I :heart: Bach!

**fy_iceworld** · 09-06-2014 05:48 PM

I just plain love Bach! Did you know the word Bach is German for 'brook'? It's ironic because a brook is a small stream of water, yet Bach's music encompasses an ocean of expressive composition emulated by everyone after him. Romanticism and chromaticism were influenced by Bach's tonal theory. Beethoven and Chopin always had the Well-Tempered Clavier perched upon their pianos. Even the Beatles incorporated elements of Bach into their songs. Bach once said that anyone could achieve what he did as long as they worked hard enough. When I was in school, my English teacher asked everyone to share their heroes. I raised my hand and said Bach! I can't believe why my class burst into laughter. Many people think Bach is gaudy, like an ancient tapestry. But I cannot think that because when I listen to Bach, I hear a harmony of multipe independent lines of music weaving together into an intricate and harmonious tapestry. It's mesmerizing! Accounts of people who heard Bach play first-hand hundreds of years ago say that he played his music so evenly and precise that people would stop what they were doing and wander toward the music. I'd imagine they feared the music, they must have thought it unearthly and it was! It must have sounded like the sacred music foretold in book of Revelation.
bach.jpg

**snoop** · 09-07-2014 04:44 AM

I, too, heart Bach. Good thread is good.

**DeviantThinker** · 09-07-2014 11:16 AM

Let's start off with a modern lute (guitar) rendition of one of his suites by one of the greatest classical guitarists of all time:

Bach once said that anyone could achieve what he did as long as they worked hard enough.

The funny thing is that Bach's own story supports this claim. He was not a child prodigy like Mozart was, his best compositions only happened well into his 40's. Indeed, if you have Bach's passion and hard work, you may become his successor. The only problem is, almost no earthly being shares his drive!

**Shamanite** · 09-07-2014 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by DeviantThinker

Let's start off with a modern lute (guitar) rendition of one of his suites by one of the greatest classical guitarists of all time:

Wow, thanks for the video, thats some amazing guitar.

I also happen to enjoy classical music, but if I was in your english class, Iceworld, I would have probably burst out laughing too. From what you just described it seems people probably thought you were acting like a child. I just thought you might want to know, I was pretty socially inept when I was younger and it took me a while to realize what I was doing wrong. Sorry if I come off as rude or offensive.

So is this a classical music appreciation thread? If so I have a song I'd like to share

**Darkmatters** · 09-07-2014 11:46 AM

Another Bach fan here - and in a similar vein I also really dig Vivaldi. Don't really care so much for Beethoven though - don't H8!

**DeviantThinker** · 09-07-2014 05:27 PM

Huh? I'm not sure what you mean there, Shamanite. He would have been acting the child if he just burst it out without any prompting but his teacher was asking the question and he had raised his hand beforehand. Just sounds like typical petty high school snobbery by the others to me.

Lovely piece but I think it would be more on topic to stick to Bach pieces. Correct me if I'm wrong there, Mr World.

My next contribution is one of the most simply beautiful of Bach's preludes:

**Darkmatters** · 09-07-2014 08:54 PM

I've always loved Jesu: Joy of Man's Desiring:

I remember I used to hear it around Christmas and didn't know who or what it was for a long time, then one year I managed to find out and had to get ahold of it. I think this was before I had a computer, so I had to buy a CD. Ah the good old days!

What I really love about his music is the 'rotating' quality of it - the passages sort of come around again and again, in overlapping layers, and each time they do they're different and intersect in complex and beautiful ways.

**fy_iceworld** · 09-07-2014 10:05 PM

There are few moments in life when a piece of music affects one's being, for me this is one of them.

This is Bach's unfinished fugue. Some people believe it was intentionally left unfinished and others insist the manuscripts were lost. It's disheartening that we'll never know how Bach wanted the end to sound and that this will forever remain unfinished.