Customer Reviews

Glory and Honor: The Music and Artistic Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach (Leaders in Action)

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Since the Enlightenment (dawning approximately around the time of J.S. Bach), the Western world has been increasingly plagued by a practical atheism, singling out authentic Christianity with a persistent, unreasonable, and virulent hostility. In such a world, faithful treatments of great spiritual persons such as William Wilberforce, C.S. Lewis, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, ... and Johann Sebastian Bach are sadly rare.

Johannes Brahms believed that the heart of Bach's voluminous output was his church music, particularly the cantatas, which to this day continue to be sung and heard by multitudes. Not surprisingly, due to his protean accomplishment and his growing popularity, Bach has been singled out by a host of secularizers and skeptics, who are deeply concerned that the hearer might actually believe what is sung about, and further argue that Bach himself surely did not believe such a grand superstition, but wrote church music simply because it was the environment of his day, and he had little choice in the matter. For example, in 1962, Professor Bloom argued that Bach found it a burden to write church music. In spite of this persistent, copious, and well-funded "scholarship," the truth about Bach continues to emerge to those who examine Bach's life and work with an honest mind. Wilbur's book patiently and thoroughly unfolds to us this great life in this wonderful volume.

Wilbur's book is a faithful rendering of Bach as both man and musician. The book is far, far away from simply a gushing, thoughtless rant by some wild-eyed evangelical (aside: such a "rant" would be completely justified given the existence of Bach's St. John Passion alone). Instead, Wilbur's solid scholarship is everywhere evident. What a great marriage of heart, mind, soul, and spirit is this little volume! Having read through Hans David's "The Bach Reader" (an indispensable compendium of historical material with minimal commentary) a couple of times, and being intimately familiar with Bach's music, I would highly recommend this book as THE companion to the "The Bach Reader" for any student of this great soul.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn famously said that "one word of truth will outweigh the whole world." Perhaps after reading this volume and (more importantly) listening to the great music of this great and humble man (particularly the church music), we can imagine Bach saying, "one phrase of sweet music aptly wedded to one element of truth will outweigh the whole world."

This book renewed my interest in music, especially classical music and for that I'm thankful for having read it. After learning piano as a kid, I've kept up with playing off and on. However, reading about Bach has inspired me to go back to the piano and start playing again. This book, while somewhat technical at times and a little slow, does a good job of presenting an overview of the life and works of Bach. Unlike other biographies, this one paints an accurate portrait of Bach as a man of faith who considered music as the means to honor and worship God. Sola dei gloria!