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his unpublished manuscripts, and helped Germany to a full appreciation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 Lüne-burg, 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 mean time
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
Bektlmmerniss." Under the influence of an atmosphere so artistic, Bach's
ardor 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-Kothen, 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.