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When he was 48, Johann Sebastian Bach acquired a copy of Luther's three-volume translation of the Bible. He pored over it—underlining passages, correcting errors in the text and commentary, and making notes in the margins.

Near 1 Chronicles 25 (a listing of David's musicians) he wrote, "This chapter is the true foundation of all God-pleasing music." At 2 Chronicles 5:13 (which speaks of temple musicians praising God), he noted, "At a reverent performance of music, God is always at hand with his gracious presence."

Bach was indeed "a Christian who lived with the Bible," as one scholar put it. Besides being the baroque era's greatest organist and composer, and one of the most productive musical geniuses ever, Bach was also a theologian who just happened to work with a keyboard.

Family footsteps
He was born in 1685 and schooled in Eisenach (at the same school Luther had attended). Johann Sebastian received his first musical instruction from his father, Johann Ambrosius, a town musician. In the previous seven generations, his family had produced 53 prominent musicians. By age 10 Bach was orphaned, and he went to live and study with his elder brother, Johann Christoph, an organist in Ohrdruf.

By 15, Bach became a soprano (women weren't permitted to sing in church) in the choir of Lüneburg's Church of Saint Michael. Three years later, he was a violinist in the chamber orchestra of Prince Johann Ernst of Weimar. After a few months, he moved to Arnstadt to become a church organist.

In October 1705, Bach was invited to study for one month with the renowned Danish-born German organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude. Bach was so enamored with his teacher, he stretched the visit to two months. When he returned to his church, he was severely criticized for breach of contract and for his new organ flourishes and harmonies that accompanied congregational singing. But he was too highly respected to be dismissed.

In 1707 he married a second cousin, Maria Barbara Bach. They were married 13 years and had seven children before Maria died in 1720.

After various moves and prominent jobs, Bach settled down in Leipzig in 1723 with his new wife, Anna Magdalena Wilcken, an accomplished singer. She bore him 13 more children and helped copy his music for performers.

Bitter setting, brilliant work
Bach's stay in Leipzig, as musical director and choirmaster of Saint Thomas's church and school, wasn't always happy. He squabbled continually with the town council. They said he was a stuffy old man who clung stubbornly to obsolete forms of music. Consequently, they paid him a miserable salary.

Ironically, in this setting Bach wrote his most enduring music. For a time he wrote a cantata each week (today, a composer who writes a cantata a year is highly praised), 202 of which survive. Among these works are the Ascension Cantata and the Christmas Oratorio.

In Leipzig he also composed his epic Mass in B Minor, The Passion of St. John, and The Passion of St. Matthew—all for use as worship services. The latter piece has sometimes been called "the supreme cultural achievement of all Western civilization," and even the radical skeptic Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) admitted upon hearing it, "One who has completely forgotten Christianity truly hears it here as gospel."

After Bach's death, he was remembered less as a composer than as an organist and harpsichordist. Some of his music was sold, and some was reportedly used to wrap garbage. For the next 80 years his music was neglected, although a few musicians (Mozart and Beethoven, for example) admired it. Not until 1829, when German composer Felix Mendelssohn arranged a performance of The Passion of St. Matthew, did a larger audience appreciate Bach the composer.

Music was never just music to Bach. Nearly three-fourths of his 1,000 compositions were written for worship. He would write "S.D.G." on his compositions (Soli Deo Gloria is Latin for "To God alone be the glory").

Because of his musical genius, his devotion to Christ, and the effect of his music, he is called the "Fifth Evangelist" (the first four being the Gospel writers) by many in the musical world.

Adapted from CHRISTIAN HISTORY magazine. To subscribe to CHRISTIAN HISTORY, call 1-800-873-6986.

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