海角大神

Before NASA launched the Voyager spacecraft in 1977, astronomer Carl Sagan suggested that聽sending music to space would convey an聽essential truth聽about our species to any inhabitants of distant worlds. The biologist Lewis Thomas answered Sagan's request for ideas on possible聽music with this famous聽remark: "I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach." He paused before聽adding, "But聽that would be boasting."聽

Humanity opted to boast. While聽we did not include聽Bach's聽entire oeuvre,聽he is the most represented composer on the so-called 鈥淕olden Record鈥� sent聽with聽Voyager, which reportedly left our solar system about one year ago.听

That Bach's聽music was聽later deemed an emblematic achievement of our species would聽have shocked his contemporaries. He was in many ways a provincial composer聽situated in the specific religious and聽musical traditions of German Lutheranism in the early 18th century. This seemed聽to be Nietzsche's sentiment in 1878聽when he wrote, 鈥淚n Bach there is聽too much crude 海角大神ity, crude Germanism, crude scholasticism.听At the聽threshold of modern European music... he聽is always looking back toward the Middle Ages.鈥� The tension between the transcendent聽appeal of聽Bach's music聽and its more humble origins is a major theme聽in聽Bach:聽Music in the Castle聽of Heaven, a compelling聽new biography聽by conductor John Eliot Gardiner.听

Though聽Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton had already offered satisfying secular explanations for a range of earthly and celestial phenomena,聽Bach's education聽in the late 17th and early 18th century was still thoroughly religious. He recited by rote聽key points of Lutheran doctrine, read selected classical authors from a theological vantage,聽and even learned basic numeracy in relation to Scripture. The celebrated mathematical structures and symmetries of his music, in other words,聽do not seem to flow directly from his formal education.

Contemporary lovers of聽Bach's聽music often tend to ignore the religious content and conviction that animates many of his greatest works. It's common to assume that Bach聽wrote extraordinary music despite the limitations and superstitions of his time; maybe聽his lifelong role as a church organist, cantor,聽and composer merely provided an impetus to compose and a聽salary. So was聽Bach a聽visionary struggling against the stifling provincialism of his circumstances, or did a聽life of limited travel and deep immersion in religious texts nourish and motivate his compositions? Gardiner聽suggests an answer that subtly combines these stark possibilities.听

The idea that religious music must also be conservative and聽dull聽was challenged as early as the 16th century when Martin Luther asked why the Devil should have all the good tunes. Luther saw聽the utility of music largely in terms of its capacity to express the themes and stories of the Bible, but he also realized that the power of music could often eclipse聽the聽eloquence of words. "The notes make the words live,"聽he wrote.听

Bach could sometimes聽imbue words with alarming vitality. 聽His cantatas聽offer musical depictions聽of nails being driven into the flesh of Christ, the trembling conscience of a sinner,聽and the sounds of howling and chattering teeth, to name a few examples. The cantatas also conjure pus, boils, and sin; one opens with the words "my heart swims in blood, for sin's聽brood聽turns me into a monster in God's eyes." Though聽his themes and imagery were religious and conservative, Bach聽was wildly聽innovative in his musical techniques. "God save us, my children," an old woman exclaimed in horror聽at the premiere of his聽St. John Passion, "it's just as if one were present at an opera comedy." 聽Though opera聽was clearly聽a byword for聽daring and radical music, many of the operatic composers of聽Bach's day聽now seem hopelessly conventional. His聽religious music, by contrast, continues to startle and move listeners around the world.听

Contrary to Nietzsche's complaint,聽Bach's聽music could shock with the disruptive force of its novelty and聽dramatic power. Gardiner聽makes a compelling case that this is true not despite but because of Bach's聽deep engagement with religious texts.听The Gospels furnished him聽with some of the universal themes that have聽obsessed novelists and philosophers in every age: the nature of good and evil and the human wavering between faith and doubt,聽hope and despair. 聽If his goal were聽merely to earn a living by composing church music, we聽might expect to find him doing the bare minimum to meet his official obligations while saving聽the majority of his innovations for聽secular genres. But throughout聽his life, he composed far more religious works than his church duties required, and many of these were dazzling in complexity and originality.听Indeed, his stated goal as a composer was to create "a聽well-regulated or orderly church music to the glory of God."聽

He was so committed to this aim聽that he was even willing to offend his employers if they interfered with its realization. When聽Bach聽returned from a聽four-month trip spent studying with a聽famous organist, his employers pointed out that he had聽only requested聽a month's leave聽and demanded to know why he had been absent so long. "In order to comprehend one thing and another about [my]聽art,"聽was his unabashed聽reply. 聽Since his goal was to write music that聽glorified God, even church officials could be ignored when they obstructed his progress.

Religion also seems to have provided him with personal consolations as well as musical inspiration. In Leipzig, he composed amid the din聽and disorder of a聽rowdy school where the boys did things like burn mice over candles and leave their聽remains on teachers'聽chairs. He also had to endure the frequent boredom and incomprehension of churchgoers, many of whom arrived late, talked loudly, read newspapers, or even brought dogs to services. Certain lines from the cantatas聽acquire new meaning in this context.听 The repeated command 鈥渂e silent鈥� seems to speak directly to noisy listeners and captures聽the feistier side of聽Bach,聽while the line "I am content聽with the office the dear God has allotted me"聽reflects聽acceptance of the many obstacles that made the fulfillment of his life's work difficult.

Gardiner presents a nuanced account of the constellation of personal, musical, religious, and聽cultural forces that shaped聽Bach's astonishing body of compositions. He writes with the care of a聽scholar, the knowledge of an expert聽musician, and the passion of a believer (in聽Bach if nothing else).听

One consistent strain聽throughout Bach's聽life was the ubiquity of death. His聽parents both died when he was only nine, and 12 of his 20 children died in infancy. By dramatizing through music the basic human need to seek聽the meaning of death,聽Bach explored聽themes that are just as universal as the musical language he pioneered to express them. A few months after he lost a child in聽1726, he聽wrote "BWV 27," a聽cantata that opens with these words: "Who knows how near is my end?聽Time goes by, death approaches."

Nick Romeo is a Monitor contributor.