Pietism was a Protestant renewal movement, which developed in response to what was perceived as a decline in Orthodox Lutheranism by the time of the mid-seventeenth century. So did Bach ever hold Pietist views?
In this article from the RCO Journal of 2017, John Scott Whiteley examines Bach's selection of traditional hymns for the Orgelbuchlein, and the tensions between Pietism and Lutheran Orthodoxy in his sources. Bach’s proximity to the hermeneutics of Johann Christoph Olearius and others making accommodation with Pietism is unquestionable, but can empathy be inferred from Bach's choice of texts and corresponding music in the Orgelbuchlein?
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