Aurora Bachiana: A Musical and Spiritual Experience

Type: Short Paper [Experience Report] · Article nº 457

Authors: Salete Maria Chiamulera Böhler

Presenter: Salete Maria Chiamulera Böhler

Institution: UNESPAR

ISME Member ID: 2900   -   E-mail: saletechiamulera@gmail.com

Abstract

“From Night to Day… From Darkness to Light… From Childhood to Maturity… From ‘Exercise’ to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring… From the ‘Body of Christ’ to Corpus Christi.” Thirty-three works from the Bachian universe—preludes, dances, inventions, and fugues—form the core of a sensory, musical, and spiritual experience: a dawn celebration with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, entitled Aurora Bachiana.

This memorial documents a cycle of Auroras Bachianas held in a church located in Brazil (2025). Each event began precisely at 5:33 a.m. and lasted 60 minutes. The performances were designed to honor Bach’s legacy through the sequential execution of thirty-three selected keyboard works, performed without interruption and structured as a four-movement Baroque sonata. The musical journey unfolds from the stillness of night to the illumination of dawn, culminating in Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, a symbolic representation of spiritual fulfillment and the transformation of piano performance—from Baroque stylistic interpretation to pianistic virtuosity in arranged works.

The project is grounded in the principles of performative music education (Regelski, 2005; Elliott & Silverman, 2015), emphasizing music as a lived experience and transformative practice. It also engages with the spiritual dimension of Bach’s music, understood as “theological narratives” (Gardiner, 2013). Conceived as an auditory ritual, the performance integrates analytical and historical dimensions, presented in didactic sessions prior to the early-morning musical experience, utilizing meticulously prepared instructional materials.

The selection of thirty-three works—ranging from simple to complex—reflects educational aspects of Bach’s repertoire. The lighting design reinforces the dawn metaphor (Greene, 1995). This study also explores analytical dimensions by transliterating into instrumental compositions the musical figures originally found in Bach’s vocal works (Schweitzer, 1960). By transforming this performative practice into an experience report, Aurora Bachiana invites educators and researchers to reflect on the boundaries between musical experience and spirituality, proposed not only as a musical experience but also as a space for reflection and transcendence.

References

Elliott, D. J., & Silverman, M. (2015). Music Matters: A Philosophy of Music Education (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Gardiner, J. E. (2013). Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach. Alfred A. Knopf.

Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the Imagination. Jossey-Bass.

Regelski, T. A. (2005). Music Education for Changing Times. Springer.

Schweitzer, A. (1960). J. S. Bach (2nd ed.). Adam & Charles Black.