When I was 13 years old, I was asked to sing in my school choral society. This was not anything I had ever considered, and I was really reluctant. I thought I would spend time doing far more productive things...like...reading, doing homework, reading a bit more (granted, I was not a typical teen!). However, my piano teacher, Mr Harvey, gave me no option. So I went. Begrudgingly. And then I met Bach - oh my goodness. How amazing was he? This B Minor Mass malarkey is really very exciting, and emotional, and hard! That's when I fell in love with Bach: my GOAT!
As a teacher, and a lover of learning (and unrepentant geek), I love that Bach teaches the musicians as they engage with his music. His beloved Well-Tempered Clavier was indeed written precisely for that reason - to teach his children - but throughout time, his music has had an astonishing influence on composers. Yes, composers such as Verdi, who said "O you happy sons of the North who have been reared at the bosom of Bach, how I envy you", but also contemporary composers such as Paul McCartney and Paul Simon - Bach's "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" was direct inspiration for "Bridge over Troubled Water" (have a listen!).
As many of the greats, he was not so popular in his lifetime, and indeed the B Minor Mass was not performed until 100 years after his death, but he wrote prolifically, composing weekly for Sunday services, and creating half a dozen Passions and 300 Cantatas, of which 200 have survived. Although he did not write operas, his music is still "operatic" - just unstaged. It rewards both the human voice and spirit, reflecting compassion, the human condition and our contemplation of death. His compositions are tense, complex, and full of profound emotion. There is a variety of colour, and so many notes! But it is elegant. Despite having somewhat widened my choral repertoire since my first foray, aged 13, I keep coming back to Bach.
Douglas Adams said, "I don't think a greater genius has walked the Earth. Of the 3 great composers, Mozart tells us what it's like to be human, Beethoven tells us what it's like to be Beethoven, and Bach tells us what it's like to be the Universe." Quite a statement. One perhaps with which you may disagree...but I challenge you to come and listen to his Motets and Cello Suites in Leicester, on 9th November, and decide for yourselves!
Comments