Lydia Vroegindeweij received her PhD with the thesis ‘Troost bij Luther en Bach’ (‘Comfort with Luther and Bach’) on 1 December 2020 from Utrecht University. Her supervisor was Prof Dr Albert Clement. The book (in Dutch) is available from Vreducom publishers.
The study shows how Martin Luther defined the concept of comfort in his theology and pastoral care and how he expressed it in his songs from 1524/1525. Two hundred years later, the value of this song heritage was in question because of new views on comfort and the large number of new songs. Orthodox Lutheran theologians wished to preserve the songs of Luther and contemporaries precisely because of their comforting value. However, they did see the need that the old songs required more explanation and wrote many hymnbook commentaries to that purpose. These commentaries by, among others, the hymnologist Johann Martin Schamel combined with Luther’s collected explanations of relevant Bible texts in the Calov Bible shed new light on the meaning of Johann Sebastian Bach’s chorale cantatas of 1724/1725. Combining these sources reveals more about the differences between the original song text and the text of the recitatives and arias in the chorale cantata, as well as their musical elaboration.
Data:
Language: Dutch
Published on: 1 December 2020
Format: 18×24 cm
Size: 348 pages, with illustrations
Edition: paperback
ISBN: 9789083094700
Price: € 29.50 (incl. VAT, excl. shipping costs)
Download:
On this page you can download the PDF of my dissertation (in Dutch) “Troost bij Luther en Bach. Theologie, kerklied, cantate” (Vreducom, 2020) just for your own use. I will be very pleased if you will purchase the book. Please send me an e-mail to help you if you don’t feel at home in our Dutch webshop.
The book contains a short summary in English (page 257). There is also a large summary available in Yearbook for Ritual and Liturgical Studies by Irilis (link to article online)
Download ‘Troost bij Luther en Bach’ (48 MB).
Best regards,
Lydia Vroegindeweij
Any questions? Please send me an e-mail.
