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Just rewatched Pasolini's St Matthew Gospel....such a beautiful movie...had forgotten the role that the Webern transcription of the Ricercar plays in it.. the recording sure sounds like the Kraft...can;t imagine what else it could have been ...wondering if anyone cared at all about the rights...

Bach lived in and through one of the worst periods for jews in Protestant theology...Since there were very few 'real' jews in the country (and certainly in the areas where he lived...absent the visits to northern cities) his 'antisemitism' was both very real and very abstract. Best labeled anti-judaism I think. It is interesting to consider that Moses Mendelssohn was already in Berlin at the tie of Bach's encounters with Frederick (another 'jew hater - in the abstract - didn't stop him from dealing with Itzig et al..)

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