English translations of Bach arias

Need some help with your German? 

One online resource I like to use is https://www.vmii.org, which stands for Vocal Music Instrumentation Index. If you play J.S. Bach arias and need to understand the German text (which you should because you'll be even more amazed by Bach's ingenious qualities!), you'll be delighted to find high-quality English translations here. The site is well organized and also has a nice cataloging system which is easy to navigate.

If I'm preparing a lecture, I direct my learners to here and also like to think through the translations myself, perhaps swapping out a word or two which I believe would represent better the nuance of the German language, not to mention also to just make sure that everything is correct. One word can make a big difference in the implied rhetoric, the emotion of the music! An example which shows up again and again in various translations is the aria "Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben" (St. Matthew Passion), which should translate to "Out of love, my Savior wants to die", not "will die". 

Practicing the art of translation is a fun thing for me!