A little serenity (for Bach lovers)

[orthodoxymoron]

Phtha: Thank-you for the quotes.

Perform Bach yourself...if you can. There is something profound which emerges when one actually goes through the discipline of learning some very difficult music. I've tended to do a lot of spiritual reflection while sitting at the console of a pipe organ...playing Bach. This reflection has resulted in heretical theological views...which is why I don't go to church...and why I am not a church organist. But I do play my keyboard(always set to 'pipe organ') every day. Albert Schweitzer considered music to be an integral component of the search for truth.

Beware of dry and sterile performances of Bach. They are everywhere. A proper performance of Bach should sound like a very skillful improvisation. Bach spent hours improvising. Observers have stated that his improvisations were even more impressive than his written works. This is difficult to imagine.

Albert Schweitzer took organ lessons at Saint Sulpice in Paris from Charles Marie Widor. At the first lesson, Widor asked Schweitzer what he wished to play. The reply...'Bach...of course.'

Bach, Widor, Schweitzer(philosophy), Saint Sulpice(church), and Cavaille Coll(organ) are an unbeatable combination...in my view. If someone wants to start a church(I don't)...this would be a good model. No liturgy...just the music of Bach and Widor combined with the philosophical writings of Albert Schweitzer(which, in essence...are a modern application of the Teachings of Christ...without any mumbo-jumbo). Can you say 'Amen Ra' to that?!