Quote:
Originally Posted by bandteacher1
I should think that the composer chose such powerful words, because he knew that they would penetrate the heart of the Prince, because of the music and word coupling. Music has a powerful way of penetrating even the thickest of walls, warming cold hearts, and changing old ways.
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Hi bandteacher1,
Yes, I agree with you very much about music's capacity to change people.
I wonder what Bach felt about the lyrics of the contata I mentioned earlier, since they cater so much to the prince for whom the lyricist wrote them. Was the lyricist hoping to change the prince in some way, or mostly just praise him? Other portions of the Bach contata BMV 208, which I quoted in the first post, praised the prince so profusely that the stroking of vanity was almost embarassing. If I had been that prince, I would have felt uncomfortable to hear such adoration (that was paid for). And if I were writing such a song, I would have felt uncomfortable writing such lyrics unless the praise was genuine. Any time some opinion is paid for, I question whether the opinion is true.