Johann Sebastian Bach

In the opening years of the 18th century, Dietrich Buxtehude, Bach’s crucial forerunner, held the coveted office of organist at St. Mary’s Church, in the city of Lübeck, a port city on the Baltic, not far from Hamburg.

Composition was not part of the job description of a Church organist, but as was the case with Buxtehude, and would be the case with Bach, it was by no means uncommon for the organist’s position to serve as a “day job,” and for the possessor thereof to use his musical talents both for ecclesiastical and for more secular compositions. In 1705, J.S. Bach walked roughly 250 miles to meet Buxtehude in Lübeck, to hear him play and “to comprehend one thing and another about his art” as the younger man put it. He learned well. There exist marvelous recent recordings of Buxtehude’s work, especially as performed by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Coir. In these, the discerning listener can hear the characteristics of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach struggling to be born.

But of course it hadn’t yet been born. Only the mature Bach could bring us what he brought us.