The growth and development of German music are eminently noteworthy
facts in the history of the fine arts. In little more than a century
and a-half it reached its present high and brilliant place, its
progress being so consecutive and regular that the composers who
illustrated its well-defined epochs might fairly have linked hands in
one connected series.
To JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH must be accorded the title of "father of
modern music." All succeeding composers have bowed with reverence
before his name, and acknowledged in him the creative mind which not
only placed music on a deep scientific basis, but perfected the form
from which have been developed the wonderfully rich and varied phases
of orchestral composition. Handel, who was his contemporary, having
been born the same year, spoke of him with sincere admiration, and
called him the giant of music. Haydn wrote--"Whoever understands me
knows that I owe much to Sebastian Bach, that I have studied him
thoroughly and well, and that I acknowledge him only as my model."
Mozart's unceasing research brought to light many of his unpublished
manuscripts, and helped Germany to a full appreciation of this great
master. In like manner have the other luminaries of music placed on
record their sense of obligation to one whose name is obscure to the
general public in comparison with many of his brother composers.
Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach on the 21st of March 1685, the son
of one of the court musicians. Left in the care of his elder brother,
who was an organist, his brilliant powers displayed themselves at an
early period. He was the descendant of a race of musicians, and even
at that date the wide-spread branches of the family held annual
gatherings of a musical character. Young Bach mastered for himself,
without much assistance, a thorough musical education at Lüneburg,
where he studied in the gymnasium and sang in the cathedral choir; and
at the age of eighteen we find him court musician at Weimar, where a
few years later he became organist and director of concerts. He had in
the meantime studied the organ at Lübeck under the celebrated
Buxtehude, and made himself thoroughly a master of the great Italian
composers of sacred music--Palestrina, Lotti, Vivaldi, and others.
At this period Germany was beginning to experience its musical
_renaissance_. The various German courts felt that throb of life and
enthusiasm which had distinguished the Italian principalities in the
preceding century in the direction of painting and sculpture. Every
little capital was a focus of artistic rays, and there was a general
spirit of rivalry among the princes, who aspired to cultivate the arts
of peace as well as those of war. Bach had become known as a gifted
musician, not only by his wonderful powers as an organist, but by two
of his earlier masterpieces--"Gott ist mein König" and "Ich hatte viel
Bekümmerniss." Under the influence of an atmosphere so artistic,
Bach's ardour for study increased with his success, and his rapid
advancement in musical power met with warm appreciation.
While Bach held the position of director of the chapel of Prince
Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, which he assumed about the year 1720, he
went to Hamburg on a pilgrimage to see old Reinke, then nearly a
centenarian, whose fame as an organist was national, and had long been
the object of Bach's enthusiasm. The aged man listened while his
youthful rival improvised on the old choral, "Upon the Rivers of
Babylon." He shed tears of joy while he tenderly embraced Bach, and
said--"I did think that this art would die with me; but I see that you
will keep it alive."
Our musician rapidly became known far and wide throughout the musical
centres of Germany as a learned and recondite composer, as a brilliant
improviser, and as an organist beyond rivalry. Yet it was in these
last two capacities that his reputation among his contemporaries was
the most marked. It was left to a succeeding generation to fully
enlighten the world in regard to his creative powers as a musical
thinker.