Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
This is an integrated biography, and very much a story of Bach’s actual life, as opposed to the sanctified version that was spread during the 19th century. The picture that emerges is of a man who was very attached to his family, very professional, devout, rather stick-in-the-mud, very hot-tempered and therefore not easy to work with… One of the interesting and remarkable things about the new approach is that Shuckburgh has, for the first time, catalogued Bach’s works (of which there are a huge number) in chronological order, placing them in the context of his life by date.
Tell me about Julian Shuckburgh’s Bach biography, Harmony and Discord.
This just came out. Most biographies of Bach have been tremendously hagiographical and, broadly speaking, treated him as if he was God. Julian Shuckburgh’s approach is to treat him like any composer now, as it were: to study him in his living conditions, in his contracts and his disagreements with his employers – which were constant. The interesting thing about Bach is that he was actually, in career terms, not very successful, and the book shows the struggles that he had – for example, to support his (very large) family. Bach was essentially a local church musician who was also a schoolmaster – it’s very surprising when you think like that.
This is an integrated biography and very much a story of his actual life, as opposed to the sanctified version that was spread during the 19th century when Bach was rediscovered – largely by Mendelssohn. Before Mendelssohn, Bach was only really known to professionals – he wasn’t forgotten as a name, but his music was no longer performed. Mendelssohn, to his eternal credit, spent a lot of his career bringing Bach’s work to public attention. In 1829 Mendelssohn conducted the first performance of the St Matthew Passion since Bach’s death in 1750, and he was the first to perform the Mass in B Minor, which Bach had never heard.
Is there new material in the book?
There’s quite a lot, and one of the interesting and remarkable things about the new approach is that Shuckborough has, for the first time, catalogued Bach’s works (of which there are a huge number) in chronological order, placing them in the context of his life by date.
What sort of picture emerges?
Very much one of a man who was very attached to his family (who’d been musicians for several hundreds of years), very professional, devout, rather stick-in-the-mud, very hot-tempered and therefore not easy to work with. Unlike Handel, say, who was a sort of flamboyant impresario figure, Bach remained a local composer who never made it beyond the confines of regional German culture. The thing about music, like the arts, is that there’s an extraordinary dichotomy between the art and the career. You can have people who are really extremely mediocre with huge careers, and you can have people who are wonderfully good, who explore their art in great depth, and actually don’t have wonderful careers. Bach was one of those.
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Giles Swayne is a British composer, best known for his monumental choral pieces and his interest in African musical culture. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Harrison Birtwistle and at the Paris Conservatoire with Olivier Messiaen. In 1980 his choral work Cry, for 28 amplified voices, was premiered by the BBC Singers under John Poole. Hailed as a landmark, it has since been performed twice at the Proms and many times worldwide. In 1981, Swayne visited Senegal to record the music of the Jola people of Casamance. These recordings are now in the British Library. From 1990 to 1996 he lived in the Akuapem Hills in eastern Ghana. He now lives in London and is Composer-in-residence at Clare College, Cambridge. He is currently working on an open-ended series of bagatelles for piano, and a choral setting of a poem. ‘The thing about music, like the arts, is that there’s an extraordinary dichotomy between the art and the career,’ he says. ‘You can have people who are really extremely mediocre with huge careers, and you can have people who are wonderfully good, who explore their art in great depth, and actually don’t have wonderful careers. Bach was one of those.’
