This is threshold music.
After his wife's death,
Bach wove chorale melodies
into his solo violin works,
mostly Cantata number 4,
Christ Lag in Todesbanden,
Christ lay in death dark prison,
with its ringing Allelujah
at the end of every section.
But with voices and violin
matched together,
the Allelujahs take on
a more sombre form:
not the hubris of certainty,
but a human hesitation
and self doubt, good listening
when a loved one has died.
Bach's wife and my friend and brother
deserve the wistfulness of hope,
Allelujah.
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