Recently, I came into possession of a complete collection of Johann Sebastian Bach's work. I've always been a fan, but never delved deeply into the pools of Bachiana. I noticed while perusing the Wikipedia article on Bach that this March 31st is the 325th anniversary of his birth. This seemed auspicious, so I hatched a wild plan: I would, starting on 3/31, listen to all of his music, and over the course of 365 days, document it all on a blog!
You may think that this is a trivial matter, and not enough for a whole year's worth of time and energy. After all, how many pieces of Bach music can there be? There's that song from Fantasia, and that song from Seven and maybe a couple more, right?
That's what I thought too, when I was a naive little kid. Like most children, I assumed that the output of Bach was no more than a few dozen works. But, it turns out that Johann wrote over a thousand pieces of music that still survive today. That's a prodigious amount, and more than a bit daunting.
Making the task harder is the fact that I am not in any way a music scholar. I like classical music, but I am not a fanatic. My tastes in classical tend toward the canonical. I have never been trained in music theory, or practice (I play no instruments). But I love harpsichord and baroque music, and if I had to name a favorite composer, it would have to be Bach...
I have another motive as well. I am trying to be a writer. I am hoping that a daily writing task like this blog, something that is totally different from my "main" writing, will help me become a better writer.
SO, if you are interested in this project, please read on! I will be posting daily, I hope. I will be needing to listen to 2-3 pieces a day to complete the year on schedule.
The Official Starting Date is March 31st, 2010. In the next week, I will be researching the topic of Bach, and trying to figure out the most pressing practical problem I have at the moment: what order to listen. I have many options, and I'll be posting them in the days to come.
Comments are welcome and would be most gratefully appreciated!
I could not pass up the opportunity to have the first comment on the entire blog. Best of luck to you, and I TRULY look forward to reading about this project, nay, quest that you are embarking on.
ReplyDeleteAnd then of course there are the interpretations of different artists. Rostropovich's cello playing differs from that of YoYo Ma, and so forth. And hearing the music performed live is something else again. And then there is PDQ Bach, who has to be heard to be believed . . .
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