{"id":23061,"date":"2013-06-27T04:58:07","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T04:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=23061"},"modified":"2013-06-27T04:58:07","modified_gmt":"2013-06-27T04:58:07","slug":"taylor-swift-sara-mingardo-js-bach-and-a-quiet-wtf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=23061","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift, Sara Mingardo, JS Bach and a quiet WTF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[ by <strong>Charles Cameron<\/strong> &#8212; some very beautiful music accompanied by unexpected visuals ]<br \/>\n.<\/p>\n<p>I am in full agreement with this tweet today from our co-blogger here on Zenpundit, <strong>Scott Shipman<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p>Never gets old: J. S. Bach &#8211; Cantata BWV 63 &#8211; Christen \u00e4tzet diesen Tag &#8211; 5 &#8211; Aria (J. S&#8230;: <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/ir40uHdBhX\">http:\/\/t.co\/ir40uHdBhX<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YouTube\">@youtube<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; J. Scott Shipman (@jscottshipman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jscottshipman\/statuses\/350023563144732673\">June 26, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Cantata 63, <em>Christen \u00e4tzet diesen Tag<\/em>, is indeed among the five or so works of <strong>Bach<\/strong> to which I find myself constantly turning, though not to this particular movement or performance.  It is the work that <strong>John Eliot Gardiner<\/strong> performed so movingly, and that <a href=\"In Rehearsal with John Eliot Gardiner (Bach Cantata No. 63)\">wonderfully caught for us on DVD<\/a> &#8212; I&#8217;ve <a href=\"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=13881\">spoken of it before<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Today, though, Scott&#8217;s post brings us a mystery I&#8217;ve been pondering, and preparing to post about, for a few weeks now.  It involves a series of videos, as you can see, and videos take time to watch, I know.  I can only say that the music of Cantata 63 itself is wonderful, and the mystery really quite a puzzle.  I hope you will find both worth your while.<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>Without further comment, then, here is <strong>Taylor Swift<\/strong> performing <em>Love Story<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><object width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/8xg3vE8Ie_E?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"><\/param><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/8xg3vE8Ie_E?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That seems simple enough.  <\/p>\n<p>Here, though, is the same footage used to present Cantata 63, directed by <strong>Karl Richter<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><object width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/3OHkGH0ncLg?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"><\/param><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/3OHkGH0ncLg?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And here is what I take to be the same exact recording, presented with different visuals:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><object width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/eiBG1riM_m4?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"><\/param><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/eiBG1riM_m4?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Remarkable.<\/p>\n<p>To my mind, <em>those three videos taken together<\/em> raise all sorts of interesting questions about the sacred and the profane, eros and agape, aesthetics, mixology, you name it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>Here is <strong>Sara Mingardo<\/strong> singing the recitative<em> O Selger Tag<\/em> from the same Cantata &#8212; in the superlative rendering which I mentioned above &#8212; and only recently rediscovered on YouTube, and can thus bring you:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><object width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/z7pYZhFFPmo?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"><\/param><embed src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/z7pYZhFFPmo?hl=en_US&amp;version=3&amp;rel=0\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I have listened to a number of versions of this aria &#8212; and to my ear, mind, and heart, Mingardo brings a devotion to this &#8220;mere&#8221; recitative which far outdistances the others.  <\/p>\n<p>** <\/p>\n<p>Now for the second part of my puzzle:<\/p>\n<p>The second of those videos, with the glamorous Ms Swift&#8217;s imagery accompanying Herr Bach&#8217;s cantata, was posted by one &#8220;voiceofshariah&#8221; whose 117 videos include more Bach with Taylor Swift imagery:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2A16c2bE6dI?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8212; quite a glorious Bach organ piece with which I was not already familiar &#8212; but also, under the name &#8220;afghanistansomalia&#8221;, this version of the <em>B Minor Mass<\/em>, which I discussed here earlier in a post titled <a href=\"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=8551\">Osama and the flute of the devil<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lubhvltN7Dk?list=PLc1eHpwiZGdie47EkrK66RRcxjG7ezsOj\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8212; which you&#8217;ll note is posted after <strong>bin Laden<\/strong>&#8216;s death, and &#8212; as if to confuse matters even further &#8212; this video, again with OBL visuals, of <strong>Maurice Jarre<\/strong>&#8216;s soundtrack for the <strong>David Lean<\/strong> \/ <strong>Peter O&#8217;Toole<\/strong> film, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Lawrence-Arabia-Peter-OToole\/dp\/B00003CXB2\">Lawrence of Arabia<\/a>!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JYo7Al6E_X8?list=PLc1eHpwiZGdj43dyCfdFpf7FZBRkLBDwK\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whoa! Osama bin Laden and <em>Lawrence of Arabia<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>What one is to make of all this, I can only guess.  I desperately want to get back to the simple appreciation of beauty, however, and will do so, I hope, in an upcoming yet related post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ by Charles Cameron &#8212; some very beautiful music accompanied by unexpected visuals ] . I am in full agreement with this tweet today from our co-blogger here on Zenpundit, Scott Shipman: Never gets old: J. S. Bach &#8211; Cantata BWV 63 &#8211; Christen \u00e4tzet diesen Tag &#8211; 5 &#8211; Aria (J. S&#8230;: http:\/\/t.co\/ir40uHdBhX via [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,837,459,526,618,139,67,480,393,1,259],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-al-qaida","category-bach","category-bin-laden","category-charles-cameron","category-j-scott-shipman","category-media","category-movies","category-music","category-twitter","category-uncategorized","category-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23061"}],"version-history":[{"count":64,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24125,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23061\/revisions\/24125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}