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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.

2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).
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