Fantastic writing but from wrong guy .He has no idea, none, how deeply Bach was committed to God .
His Lutheran religion does not want you to be pious or submissive but to be humble .
Humility is having an accurate assessment of both the best of you and the worst of you, which Bach did . He knew what he was worth and asked for it.To an Orthodox Lutheran , which he was, that is standing in front of God
and accepting his Grace as his child , not his slave .
There were pious elements in the Leipzig city government that wanted him to write their way, he never did but came out against them clearly in the
cantata’s and passions . Back would no more revolt against God than, well you name it .
On every piece he wrote were the words "Ruhm gottgegeben" ."The Glory is to God"You can not understand Bach without understanding his religion .Said , clearly does not , indeed from his writing I doubt if he has any himself.
The best book about Bach, by far, I have ever read is John Eliot Gardiner’s "Music In The Castle of Heaven ". Gardiner is one of the greatest musicians alive and a fine writer of this great book. Not an easy read but an uplifting one.
Gardiner ends the book ,pg 558 so:.
" Beethoven tells us what a terrible struggle it is to transcend human frailties.......Mozart shows us the kind of music we might hope to hear in heaven. But it is Bach, making music in the Castle of Heaven who gives us the the voice of God-in human form.He is the one who blazes a trail, showing us how to overcome our imperfections through the perfections of his music , to make divine things human and human things divine ".
To which I say , Amen and Amen .
His Lutheran religion does not want you to be pious or submissive but to be humble .
Humility is having an accurate assessment of both the best of you and the worst of you, which Bach did . He knew what he was worth and asked for it.To an Orthodox Lutheran , which he was, that is standing in front of God
and accepting his Grace as his child , not his slave .
There were pious elements in the Leipzig city government that wanted him to write their way, he never did but came out against them clearly in the
cantata’s and passions . Back would no more revolt against God than, well you name it .
On every piece he wrote were the words "Ruhm gottgegeben" ."The Glory is to God"You can not understand Bach without understanding his religion .Said , clearly does not , indeed from his writing I doubt if he has any himself.
The best book about Bach, by far, I have ever read is John Eliot Gardiner’s "Music In The Castle of Heaven ". Gardiner is one of the greatest musicians alive and a fine writer of this great book. Not an easy read but an uplifting one.
Gardiner ends the book ,pg 558 so:.
" Beethoven tells us what a terrible struggle it is to transcend human frailties.......Mozart shows us the kind of music we might hope to hear in heaven. But it is Bach, making music in the Castle of Heaven who gives us the the voice of God-in human form.He is the one who blazes a trail, showing us how to overcome our imperfections through the perfections of his music , to make divine things human and human things divine ".
To which I say , Amen and Amen .