The Soul of Bach

Perfectly soulful.

Bach was also a great organist. So great, in fact, that even the oldest organists had to admit that he was better than the organists who came before him. That was a great achievement, because you know older musicians never want to admit that anything could be as good as what used to be.

He was a master of form-witness Mass in B Minor-the supreme master of contrapuntal writing. Witness Art of the Fugue. And Bach was the supreme manipulator of the II-V-I progression, still used today in the American popular song and in jazz improvisation. Well, Bach was a great improviser, too. Just give him a theme, and move out of the way.

Finally, he had an unshakable belief in music, and this is what gives his music a transcendent quality three centuries later.

Wynton Marsalis
Artistic Director, Jazz at Lincoln Center

©1996 Oregon Bach Festival
From the introduction to "Creative Journeys" an audience development publication of the Oregon Bach Festival.