I know, isn’t there enough out there written about J.S. Bach? At the end of last year (2014) I finished reading a fantastic book about the Bach Cello Suites called, The Cello Suites by Eric Siblin. Even if you aren’t a musician it would be a great book to read. Eric contrasts Bach’s life with that of Pablo Casals the great cellist who championed the six suites. He also writes about his own personal quest to learn about the suites and their history.After this blast of inspiration, I decided that I was going to start playing the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin on the guitar. Since I had some extra time on my hands, I decided that I was going to read one of the ultra-scholarly Bach books on my shelf in order to play the music in a more “authentic, historically accurate” way. I chose a good book to start with, Dance and the Music of J.S. Bach by Meredith Little and Natalie Jenne.
I knew full well that I had (and still do) a lot to learn about baroque music but I was floored by all of the fascinating things I was learning that I’d never heard before. My wife the blogger said, “YOU SHOULD WRITE A BLOG.” To which I responded… That’ll be the day. Another musician friend independently suggested that I start writing a book. Long story short, here I am.
Quick background on me: I’ve been playing the guitar for almost twenty years. I hold a bachelor’s degree in guitar performance from UNCSA and master’s in the same discipline from the University of Minnesota. I played with the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet for about four years. I’ve recently rediscovered my purpose in life which is to share music with others through performance, teaching, and conversation.
One more Bach blog “why:”
This blog’s purpose will be for sharing my discoveries with all of you. I hope that you can walk away from each post saying “Huh… who knew? I bet I can use that fact to play better” or “I already knew that (with a feeling of smug satisfaction).” Also, I’m interested to hear your thoughts on my posts – agree, disagree, expand upon, detract from… I welcome it all.
Please comment below – I hope to learn as much from you as you will learn from me.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Tim Lenz. No changes made: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
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Great blog! Can’t wait for the next installment!
Did you know that Bach’s music is full of numbers to achieve the universal harmony of God’s creation and the perfection of its proportions?
If A=1, B=2, C=3, etc., then B+A+C+H=2+1+3+8=14. In this system, both I and J have the value 9, therefore J+S+B+A+C+H= 41. Use of these “signatures” is more prevalent in his later works.
I highly recommend this book : Bach’s Numbers: Compositional: Proportion and Significance by Ruth Tatlow……
http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/music/eighteenth-century-music/bachs-numbers-compositional-proportion-and-significance?format=HB
A fascinating topic to explore!