One of my favorite little girls on earth loves to sit in the back seat or stand in the middle of the room holding an invisible karaoke microphone and belt out the refrain from the strangely popular movie Frozen, “Let it go, let it go / and I’ll rise like the break of dawn . . .” I find the song disturbing, though as a declaration of freedom from a young woman shedding the constraints of others’ expectations and the... Read more

“Komm, Sußer Tod” – “Come, sweet death.” So begins one of Bach’s most memorable sacred songs. Many love it for its exquisite music—a slow, contemplative movement through 21 measures in C minor that includes all twelve chromatic tones. The music alone reminds us that we cannot hasten the last things, but must, as Shakespeare puts it, endure our going hence even as our coming hither. The lyrics are sobering. Some even find them disturbing, as a friend of mine did... Read more