
The Master's Voice: What we know of Bach, and may never comprehend - tintinnabula
http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-masters-voice/article/2008586
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ktRolster
The article compares Bach to Handel saying "not a single work of Bach’s is
more beloved than Handel’s Messiah—and this is owing to that oratorio’s
undeniable, ineffable charm," and apparently Bach doesn't have charm.

Handel's _Messiah_ is popular in England because it was written in England, in
English, at a time when English municipal choirs were really gaining
popularity (choirs competed between towns, and police had to be dispatched to
stop brawls, just like footballers today). Bach's work hadn't yet been
translated into English yet, and by the time they made it to the islands the
age of choirs was dying down (although Britain still has wonderful choirs).

As for the lack of charm in Bach, listen to this melody and tell me it doesn't
have charm:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5kc5IxtbBk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5kc5IxtbBk)

It definitely has 'charm.'

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interfixus
This tune is not, as previously believed, Bach.

Which is not to say that Bach does not have charm. He has plenty.

[Edit: typo]

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levicole
Wow! TIL: Minuette in G Major was not written by Bach.

I agree there is plenty of charming music written by Bach.

[https://youtu.be/TYjqnlc7MRw](https://youtu.be/TYjqnlc7MRw)
[https://youtu.be/KyWOIKCtjiw](https://youtu.be/KyWOIKCtjiw)

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jancsika
In terms of their overall output, I think Bach tends more toward music that
sounds complex, heady, and ornate while Handel's sounds light and lyrical.

For example, listen to the unfinished fugue in C minor, BWV 906[1]. Once all
the voices have entered you can hear how there is a kind of game where Bach is
trying to cram as many cross-relations into each measure. When he starts
sequencing that disjoint tail of the melody it's about as dissonant as music
from that period can get. If you heard three people singing this a cappela
you'd think they were from Mars.

That's certainly experimental, but there are many other pieces/moments by Bach
that are similarly jarring. I'm going to rankly speculate that there is
_nothing_ in Handel's output even close to that (in the hopes that it spurs a
contrarian to provide me a link).

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrNDV82DVmc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrNDV82DVmc)
(starts about 5:10)

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gtycomb
English Conductor Sir. John Eliot Gardiner, who grew up singing and learning
Bach cantatas as a child, he has published a lovely book "Bach: Music in the
Castle of heaven". I think these lines from the very opening of his book will
also enlighten us --

"Bach the musician is an unfathomable genius; Bach the man is all too
obviously flawed, disappointingly ordinary and in many ways still invisible to
us. In fact we seem to know less about his private life than about that of any
other major composer of the last 400 years. Unlike, say, Monteverdi, Bach left
behind no intimate family correspondence, and very little beyond the anecdotal
has come down to us that can help in painting a more human portrait or to
allow a glimpse of him – as son, lover, husband or father. Perhaps there was a
fundamental reluctance in him to pull back the curtain and reveal himself;
unlike most of his contemporaries, he turned down the opportunity to submit a
written account of his life and career when the opportunity arose. The
limited, heavily edited version that we have inherited is one he himself spun
and handed down to his children. It is not surprising some have concluded that
Bach the man is something of a bore."

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ktRolster
If you like that, I recommend _JS Bach_ by Albert Schweitzer. A slightly
different perspective, but also good.

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JoeDaDude
This is a good time for a shameless plug for All of Bach [1] (Note: I have no
affiliation with the site).

[1] [http://allofbach.com/en/](http://allofbach.com/en/)

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emersonrsantos
Interesting thing not cited in the article: Bach's name is a melody, B-A-C-H,
where H is B-flat in german music notation. Various composers used that theme
to pay homage like Franz Liszt (Prelude and Fugue on BACH) and Max Reger
(Variations and Fugue on a Theme of BACH).

Also it's not cited that most Bach compositions were brought from obscurity by
composer Felix Mendelssohn in the 19th century.

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infimum
> where H is B-flat in german music notation

in german B is called H and B-flat is called B

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emersonrsantos
Sigh. Thanks for the correction.

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throwaway7645
There's an epic rap battles of history (Bach versus Justin Bieber). When the
below comments started talking about Bach's charm I immediately thought of
that video. You'll laugh if you have the humor of a teenager.

