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Johann Sebastian Bach is arguably the greatest composer of all time. But what motivated him to write the music that he did?

You can’t talk about Johann Sebastian Bach without talking about his God.

This was what struck me as I researched a previous post on what sets Bach apart as the greatest composer of all time. Even if people don’t believe in God, they are struck by his devotion and passionate faith. Bach was characterised by his faith.

There is a fundamental paradox here.

People idolise Bach for his truly magnificent music, which was itself an expression of Bach’s worship of God.

Bach’s Music and Idolatry

Humans are built to worship.

We worship all manner of things, although sadly, too rarely things worthy of our worship. Music is one of those things — and Bach’s music has unfortunately led to its fair share of idolatry.

In 2023, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced an Art Works episode on JS Bach featuring violin soloist, ensemble player, composer and conductor Richard Leo Tognetti AO.

Arguably one of Australia’s finest living musicians, Tognetti is the artistic director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (“one of the greatest chamber orchestras in the world,” according to Guardian UK)—a feat he achieved at just twenty-five years old.

Tognetti says, “Many people say that Bach is, you know, God to musicians.”

However, Bach would have repudiated such an assertion.

As Tognetti explains:

“Bach would have been horrified by that because only God was God. Once we start really getting inside the Bach machine, we’ve got to understand why Bach was writing this music. His great raison d’être was for God.”

Lutheranism and Music as Worship

Bach was born in AD 1685 at the beginning of the Baroque era of music in the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach — northern Germany.

At the time, Germany was deeply Protestant, following the teachings of the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther.

As Tognetti points out, Martin Luther held a high view of music as worship of God. This contrasted with the teaching of John Calvin, who infamously taught against the use of instruments in church — saying that it “smelled of [Catholic] popery” and distracted from the worship of God.

Tognetti explains:

“The wonderful thing about Luther — unlike the Calvinists who banned organs, the playing of organs, smashed them like, destroyed them… tragedy — Luther considered that the only thing second to God was the expression of the Adoration of God through music.”

Luther himself hit out at those who “despise[d] music,” calling them “fanatics”:

“…music is an endowment and a gift of God, not a gift of men. It also drives away the devil and makes people cheerful; one forgets all anger, unchasteness, pride, and other vices. I place music next to theology and give it the highest praise.”

Bach echoed Luther’s sentiments in his own words, writing that:

“…the ultimate end or final purpose of all music … is nothing other than the praise of God and the recreation of the soul. When this is not taken into account, then there is no true music, only a devilish bawling and droning.”

Why Bach Did What He Did

This is an attitude that Bach adopted in his musical composition — and it was his desire to worship God that inspired him to heights of excellence that set his music apart.

Bach made this eminently clear in the very music that he wrote.

Every composition began with the Latin prayer “Jesu Juva” — a call for Jesus to help him. And every composition ended with the declaration “S D G” — Soli Dei Gloria, which means “Glory to God Alone”.

It was the Church, and Bach’s dedication to worshipping God through music, that enabled — and motivated — the phenomenal music that we enjoy today. Bach’s passion for God is also revealed clearly in the subject matter of Bach’s pieces, many of which were written as sacred songs.

Tognetti notes that Bach “wrote at least three grand musical dramas that are called Passions, based on the gospels according to the disciples and only two survived—Saint Matthew and Saint John—and [they are] the greatest works of musical art full stop!”

The Bach School of Apologetics

But God continues to point to Himself through the music of JS Bach. In fact, Bach’s cantatas (musical compositions designed for singing) have been called the “fifth Gospel”.

In her book Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, & Meaning, philosopher Nancy R Pearcey explains that Johann Sebastian Bach is “taking Japan by storm” — inspiring “not only a musical trend but also a spiritual revival”. How?

Journalist Uwe Siemon-Netto explains that this is a trend that has been developing for a number of years, led by Masaaki Suzuki — the founder and conductor of the Bach Collegium Japan.

Suzuki’s performances of the St Matthew Passion (during Lent) and Christmas Oratorio (during Advent) are always sold out, with the printed programs providing a Japanese translation of the lyrics.

He observes:

“Bach works as a missionary among our people. After each concert people crowd the podium wishing to talk to me about topics that are normally taboo in our society — death, for example. Then they inevitably ask me what ‘hope’ means to Christians.”

He estimates that Bach “has already converted tens of thousands of Japanese to the Christian faith” — this in a society where less than one per cent of the population identifies as Christian.

As Pearcey explains, Suzuki’s Bach concerts have “inspired scores of young Japanese to go on pilgrimages to Leipzig, Germany, where [Bach] worked for twenty-seven years until his death in 1750.”

“There they sit in the church where Bach was once cantor, ‘following with shining eyes the rich Lutheran liturgy,’ writes Siemon-Netto.”

She recounts the story of Keisuke Maruyama, a Japanese musicologist who travelled to Leipzig to study the Scriptural readings that formed part of the Lutheran lectionary cycle.

“His academic goal was to analyze the impact these Scriptural passages had on Bach’s cantatas,” she says, “But he discovered far more than he had bargained for.”

“After completing his scholarly work, Maruyama sought out the bishop of Bach’s old church and said, ‘It is not enough to read Christian texts. I want to be a Christian myself. Please baptize me.”

“I can hear Bach talking to God”

Pearcey also tells of Masashi Masuda — originally an agnostic — who points to Bach’s Goldberg Variations as the beginning of his spiritual journey.

He now teaches systematic theology at Sophia University in Tokyo.

Amazingly, as instrumental pieces, the Variations have no scriptural words at all. Yet they still bring seekers face to face with the God of the Bible.

Organist Yuko Maruyama has a similar story. Once a devout Buddhist, she says, “Bach introduced me to God, Jesus and Christianity.”

“When I play a fugue, I can hear Bach talking to God.”

As Bach Akademie Australia founder and violinist Madeleine Easton told ABC Classic she would often find “clever little devices” hidden in the score of Bach’s music:

“I’d look at the notes on the page and it would form a cross.”

Bach’s impact lives on in his music to this day, leading people to Christ and revealing the beauty of God’s creation in art. Tognetti calls it “the depth and intrinsic beauty of Bach — let’s call it the universal truth of Bach’s music…”

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Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.