Music of Bach

One of the things that is often said about the characteristics of the “modern era” is that people can enjoy “all the music of past time”. They can enjoy “Baroque” musics, “Romantic” music in the same way. Not only that, they can freely enjoy all kinds of music, including jazz and popular music. Until the 19th century, “contemporary” music was the best music. The reason for this based on the idea that music is constantly evolving. The music of the present time was considered more valuable than that of a hundred years ago, or even a decade ago. Thus, basically, older music was not respected or performed.

This situation began to change in the 19th century with Mendelssohn’s “reenactment” of Bach’s Matthew Passion. This was the first time that mankind realized that there had been great music in the past. However, it was a performance in the “Romantic” style that bore no resemblance to Bach. It was not until after World War II, more than 100 years later, that the so-called “HIP”, faithful reproduction of past music with past interpretations and instruments, became the norm.

I recently saw a movie “Yesterday”. The main character, Jack a singer, suddenly finds himself in a world where “there were no Beatles” one day due to a car accident for some reason. There is no one in the world who knows the Beatles except him. So he performs the Beatles songs he has known in public, but people think Jack wrote them all. Jack gets a taste of it and he get ahead in show business. And so the story goes. However, it was made into a movie because it was “The Beatles”. If it had been Elton John, for example, it would have been a whitewash.

Have you ever had the conversation, “If you were going to take a record to a desert island, which record would you take with you?” or, “Who is the composer which makes you unbearable, if there were not in history?”. In my case, it would definitely be Bach. If only Bach’s music existed in the world, I would be able to live without Beethoven or Mozart, and if it were Schoenberg or Stravinsky, it would not hurt (or rather, I would rather not have them). Anyway, a world without Bach’s music would be hell for me. #baroque #bach #片山俊幸