A little serenity (for Bach lovers)

[Phtha]

The immortal god of harmony.
-- Ludwig van Beethoven

“Bach opens a vista to the Universe. After experiencing him, people feel there is meaning to life after all.”
-- Helmut Walcha

Bach’s music is the only argument proving the creation of the Universe can not be regarded a complete failure.
-- E. M. Cioran

I do not think that music keeps evolving. It evolved through Bach; since then, in my humble opinion, all the innovations added nothing.
-- Gordon Getty

Religion is an internal spiritual world, and I have my own, with my god, Johann Sebastian Bach. I mean, why not?
-- Jack Kevorkian

When listening to Bach, it’s as though Bach himself is actually performing.
-- Aaron Copland

Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?
-- Michael Torke

Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian.
-- Roger Fry

“Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it”
-- Pablo Casals

“There is nothing like a Bach fugue to remove me from a discordant moment... only Bach hold up fresh and strong after repeated playing. I can always return to Bach when the other records weary me.”
-- Edward Weston

“Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
-- Charles Mingus

“Music is the effort we make to explain to ourselves how our brains work. We listen to Bach transfixed because this is listening to a human mind.”
-- Lewis Thomas

I think that if I were required to spend the rest of my life on a desert island, and to listen to or play the music of any one composer during all that time, that composer would almost certainly be Bach. I really can’t think of any other music which is so all-encompassing, which moves me so deeply and so consistently, and which, to use a rather imprecise word, is valuable beyond all of its skill and brilliance for something more meaningful than that — its humanity.
-- Glenn Gould


Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan
Bach - Johannes Passion - 14. Aria S - Ich Folge Dir


Bach - Johannes Passion - 59. Aria A - Es Ist Vollbracht

The Celestial Baroque Shogun: Masaaki Suzuki

And here are some quotes from Bach himself.

The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.
--Johannes Sebastian Bach

Where there is devotional music, God is always at hand with His gracious presence.
--Johannes Sebastian Bach

I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.
--Johannes Sebastian Bach

I worked hard. Anyone who works as hard as I did can achieve the same results.
--Johannes Sebastian Bach

If I decide to be an idiot, then I'll be an idiot on my own accord.
--Johannes Sebastian Bach

It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.
--Johannes Sebastian Bach

Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul.
--Johannes Sebastian Bach

My masters are strange folk with very little care for music in them.
--Johannes Sebastian Bach

Bring me A bowl of coffee before I turn into a goat.
--Johann Sebastian Bach