Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

Musicians everywhere celebrate today, the 21st of March, the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach. This is the 321st anniversary. Both of his parents were musical and from families who had served as town musicians of one sort or another for generations.

One of the preeminent geniuses of western civilization, he never traveled more than a couple of hundred miles from his birthplace, unlike his great cosmopolitan contemporary, Händel, who lived most of his creative life in London and who is buried in Westminster Abbey. Although much is made of Bach’s life of ordinary struggles, the cognoscenti understood that a giant walked among them. Like most geniuses, though, he was plagued by the bourgeoisie and worse and lacked political sense.

In 1724 for his first Good Friday at Leipzig, where he was kantor of the St. Thomas Kirche (the director of all musical activity) and where he spent the last 27 years of his life, he composed the St. John Passion, which, while theologically difficult, offers some exquisite musical insights. The town council, Bach’s employer, admonished him after the performance not to compose anything so complicated in the future. Five years later (or three years, depending on which authority one consults) he presented the St. Matthew Passion, a choral masterpiece, one of the high points (in a magnum opus that offered no low points, you understand) of his output. The town council responded by cutting his salary. The Leipzig Brahmins were upset. Too real. Too immediate. The suffering was too present. Then, as now, it usually is risky to challenge expectations or to afflict the comfortable.

Here are some recommendations for your listening pleasure:

Solo Instruments

Unaccompanied violin partita no. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006
The suites for unaccompanied cello BWV 1007-1012 (I heard Yo Yo Ma perform all six in one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended.)
The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, composed for double manual harpsichord, usually performed today on the piano. Glenn Gould made two recordings of this work, both memorable. Also can commend Rosalyn Turek’s recording
The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I and II. (I heard Daniel Barenboim perform Book I last year. Some of the critics didn’t like his “Romantic” interpretations. I’ll bow to whatever Barenboim wants to do. He is one of the most gifted musicians on the planet.)
Prelude and fugue in E flat Major (the St. Anne) for organ, BWV 552

Choral Works

St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244
Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248
Cantata No. 4, Christ Lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4
Mass in b minor, BWV 232

You cannot go wrong with Bach, but the unaccompanied violin partitas and the Brandenburg Concerti are a great place to start.