Michael Marissen, emeritus professor of
music at Swarthmore, argues that Johann Sebastian Bach's
music embodies the theology of its text, and an
acquaintance with that theology helps listeners understand and appreciate Bach's
music more deeply.
At intervals the eight men in the chancel choir, or sometimes Dwyer alone, would utter what sounded like speech of a special eloquence, every word clearly to be heard, but observing a discipline that was musical, in that there was no hint of anything that was colloquial, but not like any
music I had met with in my, by this time, fairly good
acquaintance with
music.