What Would You Do
If You Were Bach?

You walk 400 kilometers, stay four months instead of the approved one, and return with Buxtehude's influence already audible in your playing — which the Arnstadt council separately reprimands you for, citing the "strange variations" and "foreign sounds" you have introduced into the hymns. Dieterich Buxtehude (c.1637–1707) was the leading organist in northern Germany — his Sunday evening organ concerts in Lübeck, the Abendmusiken, drew audiences from across the region. Bach walked approximately 400 km each way — the historical accounts of the walk are well-documented. He stayed from November 1705 to February 1706, four months instead of the approved one. His church council in Arnstadt formally reprimanded him for the unauthorized absence and also, separately, for the "strange variations" and "foreign sounds" he'd started introducing into his hymn accompaniments after returning — meaning Buxtehude's influence had already changed his playing. Handel also visited Buxtehude, but chose not to stay. Telemann also passed through. Bach is the one who walked 400 kilometers and stayed. The musical results are detectable in his output for the next decade.

The Brandenburg Concertos were written as a job application to the Margrave of Brandenburg in 1721. The Margrave apparently never performed them, apparently never acknowledged receiving them, and they were found in his estate after his death. Six concertos written to impress a man who showed no interest are now among the most performed orchestral works in history. At Köthen (1717–1723), Bach worked for Prince Leopold, who was 23 years old, played violin and viola da gamba, and genuinely loved music — he sang and participated in court performances. For the first time, Bach had a patron who was a real musical collaborator. The position was kapellmeister rather than church organist, so he wrote primarily secular instrumental music: the Brandenburg Concertos, violin concertos, the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, the orchestral suites. The Brandenburg Concertos were submitted to the Margrave of Brandenburg in 1721 as a job application — the Margrave never performed them and apparently never acknowledged receipt. They were found in the Margrave's estate after his death. The six concertos, written apparently to demonstrate Bach's range to a potential employer who showed no interest, are now among the most performed orchestral works in history.

Chopin wrote his own 24 Preludes in all keys in explicit homage. Beethoven learned the WTC as a child in Bonn. Mozart's counterpoint study was organized around it. A demonstration of a tuning system became the essential keyboard text of the next two centuries. Hans von Bülow, the 19th-century pianist and conductor, called the Well-Tempered Clavier the "Old Testament" and Beethoven's piano sonatas the "New Testament" of keyboard music. The WTC's influence is immeasurable: Chopin wrote his own set of 24 preludes in all keys in explicit homage. Beethoven learned the WTC as a child in Bonn. Mozart's counterpoint study was organized around it. Modern music theory pedagogically traces the expansion of harmonic language from the WTC — the 24 keys Bach demonstrated as equally usable are the same 24 keys that composers from Beethoven to Brahms to jazz musicians have explored ever since. On the technical question of tuning: historians still debate whether Bach intended "equal temperament" (all half-steps exactly equal) or one of the various "well-tempered" systems where intervals differ slightly. The squiggle Bach drew on the title page may encode the specific tuning he intended; this is still argued.

Bach marked hundreds of manuscripts "SDG — Soli Deo Gloria." He also complained constantly about working conditions in Leipzig, applied for multiple positions simultaneously, and spent his final years lobbying for a court title specifically to gain leverage over the city council. Both facts are thoroughly documented. He saw no contradiction between them. Bach was a Lutheran whose faith appears to have been genuine and deep. He owned a large theological library — 80+ volumes — including the complete works of Luther and extensive Biblical commentary, which he annotated carefully. His marginalia in his Bible show engagement with the texts his music set. The "SDG" and "JJ" markings appear consistently across decades, not just on major works. At the same time, he was very practical about employment: he applied for multiple positions simultaneously, complained constantly about working conditions in Leipzig (under-resourced, underpaid, insufficient talent in the choir), and spent the last years of his life seeking a court title from the Dresden court specifically to gain leverage over the Leipzig city council. He wrote flattering secular cantatas for various courts hoping for patronage. The combination of genuine religious devotion and practical careerism is not contradictory in an 18th-century church musician — it describes the job.

The sleep-music commission produced 30 variations built over a 32-note bass line, with every third variation a canon ascending from Canon at the Unison to Canon at the Ninth. Glenn Gould recorded it in 1955 as his debut record — it became one of the best-selling classical recordings in history. He recorded it again in 1981, a year before he died, and the two recordings are still compared as the two poles of possible interpretation. The Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) has a precise architecture: an aria, 30 variations, the aria repeated. Every third variation is a canon — Canon at the Unison, at the Second, at the Third, all the way through Canon at the Ninth. The non-canon variations include French overtures, arabesques, a fughetta, a quodlibet (final variation before the aria return) that quotes two folk songs simultaneously. The whole thing is built over a 32-note bass line that repeats through all 30 variations. Glenn Gould recorded it in 1955 as his first record — it became one of the bestselling classical recordings in history. He recorded it again in 1981, one year before his death, and the two recordings — one young and virtuosic, one old and slow — are now compared as the two poles of possible interpretation. The legend about the insomnia commission first appeared in Bach's obituary and may be true, partially true, or the kind of explanatory story that attaches itself to great works.

In German notation the letters B-A-C-H spell four musical pitches: B♭, A, C, B♮. Bach encoded his own name into the bass line of the final fugue of the Art of Fugue. Then the manuscript stops. Whether he died before finishing it or left it unfinished deliberately has been debated for 270 years. No completion has become standard. In German musical notation, the note we call B♭ is called H, and the note we call B♮ is called B. This means the letters B-A-C-H spell out four distinct musical pitches: B♭, A, C, B♮. Bach didn't invent using his name as a musical motif — other composers had done it — but his final use in Contrapunctus XIV is the most dramatic instance: the fugue is building toward its resolution, the B-A-C-H subject enters in the bass, and then the manuscript stops. The question of whether the fugue was deliberately left unfinished (as a statement about the incompleteness of human endeavor vs. divine perfection) or simply stopped when Bach died has been debated for 270 years. Several scholars have attempted to complete it; none of the completions has become standard. The break in the manuscript is now considered one of the most haunting moments in music history.

John Taylor also operated on Handel's eyes around the same time. Both patients lost their sight afterward. Voltaire described Taylor as "the most famous charlatan of the century." In 1750, he was one of the most famous eye surgeons in Europe — you could not know that without retrospect. John Taylor (1703–1772) was one of the most famous and most unreliable doctors of the 18th century. He styled himself "Chevalier Taylor, Ophthalmiater Pontifical, Imperial, and Royal" and traveled across Europe operating on patients of high social standing. He was described by Voltaire as "the most famous charlatan of the century." He operated on Handel's eyes in 1758 and Bach's in 1749–1750; both patients lost their sight afterward. He wrote in his autobiography about operating on "a great master of music" in Leipzig who initially improved then relapsed — the timeline matches Bach. Despite his notoriety, he practiced for decades and operated on thousands. Medical historians consider him a transitional figure: technically trained but operating at the edge of what early-18th-century surgery could actually accomplish.

Felix Mendelssohn has been privately studying the St. Matthew Passion since 1823, when his teacher showed it to him. He performs it in 1829 — 79 years after your death, when you have been considered old-fashioned and largely forgotten. He is 20 years old. The cheese-wrapping story is not true. The music had been there the entire time. Felix Mendelssohn's 1829 performance of the St. Matthew Passion was a cultural earthquake. Mendelssohn had found the manuscript copy at the house of his friend Eduard Rietz, not in a paper shop — the cheese-wrapping story is probably embellished. He had been studying it privately since 1823, when his teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter, who possessed the copy, showed it to him. The 1829 performance, with a doubled choir and orchestra, was the first public performance in roughly a century, and it sparked a wave of interest in Bach's music that hasn't stopped since. The Bach-Gesellschaft was founded in 1850 to publish his complete works. The project took 50 years and 46 volumes. The New Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis catalogue lists 1,128 compositions. The SDG marking appears on hundreds of them. Whether God noticed is between Bach and God; the rest of the world eventually did.