Soli Deo Gloria
Perhaps one of the most famous Lutherans of all time, St. Johann Sebastian Bach was not only a man who is said to have changed the course of music history but also a figure who devoted nearly his entire musical profession to serving the Lutheran Church. His most well-known compositions are as wide-ranging as the Brandenburg Concertos, his cello suites, organ works such as the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, and large-scale choral pieces such as the St. Matthew Passion. Most of the world knows him, but the Lutheran Church especially loves him.
Born on March 31, 1685, J.S. Bach never met Martin Luther; however, the sixteenth-century theologian and reformer had great influence on the seventeenth-century kantor. In his youth, Bach studied at the same Latin school that Luther had attended two centuries before him. Bach learned music at a young age, becoming a violinist, singer, and later an organist. Later in life, Bach obtained a copy of Luther’s translation of the Bible, in which he made extensive notes and expressed his thoughts regarding the connection between music and theology.
Bach was born into an extremely musical family—he was the youngest of eight, and both his immediate and extended familial relatives were well-known organists, court musicians, and composers during his time. He was orphaned at the age of ten and had to go live with his eldest brother, who especially encouraged his formal musical training.
After finishing school, he served as an organist at Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. He was also the court organist and concertmaster in the chapel of the duke of Weimar and Köthen. He later attained the position of kantor in Leipzig at the churches of St. Nicholas and St. Thomas, where he composed music for the services that he was in charge of as well as the town’s university student ensemble called the Collegium Musicum. These churches in Leipzig are where he composed the majority of his sacred and choral compositional output.
Bach worked tirelessly up until the end of his life, most famously working on his Mass in B minor throughout his last years. Family was extremely important to him and he is said to have fathered twenty children, many of them who also went on to serve the Church. In March 1750 he underwent eye surgery. Like many who received this sort of treatment during that time, he died on July 28, 1750, due to complications from the procedure.
A Brief History
While Bach wasn’t terribly popular during his day and age, he has long been understood and appreciated by those within the Lutheran Church because of his dedication to creating and performing beautiful and theologically rich music. However, by the early nineteenth century others outside of Lutheranism began to see the importance of this man and his influence on the entirety of Western music. He is considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, composers of all time. A formal Bach revival occurred after a performance of his St. Matthew Passion in 1829, and his popularity has only grown since then.
Part of Bach’s popularity and his significance within the arc of Lutheranism is his prolific writing: his output was massive, with his compositions numbering over 1,100 pieces. These pieces largely accompanied the ebbs and flows of the Church year, including cantatas aligned with the annual calendar cycle of the Church and which expanded on the Gospel readings of the Sundays and feast days of the historic Lutheran lectionary. However, of the more than 300 cantatas that Bach composed in Leipzig, over 100 have been lost and sadly aren’t around today.
There is no doubt that the influence of the Lutheran lectionary was very important to Bach’s work and the way in which he viewed his service to the Church. One of J.S. Bach’s most famous quotes is “the aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” This sentiment was expressed through the entirety of Bach’s career and was exemplified in his famous signing of his manuscripts with S.D.G. (Soli Deo Gloria) —to God alone be the glory.
Collect
O Almighty God, who hast knit together Thine elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Thy Son Jesus Christ, our Lord: grant us grace so to follow Thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to the unspeakable joys which Thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love Thee: through the same, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost: ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Lessons
Resources
Issues, Etc. interview with Dr. Robin Leaver on The Life and Work of J.S. Bach
Propers found in Daily Divine Service Book: A Lutheran Daily Missal, edited by the Rev. Heath Curtis
References:
1. Weedon, William. Celebrating the Saints. Concordia Publishing House. 2016.
2. Jonathan Swett, Johann Sebastian Bach, July 28, 2017.
Images:
1. Johann Sebastian Bach at the Organ, Unknown, Germany, 1725.
2. Johann Sebastian Bach at the Organ in Sanssouci in the Presence of Frederick the Great and the Royal Family on 7 May 1747, Hermann Kaulbach, Germany, ca. late 20th century.
3. Johann Sebastian Bach im Kreise seiner Familie (Johann Sebastian Bach in a circle with his family), Toby Edward Rosenthal, United States of America, 1870.
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