Two For The Price Of One: Part 2 - All Roads Lead to Leipzig!

The Master - JS Bach - this
picture hangs in my study.

Enough of the previous rant! Let us think of pleasanter things – in fact let us think of the pleasantest thing in the whole world (although you might disagree!) – the music of Bach. I will not dwell on the master  – that is for future blogs – but rather bring you up to date. I talked in the last blog of "character building" - whatever that may be. And I wonder - what builds the best character, listening to or playing Bach or standing each week amongst  the contorted faces and angry shouting crowds that I see at the Premier League football matches? Which has the  greater value in the the sum of humanity the great B Minor Mass or the rugby player who cynically stamps on his opponent who is lying on the ground? You may disagree with me - but I know where my feelings lie.

The Thomaskirche, Leipzig

To explain. We have booked tickets to see Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. The Thomaskirche,  where Bach spent many years of his great life, and where the great man is buried.

Pat and I have been to Leipzig on a number of occasions. It is my favourite place in the whole world – not because it’s the prettiest or most exciting or memorable or photogenic. It hasn’t the history of another favourite – Venice,  it isn’t staggering in the way that say the Grand Canyon is, it hasn’t got the history of London or the romance of Paris. Leipzig is a pretty ordinary place – pleasant, very German, ordinary. But, it does have Bach – and that makes the difference. The town doesn’t boast about its favourite son – there are no theme parks (so far as I know), you could easily pass the Thomaskirche, it is very ordinary and you might think no more about it. But to Bach lovers it is the Holy Grail.

A cup of warm Gluhwein - to go
with the Berlin bratwurst!

And we are going again - in early December to see Bach's "Christmas Oratorio",  and at the same time enjoy the sights and sounds of the Leipzig Christmas Market.

As I say, we have been before. It is an easy, and usually cheap, flight from Stanstead airport – we can be “door to door” in half a day. We know of several good hotels and most importantly several wonderful bierkellers where we can enjoy a wonderful German weissbier and tasty German food – gulaschsuppe, bratwurst, Schweinfleisch and other similar things that are just what you need in December (but terrible for the diet and long term health)! And we can wander around the Christmas market, buy a few trinkets and sip a warming cup of gluhwein while we demolish another bratwurst! I must remember not to tell my cardiologist about sampling German health foods over the Christmas period - I fear he will not be impressed!

A well earned Weissbier in Berlin
after a day at the Christmas
market and C&A!

But most of all it is - at least for me - Bach. My wife loves Bach too and as a choral singer herself enjoys the music of the Thomaskirche. But she also enjoys the German shops – and it gives her a reason to visit one of her favourite shops which is no longer to be found in the UK – “C&A”. Last year we visited the Berlin Christmas markets and seemed to spend the whole of our time trekking from one branch of C&A to the next – and exceeding our baggage allowance in the process. Still, I shall not complain – we are going to Leipzig!

People often say there are certain events that they can remember with absolute clarity. People of my generation (and this includes me) often say they can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard of the assassination of JFK. I can – I was eating my tea, watching the news on TV and at the same time writing an essay for college – I can remember all those things, what I was eating, who the news reader was and what the essay was about. But then the news from Dallas crashed into our lives and the whole episode was imprinted on our minds for ever.

Bach's statue outside the
Thomaskirche

I had a similar experience when we first visited Leipzig and the Thomakirche. We stood outside the church looking up at the statue of Bach. It was a bright spring afternoon. Flowers were laid at the base of the statue as they are laid every day. We decided to see if the church was open and gently pushed on the door.  And as we did so the glorious sound of a Bach motet filled our ears. At first I thought it was canned music, but no, as we stepped inside we realised that the choir were practising – the glorious music and sounds of the Gratius agimus tibi from the B minor Mass echoed down from the choir gallery. For me, totally overwhelming. Imprinted on my mind forever.

G.F. Handel

In that moment as I entered the church and heard the choir All the famous quotes and  commentaries about Bach came tumbling into my mind as I stood in awed silence listening to the choir: ‘All people who love music of any kind should fall down on their knees and pray facing Leipzig – and  pray and hope that some of the glorious rays of Bach will reach and touch them’. And, "Study Bach - there you will everything the human mind and soul needs to sustain it". Or, ‘Bach is the supreme genius....he has reached the heart of every noble thought.......he opens  a vista on the universe  and after experiencing Bach  people begin to feel that there  is meaning to life after all.’ Or Glenn Gould’s comment:  ‘If I were required to spend the rest of my life on a desert island, and to listen to or play the music of any one composer during all that time, that composer would  be Bach. I really can’t think of any other music which is so all-encompassing, which moves me so deeply and so consistently, and which is valuable beyond all of its skill and brilliance for something more meaningful than that — its humanity’. Or, ‘Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?’ And finally, Einstein's assessment: "Bach is a terminal point. Nothing comes from him; everything merely leads to him"

Martin Luther

And a few minutes later I stood looking down at the gravestone – almost too overwhelmed to speak. The music of Bach had been at the centre of my life from when I was a young teenager. There is no reason for this – I did not come from a musical family, I had no particular affinity with Bach – I just heard it and deep down knew this was something very special. I love many kinds of music – from Bach to the Rolling Stones from Mozart to Mama Mia, from The Magic Flute to Les Miserables, from Elvis to Elgar and all points in between. But, at the end of the day, if I was cast away on a desert island my music would be entirely Bach – it has an indefinable something which no other music has.

Richard Wagner

Bach, although he now has millions of followers across the entire planet lived his life in a very small area of north Germany. He had a humble life – again the subject of a future blog – and each time we go to Leipzig I am so often intrigued why this small part of the world has produced so many of the world’s greats – not just famous people, but people who actually changed the world. Bach wasn’t just a very good musician, whose music happens to have become popular – he is the man who without any doubt made western music what it is – his “48 Preludes and Fugues” (BWV 846-893) or, as they are often called “The Well Tempered Clavier” laid the ground rules for the harmonics of western music. The short pieces were written in Leipzig.

 But he is not alone. Saxony has produced many of the world’s great cultural figureheads.  Just up the road from Leipzig is the town of Halle – in fact when we go we fly into Leipzig/Halle airport. And it is in Halle that another musical great was born – George Frederick Handel. Born in the same year as Bach (1685) he lived nine years longer than Bach dying in 1759. Handel, of course, moved away, spending most of his life in London but composing some of the world’s very great music – especially of course “The Messiah”. In fact each year Leipzig and Halle have summer music festivals to celebrate their two great sons. The two week festivals are “end on” to each other so one can spend a whole month of listening to the music of the two greats. We haven’t done that yet – but I keep looking at the brochures! I think deep down I’m worried about the amount my wife might spend in C&A if we were there for a month! 

Bismarck

Or what about another musical great – Richard Wagner. He, too, was born in Leipzig  (1813). Wagner, of course, became synonymous with the Nazi movement – his ‘Ring’ cycle of operas extolling the German Gods and the destiny of the Germanic people. But without doubt, he is  one of the world’s very great composers - many might say the greatest.

Or, moving away from music, what about Martin Luther – a priest who single handedly changed the face of religion across the world and gave birth to the Reformation. Luther was born just a few miles from Leipzig in the small town of Eisleben. And, another heavyweight - Bismarck – the iron Chancellor. He too was born in Saxony. Bismarck created the modern Germany and held the balance of power in Europe for many years until it all came tumbling down with the Great War of 1914. The  great German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was born a few miles north of Leipzig – his philosophy underpins many of the beliefs that we take for granted today.

Friedrich Nietzche

I have often wondered how or why such a small geographical area can have spawned or been the home of such talent. Florence or Venice  in the Renaissance had  similar roles but a clear reason can be seen there – the great wealth of the Italian city states encouraged it. Saxony has never been anything other than  a working area but it has produced more than its share of great minds.

The list goes on but one  more – another musician. To be fair, not strictly as Saxon, he was born in Hamburg but spent most of his life in Leipzig. Felix Mendelssohn. Although not my favourite composer, Mendelssohn was prodigiously talented. Many say that had he lived longer he might have been greater than even Mozart or Bach and he made Leipzig and its wonderful orchestra – the Gewandhaus -  and Concert Hall  one of the world’s renowned musical venues. Today, under its present conductor Riccardo Chailly, it is often said to be the finest orchestra in the world overtaking even the Berlin Phil which itself is based not too many miles down the road in Berlin. But back to Mendelssohn. He had an even more important role – he promoted the music of Bach. He more than anyone was responsible for Bach’s fame and as such deserves to be an honorary Saxon! It was Mendelssohn who placed the world famous statue of Bach outside the Thomaskirche where millions each year pay homage and where I, too, will bow my head in early December!

Felix Mendelssohn

And since we began this "Two For One Offer" of blogs with my rant about character building how about a couple of quotes from the man himself: "I was obliged to be industrious and anyone who is industrious will be succeed equally well" and "It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself". Clearly, Bach was a humble, hard working character - indeed we know this from the records of his life. He was also unassuming and unpretentious. He was happy to spend his life as a simple kapellmeister, church organist and music teacher. He often complained that he was not paid enough - but in those days that was the lot of musicians - they were little more than servants. But while he did all this, he composed - mostly as part of his job specification to compose for the church or his master and his works have become immortal. Bach's observations on life and his skills seem a far cry from the skills"taught" at Eton as a prerequisite for success and "good character". Anthony Seldon informed us that amongst  these were "learning how to win friends and influence others, and how to clamber over them to get what you want. It's a mixture of ambition, self-confidence and bloody-mindedness” And I ask myself are these the qualities that we might reasonably expect to be present in someone of "good character" for Seldon suggests that they are. Now, call me old fashioned or prejudiced (and I will accept both charges) but they do seem a long way from Bach and Leipzig. And, more importantly,  I can't for the life of me make the connection between the content of the "oiling" curriculum and the building of a "good character" - as I said at the end of the previous blog the two seem mutually exclusive. I'll stick with Bach, his music and his more humble, industrious, unpretentious "character" - and meanwhile I'll look forward to early December!