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How God Worked in J.S. Bach’s Life

Mar21

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Perhaps the greatest musician of all time, Johann Sebastian Bach, widely considered to be the “Father of Modern Music”, had cause to wonder if God was really with him when he went through some severe struggles in his lifetime!

Today is Bach’s 328th birthday! This great composer was born in Eisenach, Germany on March 21, 1685 into a family that had been prominent on the musical scene in Europe for centuries! His father was the director of the town musicians and most likely started young Johann on the violin and basics of music theory. However, as the eighth child in a family of fourteen children, he was no doubt devastated when his mother passed away when he was only nine years old; just eight months later, his father also died. How tragic that the greatest musician of all time was an orphan at the age of ten!

But God, in His sovereignty, had a plan and purpose for young Johann’s life far beyond what he could have imagined! Even though it seemed that life was somehow unfair to this young lad, God showed once again that Romans 8:28 was true! This passage says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (KJV)  Young Johann had been schooled in the scriptures from an early age and had a faith in God that was real. His parents had seen to it that his religious education was sound and as devout followers of Martin Luther, they instilled into their son a Godly heritage.

Johann’s oldest brother, Johann Christopher Bach, invited the boy to come live with him. It just so happened that he was the organist in a large church in the area, and because of this, Johann was able to study, perform and copy music from his brother’s repertory. He received extremely valuable instruction from him on an individual level that he might never have obtained had his parents lived. He was instructed on the clavichord and harpsichord, in addition to the organ, and this early training could well have culminated in one of his crowning achievements, “The Well Tempered Clavier”.  Later he attended music conservatories and studied more extensively with some of the great musicians of his day. But, this early training gleaned from his time living with his brother was the foundation for all that would come later, including his keyboard, organ and chamber music; concertos; cantatas; and other orchestral works that have been revered for centuries! In fact, Beethoven called him “the original father of harmony” and we know that he perfected the musical scale we use today.

Did God have a purpose for his life? The answer is an emphatic yes! We know he was a devout Christian and that sacred music was at the center of his repertory. He regarded his music as “an act of prayer” and stated, “I play my music to the glory of God!” Once when Bach was about 32 years old, he desired to accept a post which would have given him more money and been advantageous to his career. The duke under whom he was currently serving became infuriated, had him arrested and thrown in jail for a month. During this time Bach wrote a cycle of organ chorale preludes for a year which were later published in Germany and are still available! Once again, God used a seemingly negative circumstance to His glory!

When he was just 35 years old, he went on a tour of Europe with the prince by whom he was employed, playing the harpsichord for European aristocracy, along with a musical entourage. When he returned home he found his wife of nearly thirteen years, Maria, dead and buried while he was on tour. She had been completely healthy when he left. Sadly, their four young children were now motherless. Did Bach give up and allow himself to succumb to bitterness and self-pity? Indeed not! Johann turned in an even greater measure to composing and playing the music of God and the church he loved! It was after this time that he composed most of his greatest chorales based on sacred texts, even while he served as cantor, musical director and organist in the church. He spent the majority of his life composing and playing music that glorified God and His Word!  A year later he met and married a young woman named Anna Magdalena and to this day we play many of the works she translated into notebooks for their twelve young children to practice during their daily home schooling!

As we celebrate the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach today, let’s remember that he was an ordinary human being such as you and me, and that despite the setbacks and trials of life, he chose to let God work a greater work in him through these events, culminating in music that endures and blesses people to this day!  I feel sure he is enjoying the rewards of his labors in Heaven, singing and making melody with the angels and the saints of God who have gone on before!

The “Dumbing Down” of Music?

Mar14

OK, so maybe this doesn’t sound like the most “spiritual” topic to you; perhaps you think I am just going to “vent” about some of my pet peeves concerning music today, especially as it relates to the current church scene.  Well, please bear with me.  I think you’ll find some interesting observations here that may even get you thinking about some issues you may not have thought of!

A few weeks ago my husband and I visited a nearby church that featured a very “free” style contemporary praise band.  Although it was loud, it wasn’t any different than countless other churches I had been in which featured the same style of “three chord” simplistic “praise” music, complete with several guitars, drums, keyboards, etc.  You get my drift!  Anyway, about twenty minutes into the worship, the lady seated directly in front of us started to put her hands over her ears as if in intense pain.  I hoped she was OK!  Then, she whispered something to her husband and left the sanctuary.  I assumed she wouldn’t be back until the worship was over; it was quite apparent she found the music too loud for her ears.  Well, to my great surprise, she emerged again in just a couple of minutes with two ear plugs in her hands, which she promptly put in and continued sitting by her husband!  Needless to say, I don’t think she was getting much out of the worship!

In sharp contrast, we recently visited a rehearsal for a world-renowned church choir with a more liturgical or classical slant to their music.  As they sang, I noticed the woman sitting in front of me began wiping tears from her eyes as she pulled a hanky from her purse.  Obviously, she was greatly moved emotionally by the song and the tears followed.

Now, what do these two incidents have in common, you may ask?  To my mind, it seemed as if the first woman, who was obviously there to worship, was not getting a thing out of the musical service.  She was “enduring” it!  In sharp contrast, the second woman was moved to tears by the sheer emotion exuded by a great composer and glorious choir and was obviously touched somewhere down in her soul!

I have read many times Psalm 33:3, “Sing unto Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.”  (NKJV)

I’ve used this verse so many times to encourage people to take piano (or another instrument) lessons, or even learn to sing properly, when I had my teaching studio in Texas for over 28 years.  As a student of classical music myself, I have a deep appreciation for good music, properly performed.  Badly performed music leaves me cold!   When a person has sung or played beautiful, challenging music with intricate and fascinating chord structures and patterns, such as I have, it is extremely difficult not to be bored with the current three chord “pablum” being offered up as the sole choice for any given worship service in many churches.  Any other alternative, such as time-honored hymns written by revered musicians, men and women of God, are sadly viewed as absolutely unacceptable in some churches!  It sometimes appears that the churches who wish to have a “free” worship style and move into “praise and worship” also fail to utilize great music and seasoned, well-trained musicians who can play “skillfully” as the Word mentions in Psalms.  It seems to be the “dumbing down” of music!

Interestingly,  Numbers 8:24-26 speaks of the Levites (the priests) serving in the tabernacle from the age of 25-50.  In I Chronicles   23:3-5  we read that the Levites from the age of 30 and up numbered 38,000 and of that number 24,000 were to carry forward the work of the house of the Lord.  Of this number, we read in verse 5:  “…four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David to praise therewith.” (KJV)  I want to get into this whole concept of trained, paid temple musicians more in future postings, but suffice it to say that by reading about the Levites, many of whom were musicians, we see that they were first of all trained, then spent many years actually performing as musicians before spending the last part of their lives teaching the next generation of musicians coming up!  In II Chronicles 20 we read that the singers and musicians led the  army against the enemy as they sang and praised God!  Verse 28 mentions “stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord.”  (NKJV)

It is obvious (and we will get into this subject more later) that these were skilled musicians,  anointed by God to lead the praise and worship!  Is there room for more than one type of music in our worship today?  I think that the answer is emphatically, yes!  Different styles minister to different people; it has not as much to do with age as with preference.  Does everyone like the same kind of food or pick the same thing at a buffet?  Do we all order the same food off the menu?  The same is true with our musical tastes.  Skilled musicians are going to have a greater appreciation for a deeper type of musical genre than someone who has had no musical training, perhaps.  Should we honor differing musical tastes in our worship times?  I believe we should!  If someone is not worshiping, but using ear plugs to endure, perhaps the whole idea of helping everyone enter into the presence of God has been lost!

Let’s stop picking apart each other’s musical tastes and admit that God loves variety and diversity.  Why not help each other enter into worship by respecting  various musical preferences and allow skilled, trained musicians to help us enter into the presence of God!

An Amazing Story about Handel!

Feb1

Do you sometimes feel discouraged as a musician or composer?  Do you perhaps feel that no one really wants to hear your “stuff”, but it is just an uphill battle to get something noticed, let alone published?  Of course, this could apply to other areas of life, as well, not just in the musical realm, but musicians are notoriously “melancholy” in temperament (look it up if you are not familar with this word!) and can be on  the proverbial “Cloud 9” one day and down in the dumps, lower than the ground, the next!  Often their moods depend on external situations, for they tend to overemphasize the negative in a given situation.

In the music realm (because this blog is primarily about music matters), it is true that countless great, talented musicians go largely unnoticed while seemingly less-talented people “make it” in the music scene because they were “discovered” byt the right person or label.  Sometimes this can be disheartening.  I have a friend in Texas who is a very successful writer of contemporary praise and worship songs.  If I mentioned his name, you would no doubt be familiar with his songs, which are sung all over the world in most churches.  However, there was a time when he was a “nobody” and a worship leader at a small church close to where I lived.  He had written a song that got “picked up” by one of the hottest contemporary singers on the planet; a well-known publisher of praise and worship songs took notice, and the rest is history!  Now everything he writes turns to “gold” in the business, as they say.  Were his previous songs not any good?  Did this mean he was a better writer than many, many other Christian songwriters?  Or, was it, perhaps, God’s time for his ministry to come forth?  As he and I talked, we both agreed that was the case!  God has a timing for each musician to come forth and fulfill the destiny He has planned for them…if we will be patient!

     Now here is an amazing story that I’ll bet you didn’t know; it’s about the great composer George Frederick Handel, who wrote the music to Messiah which debuted in Dublin, Ireland in 1742.  Just a few years ago a unique video of mall “shoppers” (who were really musicians planted in the crowd) singing this wonderful oratorio’s (a sacred opera) signature piece, “The Hallelujah Chorus”,  went viral and has now been seen by nearly 50 million people around the world!  I am sure you are familiar with the Messiah because at Christmas it is presented countless times in locations worldwide.  What you probably didn’t know is “the rest of the story” about Handel, an amazing example of God’s love and timing!

Born in Germany in 1685, he always had an aptitude for music.  Although his father wanted him to study law, he was more interested in music.  His mother bought him a harpsichord which they secretly kept in the attic away from his father.  Handel wrote his first work at the age of twelve and studied music at the University of Halle in his hometown in Germany.  In 1712 he moved to England where he experienced some success with his various compositions, including operas, concertos and other instrumental works, but ultimately was faced with financial failure which threatened to overwhelm him.  His occasional commercial successes soon met with financial disaster and as he drove himself relentlessly to recover from one failure after another, his health also began to fail.  By 1741 he was swimming in debt and it seemed certain he would land in debtors’ prison.

But, God had not forgotten George Frederick Handel!  That same year became the turning point for him when his close friend, Charles Jennens, gave him a libretto (a text) for a sacred work.  It was exclusively 73 Bible verses focusing on the prophecies concerning the foretelling and coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, both from the Old and New Testaments.  A charity in Dublin, called the Foundling Hospital, which was an institution caring for newborn infants abandoned by their unknown, poverty-stricken parents, who were sometimes in prison, was putting on its annual benefit, and paid him to write something for the performance.

For 24 days, in August and September of 1741, Handel barely ate as he worked almost constantly composing this beautiful work we know as Messiah!  In fact, he told a friend he could barely keep up with the notation as the melodies and ideas flowed from within, directly from God Himself!  At one point, the composer had tears in his eyes and cried out to his servant, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself!”  He had just finished writing the “Hallelujah” chorus.   Every word was from the Bible, 42 verses from the Old Testament and 31 from the New Testament.  Finally, the day Handel had waited for arrived and Messiah was first performed in Dublin on April 13, 1742!  It was very successful, the proceeds of which, it is said, freed 142 men from debtors’ prison!  The Foundling Hospital became Handel’s favorite charity, to which he gave liberally, up until his death in 1759.  He is today still revered as one of the greatest composers to ever live and is buried in Westminster Abbey in London.

So, out of this genius’s pain and despair, seemingly the low point of his life, came a work of beauty and praise to his Creator, the likes of which have never been surpassed!  Handel could never have dreamed how this beautiful work would continue to uplift and bless millions of people the world over for centuries to come.  One man put it this way:  “Handel was a relentless optimist whose faith in God sustained him through every difficulty.”  Remember, God has a perfect time for everything, including bringing your ministry forth at a time when He will gain the most glory!  Be encouraged this day, my friend!