Bach Chronicles, #1-The Subversive

Bach is described as a subversive by the renowned musicologist Lawrence Dreyfus who provides detailed reasons and rationale. Not a great deal is known about Bach’s personal life but there are a few details that are telling.  He was orphaned by age 10 and fathered 20 children before he died at age 65.  

Finding descriptions of Bach reveal variations of unlimited superlatives.  Dreyfus references Beethoven’s charming description of Bach. The word “Bach” in German means brook, to which Beethoven responded:  “Not brook but ocean should be his name.”  
Dreyfus, a consummate Bach scholar states that by “subverting conventional notions of pleasure, words, propriety, invention, nature and piety, Bach invites a new relation with each.” Dreyfus provides musical detail that amplifies each of these categories and argues that  Bach’s work challenged a “system of beliefs about music—and undermined widely acclaimed principles and closely guarded assumptions”

Pablo Casals said this: “Bach is the supreme genius of music. This man who knows everything and feels everything cannot write one note which is anything but transcendent.” Bach defied expectations at every turn.

One example of Bach’s rebellious nature is the use of the 12 tone scale. Unlike the rest of the western world who largely confined themselves to key centers and modes, Bach was willing to throw caution to the wind because it felt like the right thing to do and he could create the perfect setting. Approaching the end of the Prelude to Cello Suite I is a such a moment. This beautiful work has been played thousands of times at occasions such as weddings, funerals, inaugurations. It is beautiful, solemn, pensive, celebratory and especially triumphant at the end.  

You can appreciate this regardless of whether you read music. The musical alphabet goes from A to G. When Fraulein Maria sings Do Re Mi—she gets 8 of the notes, there are four more. I’ll list them:  A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A. That’s it! ** 

And here at the end the Prelude for Cello Suite I, in the brief space of Measures 37 and 38 in the score, Bach runs through that entire 12 tone scale and doing so brings triumph to the beautiful, solemn and celebratory journey. Next time you listen to the entire piece, compare how your feel when you hear the elegant beginning, to how you feel when Bach runs the 12 tone scale at the end and leaves you at the mountain top.

Later in 2023, I’ll be releasing “American Bach Revisited” featuring J.S. Bach’s Cello Suites 1 & 3, where the melody is played on the banjo accompanied by a continuo bassline played on the cello.

**The term enharmonic describes a note that has two names. For example the note between A and B, could be called A# (A sharp) or Bb (B flat).

Musical manuscript for the final measures of J.S. Bach’s Prelude movement to Cello Suite I.