Terry Mattingly, in an article entitled When Did Bach Find Time to Pray?, writes:
Most scholars secular and religious would even agree on why Bach wrote what he wrote. From all indications, the composer was a devout Lutheran and frequently annotated his manuscripts with initials such as "J.J.", for Jesu Juva (Help me, Jesus), and ended them with "S.D.G.", for Soli Deo Gloria (To God alone, the glory). Many of his masterworks were based on Scripture, hymns and classic Christian poetry.
But apparently this worship runs in more complex directions:
But Bach also used an ancient technique called "gematria", in which letters of the alphabet are assigned numerical values. This allows the composer to use intervals and the number of notes in a melody to make symbolic references to specific biblical words and doctrines. Bach also inserted music references to his own name.
Some examples of numerology in Bach's work are obvious, such as the 10 repetitions of the melody in "These are the holy 10 commandments". But then there are musical elements centering on the number three, for the Trinity, and four, for the New Testament Gospels. Patterns of five represent the five wounds Jesus suffered on the cross and, thus, the crucifixion. The number 12 represented the apostles. The list goes on and on.
So what was all this about?
Some scholars believe Bach was driven to do this by sheer talent and the sense of order in his imagination. His mind, in other words, was just wired that way. Others say this was a mental game, used to escape the boredom of his crushing workload such as the task of writing one 30-minute church cantata a week.
Which is all well and good. And when I think I'm overwhelmed with my own schedule, how about this:
Bach was astonishingly busy, especially when he was a civil servant charged with overseeing the music in four Leipzig churches. He was married twice, a widow once and had 20 children. He taught music lessons and Latin classes. He rehearsed and performed his own organ works and directed the local boys' choirs. Yet the Bach-Gesellschaft company has published 65 volumes of music, even though experts believe at least half of Bach's works are missing.
If anyone, Bach would qualify as "Too Busy to Pray," right? Well . . .
Many scholars have asked: When did Bach find time to compose? But Kavanaugh is fascinated by another question: When did Bach find time to pray? Both questions may have the same answer.
"Perhaps all of these symbolic numbers and patterns were something Bach did as a kind of meditation", said Kavanaugh. "This may have been his own personal way of worshipping God. And in the end, it didn't matter if anyone else figured it all out. He was writing his music for a different audience. This was between him and the Lord".
Now maybe there's a lesson here. Make my work prayer? Hmmmm. Romans 12:1-2 comes to mind. What I do with my body is potential worship.
Posted by Clifton at February 24, 2003 01:56 PM | TrackBack