: The final multivariable model showed good accuracy in identifying cognitively impaired individuals (c = 0·77). Compared to MoCA, BACH had superior predictive accuracy in identifying older patients with cognitive impairment (c = 0·79 vs. 0·67) as well as differentiating those with MCI or dementia from those without cognitive impairment (c = 0·86 vs. c = 0·67). Conclusions: Results suggest that cognitive impairment can be identified in adults using a brief, self-administered, automated cognitive screening tool, and BACH provides several advantages over existing screeners: self-administered; automatic scoring; immediate results in health record; easily interpretable score; utility in wide range of patients; and flags for treatable factors that may contribute to cognitive complaints (i.e., depression, sleep problems, and stress). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can a post-Christian, secular audience understand the devoutly Christian, sacred music of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion ? This article addresses this question with reference to the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Hans Blumenberg. Their confrontation reveals broad implications for the theory of humanistic interpretation at large. Gadamer celebrates Bach as a 'classical' touchstone of Western culture whom we may productively interpret through a 'fusion of horizons'. Blumenberg, by contrast, cautions that our relation to Bach's Passion is fractured because it is impossible to 'pace off the horizon'. Blumenberg emphasizes the first-person experience of the diminution of historical meaning, a position this article calls 'shattered hermeneutics'. The article concludes that Blumenberg's interpretation of Bach and his critique of Gadamer thereby usefully and plausibly deepen and radicalize hermeneutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a schema-driven analysis of the accompanied recitative "Erbarm es, Gott" from Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Arguing that the scene is best understood in dialogue with the conventions of the Italianate "galant" style of eighteenth-century recitative, we suggest that the music is guided by a simple thread of modulation upward through the circle of fifths. This thread is driven by repeated application of a particular harmonic schema--the "ruff," as described in Sherrill and Boyle (2015)--which prototypically displaces a consonant harmony with a #4 figure over a static bass. Tonal arrivals are repeatedly implied and then evaded, such that the recitative's simple tonal thread is best understood in terms of events that do not actually occur. This interpretation counterpoints Heinrich Schenker's analysis of the recitative in Der Tonwille, whose details are explored in conjunction with the schema-based perspective. The final portion of the article advances an expressive interpretation of the music, engaging also with scholarship on the Passion such as Chafe (1991). In our reading, the recitative's tonal shape stages an experience of progressive engrossment in the diegetic world of the Passion, broken off by an abrupt narrative negation at its end. In doing so, the article synthesizes divergent music-theoretical methodologies, hoping to show how the stylistically and culturally informed perspective of schema theory offers a site where the formal insights of Schenkerian theory can be integrated with semiotic criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding religious music is challenging. Indeed, the whole idea can seem perplexing and problematic. In this paper, a number of ways of understanding religious music are sketched. Seven main models are distinguished: the side-effect model, the ringtone model, the honey model, the addition model, the fitting beauty model, the organic unity model, and the similarity model. Some issues concerning Bach's Sacred Cantatas are then considered in order to see how these approaches apply in one particularly controversial and puzzling example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este artigo tem como objetivo discutir a voz interpretativa que se faz presente nos processos de edição e arranjo, discutindo questões editoriais e o ato de transcrever a partir da ideia de que edições práticas e transcrições, enquanto documentos históricos, além de figurarem como representantes das convenções performativas de uma determinada época, nos permitem ouvir a voz desses intérpretes e editores e, portanto, são relevantes quando nos deparamos com períodos anteriores ao advento do registro fonográfico. Ao fim, o artigo aborda a transcrição do coral de Bach “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” feita por Ferruccio Busoni, com o intuito de contextualizar, em um caso específico, as reflexões anteriormente expostas.

Franz Liszt created a new tradition by playing transcriptions and paraphrasing the most well-known operas and works of his time on his fabulous concerts. This habit created new genres like Transcriptions (Reminiscences de Norma S. 394, Grandes études de Paganini S. 141) and Paraphrases (The Rigoletto Paraphrase S.434, The Ernani Paraphrase S. 432). The Variations on „Weinen Klagen Sorgen Zagen” fits into both categories: On the one hand Liszt paraphrases J.S.Bach’s Crucifixus and the 12th Cantata. On the other hand, he transcribes with a great craftsmanship his piano work for organ. The historical and private background of this work testifies to an extraordinary faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unfinished final Contrapunctus from Bach’s posthumously-published Kunst der Fuge has received several dozen completions over the past century. Although the majority of these have been published and recorded, none has yet established themselves as the leading solution among performers, and this may have more to do with their perceived ‘Bach-ness’ than the undoubted contrapuntal skill and ingenuity that they each demonstrate. This study uses an established information-theoretical method drawn from mathematics to explore the extent to which it is possible to ‘measure’ the similarity of these reconstructions to the original, and so determine which are closest to the musical lines of Bach’s existing opening of Contrapunctus XIV.

Information entropy can be a powerful tool for analyzing differences in musical style as suggested in Paz et al. (2022). The application of such a tool, however, requires unambiguous operationalization of the variables being measured, and establishment of clear relations between the variables and the distinguishing features of the style. Without these, interpreting entropy, or any other relative measure of difference, leads to no useful conclusions regarding the similarity between style.

Currently, many instructors of organ playing are teaching that all toe pedaling without the use of the heel is the only possible method for pedaling in the organ works of J. S. Bach. While that may be the current thinking, it is necessary to examine all of the sources available, and also to use rational thinking when deciding whether or not to use toes, heels, or a combination of them. This article will examine the issue, and when it may be preferable to use a heel depending on what the music itself is doing, and a variety of other factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How Baroque music should be played today and whether the baroque period affects today's music styles is still a matter of discussion. Particularly the understanding of J.S.Bach’s violin work as a romantic period piece, and the vibrato technique, which is used excessively, tells the opposite musical expression in the work. Of course, the interpretation of a piece is relative and it is vital for everyone, especially famous musicians, to occur with their own musical expression and play it the way they want. However, before interpreting a Baroque work, it should be done by examining the period features of that work and taking into account the style, expression and archeology techniques of that period as much as we can. The analysis of Bach, who is a great composer with the most disagreement about the interpretation of his works, is very important in these respects. In this article, it is aimed to examine J.S.Bach's C minor Violin-Harpsichord Sonata in terms of form and musicality and the performers are expected to have information about the correct interpretation of the piece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text seeks to inquire about the valuation of Johann Sebastian Bach in music education at the university level. To this end, the role of the composer's work in the teaching of traditional stringed instruments from the Colombian Andean region, instruments that are part of a musical tradition different from the Central European one, was analyzed. Based on some contributions of postcolonial theory, especially the notion of provincializing Europe, proposed by Dipesh Chakrabarty, the authors propose the need to provincialize the most mentioned of the great composers and, in general, the Central European musical tradition. In relation to the methodology, surveys were conducted with students and teachers of instruments such as the Andean charango, tiple and bandola, belonging to two Colombian universities, with the intention of finding out how much Bach's music is or is not used in the teaching-learning process and, more importantly, what justifications are given for it. The results show that the symbolic weight of Bach's work is still very strong, even in the teaching of instruments far removed from the Central European tradition, which is why we propose a provincialization of Bach and his work in order to think about its use in a more critical way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music education in the United Kingdom has long been centred on the study of historic European classical music. Many studies within the field of Music Psychology have investigated the various ways in which people respond to Western Art Music, and how those responses may differ in accordance with the listening context, but very few have examined the effect of music by specific composers. Bach’s music is still performed regularly around the world—arguably more so than any other composer—and continues to be regarded as essential repertoire by instrumental teachers across many disciplines. This study sought to investigate the potential reasons for this from the perspective of pedagogic value and listener response. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, incorporating semi-structured interviews with music educators alongside a listening experiment in which participants rated their emotional responses to a selection of pieces by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to present an apologia for the continued propagation of Bach’s music in mainstream education, and listeners’ emotional responses were measured using a standardised scale. Additional ratings for valence, arousal, familiarity and overall enjoyment were also gathered from each participant. Results indicate a statistically significant relationship between the music of specific composers and some emotion categories. These findings could lend support to the continued hagiolatry of J. S. Bach in music education, in spite of the welcome drive towards the diversification of the curriculum.

Skazka Skazok/Tale of Tales (Yuri Norstein, 1979) has delighted and puzzled audiences and critics ever since its release. It presents a series of beautifully-animated episodes that seem to make narrative sense at the micro-level and that appear to fit together as a whole, but leaves the audience bemused as to why this should be so. The article discusses the history and context of the film, arguing that the ways in which sound and, particularly, music are deployed in relation to its visual elements provide powerful clues and cues as to the film's over-arching narrative significances. Close analysis of the film's music, sound and visuals reveals teleological underpinnings that are realized by means of alignment and re-alignment of music and image, leading to a new understanding of how the film and its success can be interpreted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the place of music in the classical liberal arts curriculum, which consists of the trivium (the arts of language) and the quadrivium (the arts of number). Music is part of the quadrivial disciplines and studied as applied arithmetic. However, as argued in this article, it is also a bridge to the discipline of rhetoric, which is part of the trivium. The article begins with a brief review of St. Augustine's De Musica, the first in a planned (but unrealized) series of dialogs on the value of the classical liberal arts to the emerging Christian culture of Antiquity. It proceeds to a discussion of music and its relation to the contemporary American liberal arts curriculum. Two case studies follow that address the ontological reality of music as a time-bound medium, and attempts to mute this reality in the service of creating a sense of timelessness. Thus subsuming the temporal into the Divine–what Augustine called "a poem of the universe". The first case study is Dante Alighieri's Paradiso, which is a journey through the heavens with each planet representing one of the seven liberal arts as preparatory to the Beatific Vision. The second case study focuses on J.S. Bach's attempts to create a sense of timelessness in the St. Matthew Passion by the use of musical forms and musical rhetorical devices that tend to abolish time. The article concludes with suggestions on how teachers can use 20th and 21st-century movements in Western art music as pathways to appreciate music's pivotal role in the Catholic liberal arts tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Povijesni Prilozi is the property of Croatian Institute of History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Information entropy can be a powerful tool for analyzing differences in musical style as suggested in Paz et al. (2022). The application of such a tool, however, requires unambiguous operationalization of the variables being measured, and establishment of clear relations between the variables and the distinguishing features of the style. Without these, interpreting entropy, or any other relative measure of difference, leads to no useful conclusions regarding the similarity between style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unfinished final Contrapunctus from Bach's posthumously-published Kunst der Fuge has received several dozen completions over the past century. Although the majority of these have been published and recorded, none has yet established themselves as the leading solution among performers, and this may have more to do with their perceived 'Bach-ness' than the undoubted contrapuntal skill and ingenuity that they each demonstrate. This study uses an established information-theoretical method drawn from mathematics to explore the extent to which it is possible to 'measure' the similarity of these reconstructions to the original, and so determine which are closest to the musical lines of Bach's existing opening of Contrapunctus XIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Er(r)go: Teoria, Literatura, Kultura is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Technological innovations and scientific discoveries do not occur in a vacuum but instead leave us needing to reimagine what we thought we knew about the human condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Listening and polyphony lead us directly to reflection on the musical form of the fugue. Starting with M. Heidegger's considerations about the juncture of beyng, we will phenomenologically ask about the essence of the fugue, and the musical work put under analysis will be The Art of Fugue by J.S. Bach. The article aims to show the convergence between Heidegger's philosophy and the essence of the musical form of fugue as an artistic mode of the essential occurrence of beyng as an event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovations and scientific discoveries do not occur in a vacuum but instead leave us needing to reimagine what we thought we knew about the human condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Epistemus. Journal of Music, Cognition & Culture Research is the property of Facultad de Psicologia Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

En este trabajo analizamos la Pasión según San Mateo desde un ángulo emocional. La importancia del manejo de las emociones con el fin de persuadir al oyente es ya un clásico desde la Retórica de Aristóteles. Descartes al tratar las pasiones al final de su vida, vincula su dominio con el concepto de virtud. Esta unión de lo ético y emocional se revela fundamental para la Reforma protestante. De esta concepción ético-afectiva se inspira el compositor a la hora de interpretar musicalmente el texto evangélico y la recreación poética del msimo. El objetivo de la Pasión según San Mateo, dentro del ámbito religioso, sería conmover al oyente sumergiéndolo en el drama de la Pasión para así reforzar su fe cristiana. La capacidad de persuasión emocional trasciende, hoy en día, el marco religioso para el que fue creada esta Pasión, pudiendo contribuir a la edificación de una conciencia moral laica partiendo de un relato lineal (el evangelio) glosado con arias y coros que involucran al oyente (creyente o no) en el drama. En este artículo ponemos en paralelo las definiciones y descripciones que Descartes hace de las pasiones y la musicalización que realiza J.S.Bach de estas en la Pasión según San Mateo

The photographic effect of overexposure is analogous to Michael Finnissy's technique of selective musical borrowing. Just as a photographer uses the camera to allow an overabundance of light to wash out pictorial details, Finnissy uses his transcriptive pen to allow an overabundance of silence to alter and fragment his borrowed sources. Case studies demonstrate Finnissy's borrowing of cadential phrases by J. S. Bach, Beethoven, and Bruckner in his solo piano works Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sind (1992) and The History of Photography in Sound (1995-2001). Comparing original sources, unpublished sketches, and published autographs reveals the composer's precise transcriptive mechanisms. Measuring the alteration of tonal function enacted by specific harmonic and rhythmic distortions illuminates Finnissy's pre-compositional practice while celebrating the sonic experience of his music on its own terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histology image analysis plays a crucial role in pathological research and diagnosis. The effectiveness of Computer-Aided Detection procedures largely depends on the normalization of histology images to ensure precise diagnoses. On the other hand, the success of this normalization process is tied to the choice of an appropriate reference image, which acts as a standard for aligning and modifying the color and intensity of other images in the dataset. However, the lack of a universally reliable method for selecting an appropriate reference image remains a substantial obstacle in histology image analysis. In this direction, the study introduces an automated procedure for selecting a reference image that is designed to accurately represent the entire spectrum of the dataset or its specific class under investigation. The impact of the proposed method on the morphological and structural quality of normalized histology images is investigated using three established normalization techniques: Reinhard, Macenko, and Vahadane. Moreover, the study also utilized two strategies: the global reference image strategy, where a single reference image is chosen for the entire dataset, and the class-specific reference image strategy, which considers the unique characteristics of each class. The results demonstrate that the proposed automatic reference image selection procedure consistently outperforms random selection in both strategies, yielding higher metric scores (SSIM, QSSIM, and PCC). Furthermore, the class-specific reference image approach significantly improves the image quality compared to random selection. The proposed method enhances alignment and accuracy in histology image normalization by leveraging class-specific reference images, facilitating more reliable analysis in histopathology research and clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do we as Christians today learn about worship and church music? How do we think about not only what music we will sing in Christian worship, but also the principles that should guide us in choosing and leading church music? Certainly, there are many different ways we answer that question: we study the Bible, we sing the words of the Scriptures, we read what theologians, worship leaders, and scholars of church music are writing today, we attend lectures and conferences by scholars and practitioners of church music. In this article, I offer and explore yet another example of how we live out God’s call in leading music for the Christian church: by studying the example of a faithful Christian musician from the past. My particular example for this article is the German composer and church musician Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). I want to clarify from the start that I am not arguing that J. S. Bach is the best example of a Christian church musician and certainly not that he is the only example. But Bach does offer us one example of a musician who dedicated most of his life to creating and leading music for the Christian church and sought to do so faithfully, creatively, and skillfully.

Of all the chamber works attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, the Sonata in Eflat major for transverse flute and obbligato cembalo, BWV 1031, presents one of the most puzzling enigmas. For much of J.S. Bach's instrumental music no primary sources have survived and very often some loose ends are found, concerning the "when" and in "which context" his compositions were written. Following this line of thought, this article aims to develop a review of the bibliography concerning the sonata in E-flat major, BWV 1031, making reference to the existing sources to date and presenting the various issues concerning its authorship. Although a final answer is not given, it is ascertained that both J.S. Bach... and J.J. Quantz shall have played a fundamental role on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the notion of myth and social imaginary as manifested in the figures of Bad Bunny (1994- ) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Bad Bunny has been identified as the depositary of an imaginary that puts reggaeton as a musical genre that marks the moral decadence of the culture. Bach, by contrast, leads the canon of composers who make classical music a paradigm of cultured and elaborate musical art. The reflection suggests that both representations are part of a mythology that hides complex issues such as class discrimination and violent cultural hegemonies. The conclusions point to the demystification of both musicians as a strategy to not only appreciate their music in a more balanced way, but also to address social issues without the fanaticism that both musical communities promote in their myths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tra i vari adattamenti teatrali della Matthäus-Passion di Johann Sebastian Bach, merita un’indagine approfondita la recente versione semiscenica curata nel 2010 da Peter Sellars presso la Philharmonie di Berlino. L’allestimento predilige una teatralità interiore, del pensiero molto più che dell’azione, che approfondisce il contrasto tra le ricompense e le frustrazioni che derivano dalla ricerca mistica. L’indagine condotta su alcuni momenti salienti della rappresentazione, in parallelo all’analisi della partitura, evidenzia un’attenzione alla dialettica tra fede e dubbio, poco esplorata dagli studi specifici. Il saggio si focalizza sui tre cori principali dell’opera, sulle arie del contralto, del tenore e sulla scena del trapasso di Cristo. Le scelte di Sellars sottolineano i dettagli di una partitura che spesso preferisce il dubbio all’affermazione, esprimendo la grande sensibilità di Bach per le insicurezze dell’uomo di fronte alle vertiginose altezze del Vangelo.

The testing and performance data of the hybrid vertical axis wind turbines with magnetic levitation analyzed for low rated wind speeds is presented here. All the data are obtained by carrying out the investigations under natural wind conditions at Wind Turbine Research Station (WTRS), Kayathar, Tamilnadu, India. Four different wind turbine configurations namely helical Savonius - simple Savonius hybrid in two stage, helical Savonius - helical Bach hybrid in two stage, helical Bach – simple Bach hybrid in two stage, and single stage helical Bach. All the raw data obtained are processed and presented to compare the parameters among the different vertical axis wind turbine configurations.