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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fills a need for creative persons who are also Christians..., August 9, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Bach's Passion: The Life of Johann Sebastian Bach (Paperback)
Few books explore the unique struggles of artists attempting to integrate the demands of talent with their Christian faith. In fact, much writing about historically important artists simply ignores their faith; deeming it irrelevant to their art. Ridley¹s book doesn¹t. The author takes both spiritual committment and creativity seriously and, using Bach¹s life as her medium, explores the challenges of integrating passion for art with passion for God. Bach¹s Passion, presents the author¹s fictionalized portrait of the life of Johann Sebastian Bach from young manhood in 1701 to his death in July of 1750 at the age of 65. This period includes two marriages which undergirded his great musical outpouring and his constant determination, for God¹s sake, ³to leave nothing mediocre behind². A writer, musician, and Christian herself, Ridley aims to maintain historical accuracy while offering the reader well-grounded speculation on Bach¹s concrete dilemmas with creativity, career, and family. She grapples with Bach¹s struggles over his desire for recognition versus servanthood through his music; his attempts to comprehend God¹s plan for his life and work, his deep frustration with the politics of the music world, and his final question: had his life counted? These themes are woven with personal issues like Bach¹s desire for happy family life; his search for understanding companionship, and his heartbreak over the problems of his children. She also includes a poignant postlude on the ultimate fate of Bach¹s work. I deeply appreciate Ridley¹s honesty in not iconizing Bach as an untouchable, irreproachable saint. She writes as one who has lived the tension between faith and art, and her constructions of Bach¹s life events and his responses to them ring true. Bach¹s Passion will be prized by anyone facing the challenges, agonies, ecstasies, uncertainties, and appeals to God, which Bach underwent while seeking to realize the full potential of the talent God gave him. For such as these, Bach¹s Passion is a much needed companion for the journey.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exceptional Research, November 3, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Bach's Passion: The Life of Johann Sebastian Bach (Paperback)
In RuthAnn Ridley's "Bach's Passion," the reader meets Bach, his family and his compatriots as living people. The characterizations and the descriptions of dress, customs and music of the time reflect exceptional research of Bach's life and times. An excellent glossary and bibliography relating to Bach are an added bonus. - Herbert Colvin, Professor Emeritus of Music Theory: Baylor University
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful new book; takes us into J.S. Bach's personal life., July 2, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Bach's Passion: The Life of Johann Sebastian Bach (Paperback)
This book is tough to put down once you open it. This is the story none of us knew about the personal life of Johann Sebastian Bach. It's a historical fiction novel, obviously based on years of research (see the bibliography, end notes, and glossary of terms in the last 14 pages), which made this great composer come alive as an imperfect but remarkable human being whose life made a difference...many years after he died in near oblivion and poverty. We enjoyed reading about the circumstances surrounding many of his great compositions. The book is beautifully designed, too. It's a hefty tome (400 pages), at a great price, too, thanks to Amazon.com
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