Markus Rathey appointed the Tangeman Professor in the Practice of Music History

Markus Rathey, newly appointed as the Robert S. Tangeman Professor in the Practice of Music History, is a specialist in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, 17th and 18th century music, and the relationship between music, religion, and politics during the Enlightenment.

Rathey’s two recent books, both published in 2016, explore some of the most important works by Johann Sebastian Bach. His book “Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio: Music, Theology, Culture” is the first study of this composition in English and it not only sheds new light on Bach’s compositional practice but it also locates the oratorio within the religious and social landscape of 18^th century Germany. Rathey’s second recent book is an introduction to Bach’s Major Vocal Works. Within a the short time since its publication, the book has become a standard work on Bach’s sacred vocal music, praised for its depth but also its accessibility and as one reviewer highlights, a prime example for “bringing musicology to the public.” The book will appear in a Japanese translation in Summer 2017.

Earlier books by Rathey include a study of the Baroque composer Johann Rudolph Ahle, focusing on the relationship between compositional practice and the music market in the 17^th century, and a study of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s compositions for the Militia in Hamburg, which explores the pedagogical function of music within the Patriotism discourse in the second half of the 18^th century.

The Yale professor has published numerous articles on music by Bach, Mozart, Schütz, Buxtehude and their contemporaries in scholarly journals such as Eighteenth-Century Music, Early Music, Early Music History, Bach-Jahrbuch, and Schütz-Jahrbuch. He frequently serves as a commentator on J.S. Bach and on the relationship of music and religion for a number of major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and BBC Radio.

Rathey studied musicology, Protestant theology, and German in Bethel and Münster (Germany). He earned his Ph.D. at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. He taught at the University of Mainz and the University of Leipzig and was a research fellow at the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, before joining the Yale faculty in 2003.

Rathey is president of the American Bach Society and past president of the Forum on Music and Christian Scholarship. He currently serves on the editorial boards of BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute and the Yale Journal for Music and Religion.