Defeminizing Virtue

Abstract

AbstractEighteenth-century Leipzig was one of the centers of the conversation about the participation of women in public life and especially in literature and the arts. Gender typologies are reflected in numerous works by Bach and especially in the cantatas written for secular occasions, such as celebrations in honor of the Electoral court in Dresden. The complex gender norms and typologies come into sharp relief in the cantata Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen BWV 213, which recounts the story of Hercules at the Crossroads. The way Bach and his librettist Picander tell the story is clearly gendered, locating Hercules’ desire for virtue in masculinity while depicting vice as a seductive woman. The gender relationship becomes more complex in the cantata Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten! BWV 214, honoring the Queen of Poland. The analysis of the cantata shows that it differentiates between the queen’s biological sex on the one hand and her political function on the other.