Bach: Unrecognized Genius
by Lucia McKelvey
"When Johann Sebastian Bach died in 1750, no
wave of grief swept across musical Europe. No
commemorative concerts were held. His employ
ers, the city council of Leipzig, met next day and
settled the appointment of his successor, but they
passed no motion of regret at Bach's death nor
any message of condolence to his widow. The
man in charge of their church music, a rather
stubborn character, had died; that was all."*
Bach's grave was lost among the nameless until
scientific researchers found it. Anatomists and
anthropologists identified an exhumed body and
it was re-buried inside the Church of St. John in
Leipzig. All this 200 years after his deathi
During his lifetime Bach's works were recog
nized as masterpieces by some. Others, however,
called his compositions "turgid and confused." He
was also labeled "conservative" because he re
sisted incorporating the more secular strains (Ital
ian Opera, French dance music) into his scores.
He was also reprimanded by his employers for
making surprise variations in the chorals and
"intermixing divers strange sounds so that thereby
the congregation was confounded."
He was, however, sought out by Frederick the
Great, King of Prussia, who was an accomplished
musician himself. As a result of Bach's visit to Fre
derick's court, one of Bach's greatest works
emerged—the Musical Offering. It is said Fre
derick "challenged" Bach to perform a Fugue in six
parts. He proceeded to improvise one on the
organ, and after he returned home, put it down
on paper and dedicated it to Frederick.
Douglas Hofstadter, in his book, Godel, Escher
and Bach. An Eternal Golden Braid, says that
improvising a six-part fugue is like the "playing of
60 simultaneous blindfold games of chess, and
winning them all! To write a decent fugue of even
two voices based on it would not be easy for the
average musician."
This computer scientist goes on to talk about
Bach's genius by describing the Canon per Tonos,
also part of the Musical Offering: "What makes
this canon different from any other is that when it
concludes—or rather seems to conclude—it is no
longer in the key of C minor, but is now in D
minor . . . this "ending" ties smoothly onto the be
ginning again; thus one can repeat the process and
return in the key of E, only to join again to the be
ginning . . . magically, after exactly six such
modulations (key changes), the original key of C
minor has been restored. All the voices are one
octave higher than they were at the beginning . . .
the implication (being) that this process could go
on ad infinitum."
This would be an example of what Hofstadter
caUs a "Strange Loop." 'The Strange Loop pheno
menon occurs whenever, by moving upward (or
downward) through the levels of some hier
archical system, we unexpectedly find ourselves
right back where we started." Just as Bach's music
can loop around back to its beginning, like a
snake eating its own tail, so do M.C. Escher's
drawings. Anyone familiar with them could agree
with Hofstadter's description: "The genius of
Escher was that he could not only concoct, but ac
tually portray, dozens of half-real, half-mythical
worlds, worlds filled with Strange Loops, which
he seems to be inviting his viewers to enter.
'Implicit in the concept of Strange Loops is the
concept of infinity, since what else is a loop but a
way of representing an endless process in a finite
way? And infinity plays a large role in many of
Esther's drawings. Copies of one single theme
often fit into each other, forming visual analogues
to the canons of Bach."
This Strange Loop phenomenon also appears in
mathematics (Godel), religion, psychology and in
other artistic works. There seems to be a loop
itself connecting certain modern geniuses. From dif
ferent angles they seem to be describing the same
paradox: the beginning is the end, the end is the
beginning!
And so, Bach's legacy lives on. Each age will
probably see him in a different light. Being a
church composer and conductor for the city, his
works were always available to the people, as op
posed to, say, Handel, who was a court com
poser. After marrying the second time, he search
ed for a "new home near good Lutheran schools."
This would be important to a man with 18
children. The Bach family (before and after J.S.)
contributed over 50 musicians to the world. As a
musical dynasty, it is unrivaled.
J.S. Bach's choral works carried the genre to its
"ultimate and unsurpassable height." The instru
mental works were carried to a "spiritual and ar
tistic depth which could not be fathomed by his
contemporaries."
Helmuth Rilling, artistic director and conductor
of the Oregon Bach Festival, has met with world
wide acclaim for his interpretations of Bach's
music. The two-week festival will be attended by
over 200 students and performers. Thousands will
visit Eugene between June 16-30 to hear this out
standing collection of musicians. An intense
schedule of concerts and workshops will keep
them all very busy, and many of us entertained.
There will be concerts in the Hult Center and Beall
Hall at noon, 5:15 pm and 8:30 pm nearly every
day. Special events include UO classes, a Lecture
Series, the Bach Supper (the annual benefit picnic
on June 22), and the Bach Run (on June 16). Six
Master Classes will also be taught. Various con
certs will also be re-broadcast as well as broadcast
live during the Festival on KWAX 91 FM.
*Quote taken from A Short History of Western Music by Arthur
Jacobs,
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WISTEC’s hours are 12-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday -0
For your copy of the class schedule, call WISTEC at 484-9027
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