Johann Sebastian Bach featured in new monograph and historical novel

New literary and academic works have been released focusing on the life and legacy of composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

In Spain, the University of the Basque Country has published a Spanish-language monograph titled ‘La Pasión según San Mateo de J. S. Bach. Emoción moral y persistencia en el tiempo’ by Idoia Solores Etxabe. The 367-page interdisciplinary study approaches the Bach masterpiece through musicology, philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience, exploring why the work continues to resonate emotionally in a secularized society.

In Argentina, writer and lawyer Dante Marcelo Vega has released his debut novel, ‘La pasión según San Marcos’. The fictional work weaves the figure of Bach into a multi-generational family saga set against various periods of German history. The narrative utilizes the composer’s final days, following a medical procedure that left him blind, as a framework to explore his life and musical contributions.