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Music and Transfiguration

Bach on a Sunday Morning

After my last post, I had full intentions of making a trip into the music of the Renaissance. However, I was slightly sidetracked along the way. The cause of my distraction: the Bach organ works. One can only marvel at the organ works of the immortal J.S. Bach. First of all, there is the sheer number of works he composed. Yet, even more significant, is their profound artistry. While most of these works are cast in the archaic forms of prelude and fugue or chorale preludes, their musicality and expression are far from stagnant. Bach's music, be it for organ or not, always invoke the image of a great cathedral in my mind. One moment I'm standing in a dark corner. Next, I'm beholding the brilliant light of a stain glass window. Imagine what it would be like to stand in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, or St. Peter's in the Vatican, or Westminster Abbey in London. Imagine beholding the beauty of the architecture and grasping the profound immortal testament of the building itself. That feeling would not be all too different from that of witnessing Bach's music.