A recent story by the University of Cambridge, “Bach ache” highlights how Professor of Music History Bettina Varwig is exploring the ways 17th and 18th century listeners physically and spiritually responded to music, and she wants to see this kind of engagement among today's performers and audiences.
“Music contracted their innards and made their hearts leap. It could taste like vinegar in your throat. It could melt your earwax. It could draw your soul out of your body," said Varwig.
These days, “we are asked to leave our breathing, pulsing, feeling bodies at the door,” she said. “We want to use some of this history as an inspiration for doing things differently now.”
Listen to Varwig's interview on BBC Today at 1h26.