BACH, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750)

Analysis of Mass in B Minor (coming soon)

The Spiritual Essence of Bach

- by Arthur David Sulit
Music Timeline Author and Artist
Revised August 2005

It is difficult to fully appreciate Bach, without first understanding his faith. And to understand such a composer's faith, one might literally have to live it. This is a tenuous prospect indeed for those who are not believers in Christ, or who are not Lutheran, or who aren't musicians. That is no matter, however, since his music has a mysterious, universal quality which inspires awe to any beholder, wheather or not one believes in Christ. How ironic that Japan, 75% being non-religious, the remaining 1% being Christian, and 24% Shinto or Buddist, is an ardent lover of Bach, while most of the so-called Christian Euro-American nations have mostly lost faith in Bach.

I myself am a practising Catholic, still trying to understand his distinctly Lutheran aspects from the outside. Due to theological differences, it might be too much to ask of me to "become" Lutheran; and I realize the difficulty this poses me in understanding his works at the deepest level. However, Bach himself apparently struggled with this same question as regards the Catholic faith. Lutherans only have "services"--they do not have Mass--yet, Bach wrote some Masses, trying to get a foothold among Catholic circles too. Perhaps he felt, as most of us do by nature, a deep inner desire for peace among nations & denominations, united by a common desire for union with the One God. Music is a profound common thread, able to speak to all with or without faith, able to reveal the character and state of mind of the composer and/or player.

With Shakespeare, who was Catholic, it is doubtful that non-Catholics can experience the same intensity of emotion in, say, his scene where Hamlet contemplates not killing the King while in a state of Grace, since the latter had just Confessed and was absolved. Hamlet saves his sword instead for later when the King has again fallen in Sin, dreaming in bed, of sexual fantasization & masturbation-pollution, which is considered a mortal sin in traditional Catholic circles. Especially whenever people "regularly give themselves in" to such temptations, neglecting the help of the Sacraments, the greater the fall. Hamlet's tortured monologue whereby he'd rather wait and send the King straight to Hell, than to the folds of Heaven is received attentively by a conscious Catholic, but might appear entirely ridiculous or even ludicrous to a non-Catholic. The feelings for a practising Catholic would be intense, whereas a non-Catholic would merely dismiss the scene nonchalantly as lukewarm, a testament to the vanity of Catholics. A Catholic would say, "What a great scene!" A non-Catholic might say, "Whatver".

Similarly with Bach, I sometimes wonder if non-Lutherans (myself included) can experience / understand his music with the same intensity as a Northern German Lutheran of his time period. Without some sort of faith, there is simply too much that Bach is saying, which would be readily dismissed or outright ignored by a non-believer. Not to mention his Chorales written in German, seem like gibberish to me. However the pure musical notes, such as in 'When Adam Fell the Human Race', with its descending motifs, speak to me with profound clarity regardless of language, merely because I believe in the doctrine of Original Sin. There, I feel a special closeness with Bach. A non-believer, however, might play this piece wrong, perhaps too briskly, too dismissively, trying to rush through a piece which should be sad, drawn-out and tortured.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a time machine and language-brain-swapper where one can literally enter the time period and culture of the great composers, and therefore gain the apparatus to think more astutely about his/her works? Until that happens, can anyone really capture the essence of Bach? Probably not. But as a modern composer who's works are also motivated by a love of Christ, I offer here a "different" kind of bio which is not covered in most other accounts. I will attempt to capture the "spiritual essence" of Bach.

To many people, his organ Preludes, Passacaglia, Toccatas and Fugues are a glimpse into Heaven itself. There can be no doubt that his music has drawn billions of people (of all faiths or no faiths) into churches and cathedrals worldwide over the centuries. How else can we explain that the young Bach was himself drawn to walk his famous 200 miles to Rome, to hear the organ music of his beloved predecessor, Dietrich Buxtehude? Surely, Bach had a calling, with his internal antennae increasingly receptive; and he responded with great music in return.

Witness also the great conflicts and major turning points in human history, caused by beliefs important enough to defend. Despite all the witchhunts, crusades, jihads, holocausts and pogroms, people of all walks are still mysteriously drawn to Bach's music, as if it were written by God himself. This universal quality seems to have embedded itself into the genetics of much modern music today, from jazz to rock and film soundtrack music. We are profoundly indebted to Bach for his refinement of melodic polyphony, with ostinato bass lines and rich harmonies inseparable or implied from the melodies.

Bach seems to have had a special link on a higher plane of existence with his Creator, which few composers achieved before or since. I know first-hand that great music can come in a dream, when you wake up, as if deposited there by some mysterious force or intelligence. (ref. Carl Jung). Whether or not it is your own Intelligence or God's, seems to be the main question. The egotist, or anti-God person, would say it is merely one's own intelligence from Darwinian evolution. But a believer might be more apt to say it was both himself and God, working together. I happen to be of the latter opinion, and I am certain Bach would have been too.

Comedian George Carlin said that your subconscious does a lot of the creative work for you. The real work is in capturing it, in writing down what you only saw in a flash of inspiration. However, the skill in perceiving it and putting it to paper does demand a great deal of experience, and work, as well as inate talent. One has to be naturally attuned to these revelations arriving constantly from the subconscious. The great artists are highly self-developed, self-attuned, via constant practice, as in the contemplative prayer of the Carmelites, as if having antennaes of gold able to grab whispers of insight from even the faintest signals in the air. They appreciate it as either a revelation from God, or merely the machinations of a pseudo-divine self-ego. And as with any great painting, this work is achieved by Design--the composer's, and God's (if you believe).

An artist's natural progression in music rarely goes backwards. Rather, it matures. Like the Jack in the Beanstalk story, it's a seed, when planted on good ground, which can grow higher than the clouds if only you water it. Unfortunately, most of us are not born with as much fertile ground or work ethic as Bach, but at least we can try to appreciate, and will always improve with more listening. Most people can only appreciate Bach from a distance, merely because they have not bothered to really develop their own listening, or composing facilities. The Japanese, for instance, are great admirers of Bach--but they have yet to produce a well-known composer on par with Bach. Is there something missing? Maybe part of it is faith. There is a saying howver, that everyone can sing, if only taught how.

What would Bach's stance be today, on the pro-choice or pro-life debate? His answer would seem obvious, from listening carefully to his music and his life story. An extremely prolific composer, he was also a highly procreative one, having twenty children by two wives (the first wife died early). Rather than liquidate the fetuses in order to curb overpopulation in some minority of cities, he might say, "Why don't you all move to Wyoming?" Space is plentiful there, as in 100,000 other provinces for the next 1000 years. We have the means...even to move underwater or to Mars if need be. The Universe is ours for the taking, if only we'd divert more of our resources back to education (including music) rather than churning out dumb people on purpose.

Bach clearly had an intense desire to make a difference for humanity, through his faith expressed in music, and fidelity expressed to his wife and family, and community. Although certainly he suffered abuse at the hands of some of his royal employers, ostracized, fired, and even jailed for disobedience (as I nearly was), he remained true to his art. Perhaps he felt, as I do, that his music are his children, so there is, as we might say, "a whole lot of lovin' goin' on".

Bach's musical motifs were intertwined ingeniously like that of a master basket-weaver. He also knew the science of acoustics, able to judge a room's sonic response upon walking in, examining the dimensions, the materials, the acoustic cavities hewn in the rock. His musical Inventions are very mathematical, and his tunings very perceptive. His book, ' The Well-Tempered Clavier' explored the human perception of alternate tunings, the tempered scales, where certain notes, particularly the third and the fifth, were slightly de-tuned to achieve more even tone in certain keys.

Many scientists since then have based their sound experements on the publications of Bach. Indeed, we owe much of our understanding of technology, radio frequencies, cell phones, musical structure, as well as musical technology (soundwaves, tone generators, etc.) to the early experements of Bach. Albert Einsten, the great physicist and a violinist himself, attributed his discovery of general relativity, to his immersement in physically playing Bach on his violin. St. Augustine once said that great music leads the mind to higher things, as apparently was the case with Einstein. So perhaps Economists, with their credit given thus far only to scientists and inventors and themselves, should take note, and include Bach and other composers among the great contributors to our technology, our education, our productivity, and therefore our Economy.  

Bach's pipe organ works are probably the best ever written. As a sensitive, perceptive musician, he saw so many people asleep, slaves to greed and avarice, diabolos (tearing apart), vanity and sloth, simpletons swearing mindlessly left and right, not on their guard aginst the Devil. His music has long been regarded as "extroverted", with meaning in plain sight. Unlike an artist such as, say, George Lucas, the introverted filmmaker who's power lies in the obscured and the under-stated, Bach came right out and said it.

And so he spoke, creating a tremendous body of work designed to inspire a "closeness" to God , to awaken people from their sleep (Sleepers Awake - "Wachet Auf"). That was his ultimate charity to us, showing us a glimpse of the heavenly Kingdom through his majestic organ works (hear 'Tocatta, Adagio and Fugue in C major'), and praying for us wretched souls by offering up his chorale music (hear ' When Adam Fell, the Human Race'). His own bodily sacrifice was his breathtaking labor of music on our behalf, for God. And so he walked the example of Christ, offering up his own body, sacrificing many comforts and securities, so that mankind can get a glimpse of the Heaven that he saw.

If Nostradamus was the events prophet of our times, perhaps Bach was the musical prophet of mankind, whose notes containted within it the genetic patterns of God's Word in music. And those composers who take the time to study Bach's works carefully, will find a veritable bible of material on music from which to speak musical sermons of their own, with greater effectiveness.

Even for pop songrwriters today, I do believe that the best among them have been ardent students of Bach at one point or another. Notice, for insance, how richly-textured much of Billy Joel's work is, or how largely orchestrated is Christina Aguilera's arrangement of 'Reflections' (from the movie 'Mulan'). Even in hip-hop circles, there seems to be a rise in classical-inspired polyphony, and this music by and large, sounds better to my ears harmonically than the early hip hop coming out in the 80's. The hit song, 'Beth' by the 70's super-group Kiss, is a timeless masterpiece, and has a beautifully orchestrated contrapuntal cello solo in the middle, which seems to tip its hat to Bach.

From my viewpoint, it is relatively easy to detect the songwriter who lacks tutelage under Bach--for their works seem bland by comparison. Whereas the students of Bach (Chopin and Mozart included) tend to possess the "mysterious" marriage or richness of melody and harmony which makes a work truly beautiful and timeless.

If anything is to be gleaned from this bio, then perhaps here are some words of advice to the persons seeking to understand Bach's music. Firstly, all aspiring songwriters should take the time to learn to play some of Bach's works. I'd start with the "easy" Anna-Magdalena Bach songbook, which is a collection of tiny works such as Menuets written for Bach's little children, compiled by his second wife Anna. One can adopt these easily to guitar, woodwinds, brass just as easily as for piano, harpsichord or organ. That was one of the first books my organ teacher, Margerie Seils, gave me, at the age of eight; and I am forever grateful. I will post my own performances on this site for you to preview. Only by playing, can you really get inside the notes, and hear the inner parts. Playing develops your inner ear, which is vital for songwriting. Those are your "golden antennae" which will heighten your hearing and intellectual perceptions across other disciplines as well.

Secondly, try to "get inside" of Bach's primary source material, the Bible. Bach claimed, as I do, that God was a primary source of inspiration. But one cannot be "attuned" to this type of inspiration unless they believe in something. You have to believe in someone, be it your President, your mother, your father, a friend, and be willing to sacrifice a large chunk of your life or livelihood towards that person. Even if you do not believe in a God, at least most people have friends they can turn to. Use that as source material, and keep on pushing your limits of understanding by challenging others as you do yourself.

Writing great music is a contest of egos--your own versus God's. To me, I can smell an agnostic's music from miles away, merely because of the "rebellious egotism" inherent in their sounds, thinking that they can do better than (or without) God. That is not to say there isn't any beauty in such dark person's works...far from it. For instance the hauntingly beautiful piano music of Frederic Nietzsche shows true genius, but one that is not enlightened by a faith in God. While he correctly pointed out the vanity, ignorance and "blind faith" of most people of God, he failed to offer a solution / vision on par with Bach's. In his famous philosophical novel, 'The Will to Power', Nietzsche parodied the people proclaiming "God is dead," and therefore the people have to rise up to their own powers, the superman ego.

Whereas in Bach's, Mozart's and Chopin's music, I hear a distinct submssion of their own ego to God's. Therefore, their work is mostly devotional art, as musical prayers, designed to share and spread one's faith through the sacred ministry of beauty. As Pope John Paul II puts it, the artist's work, even when it reflects the darkest human conditions, is "a valid form of apostolate". They "let Him do" more of the work, so that all the more grace and beauty flows forth from their own pen.

The closest parallel in the atheist world is that of "letting your subconscious" do all the work for you. But even that takes a leap of faith (albeit in yourself). If you are audacious enough to believe you don't need anybody except yourself, then be forewarned that this will reveal itself in your music, and most people won't like your results. Most people would be averse to Nietszche's music if they heard it, or Schoenberg's. However, Bach, almost everyone is willing to listen to.

Just as people claim the authors of the Bible were moved by God's hand (because they let Him), composers should do so too. And God moves (animates?) every person differently, so it is just a matter of turning that radio dial within yourself (via hard work and practice) until you find the right frequency that is right for you.

Thirdly, love your fellow man with all your might, and pray for thine enemies. You don't have to like them, and can even love them while doing combat with them. Nothing like a good fist in the mouth as a sign of brotherly love, aye mate? Life is a pot of suffering, and the wise one gets up and learns from it, or tries to make a difference. Pray, or meditate daily, 15 minutes to an hour each morning. This is how you "become attuned" to yourself and your surroundings, and elevate yourself closer to your true potential. Put your brain in receptive mode, and learn to capture whispers in the air. Like an actor, you can actually train yourself to become like the person you're trying to understand, and therefore inherit some of his/her capabilities. This can be a two-edged sword; but you'll be amazed with yourself, and grateful for finally understanding some of Bach's traits, which you can then put to use in your own way, in many walks of life.

Fourthly, share your newfound knowledge of Bach, as I am sharing with you now. Instead of buying perishable toys or clothing as gifts for loved ones (which will only get thrown away), why not buy them something of more permanent life-value, such as Bach-oriented CD's. This will help support today's Bach-aware artists, so that they in turn, can bring this best music of Christ to more people. What you are reading here, and across the whole Music Timeline, is part of my Musical Missionary Catalog--bringing classical music education to the masses with music videos and exciting animations. Literally and figuratively, it is spiritual food for the soul, and has profound healing powers.

The world could use more people attuned to Bach, as his is a training ground for the ear, and in listening skills in general. Such knowledge, when shared in greater numbers, has inherent power to transform our world for the better, for his music is like God's Word sent from heaven, overflowing with love for one another, and esteem & respect for one's self.

I hope with these words, I have summarized the essence of Bach.