Part I. Constraints of history on interpretation. Bach against modernity ; Bach's handwritten entries in his Bible
Part II. Brief commentaries. Fractal gavottes and the ephemeral world in Bach's Cantata 64 ; Time and eternities in Bach's Cantata 23 ; Bach's Christmas oratorio and a blessed end ; Bach and art and Mammon
Part III. Texts. Historically informed renderings of the librettos from Bach's cantatas / Michael Marissen with coauthor Daniel R. Melamed
Part IV. Jews and Judaism. On the Jews and their so-called lies in the Fourth Gospel and Bach's St. John Passion ; Bach and sons in the Jewish salon culture of nineteenth-century Berlin
Part V. Theological character of secular instrumental music. Bach's sacred Brandenburg concertos ; The serious nature of the quodlibet in Bach's Goldberg variations.