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Comfort Ye . . .
Where do you turn for comfort when the world is intent on heading into another war like the last war to end all wars? I received comfort in the music and words of Handel's Messiah.

And the glory . . .
The writing of Handel's Messiah transformed its composer as it is transforming the church which pioneered the dramatization of the oratorio.

Music and Language Touching the Soul
Here I explore the power of the combination of music and language as experienced in the sacred oratorios which are written in the singers' or listeners' mother tongue.

The Healing Drum
The steady beat of the drum unites with our heartbeat to release tension and to bring peace and healing. This form of emotional healing has been practiced in many cultures and it is still effective today.

More Stories of Healing Music

Life and times of Johann Sebastian Bach
A slide show with biographical text to accompany each picture.

Music Which Touches the Soul, J. S. Bach

by Traute Klein, biogardener

The sacred choral music of Johann Sebastian Bach was born in heaven and has the ability to transport us directly to its place of origin. It healing balm is therapy for the spirit.

This article has been republished in the professional magazine by and for the Music Therapists of British Columbia, Canada.

The Meaning of Johann Sebastian Bach

The German word Bach means brook or creek. Well, his music overflowed the banks of that creek in his time and is continuing to spill forth into a mighty stream which empties into an eternal ocean of heavenly sound. Beethoven once remarked that Bach should be called "Meer," meaning "Ocean."

The Hebrew name Johann means God is gracious and God certainly was gracious when he endowed one man with a gift for glorious harmonic progressions which has never been equalled. Like the youngest of the twelve disciples of Jesus, this Johann also leaned on the breast of Jesus and gained inspiration from this intimate relationship.

The Greek name Sebastian means majestic and no one would ever question the majesty of the music which flowed from his pen.

My Introduction to Bach

Although church music was a part of my daily life, I did not become aware of Bach's compositions until my early teens when after years of refugee existence, we were able to attend a church with a real mixed voice choir. The director was Hungarian born and experienced music with a passion. When he closed his eyes while conducting, I knew that he was in the presence of God. He introduced the choir to Bach's chorale settings. They were not popular with the Baptist congregation, who preferred easier fare. Even some of the choir members objected to what they considered difficult harmony. I, however, was in heaven. No music had ever touched my soul like that of the great master.

On our birthdays, choir members were allowed pick a number at the end of the rehearsal, sit in a pew, and listen to the choir sing it for us. I raised a few eyebrows when, on my 15th birthday, I asked for "Jesu meine Freude." No adult had ever asked for such stately music. What was this teenager doing asking for music which she surely did not understand?

Well, maybe I did not understand it, but my soul responded to it. I sat there and wept as the choir sang.

And then a Lutheran choir performed two of Bach's cantatas one Sunday afternoon in the Romanesque Michaelikirche which you can see in the photo below. The admission was 0.50 DM, a lot of money when I did not have a penny to my name. Fortunately for me, a neighbor asked me to deliver some packages to the train station on our little handcart. I got paid a whole D-Mark, the first money which I had ever earned. It was enough to allow me to hear the Bach cantatas and even the St. John's Passion at a later date.

I was the only Baptist in that Lutheran church. I was also the only teenager there. I knew no one, and no one knew me. I sat there and let the tears flow freely, bathing my face as the music bathed my soul and transported it into heavenly places.

Universal Appeal

What is it that gives Bach's music such appeal even for little children? The seven-year-olds in my son's Yamaha music class rejected the teacher's favorite Beatles music, much to the disappointment of the teacher. Their favorite piece was Bach's "Minuet in G."

A Spiritual Experience

What turns Bach's music into a spiritual experience?

His wife knew the answer to that question. When Bach was writing music, no one in the house dared knock at his studio door. The family often heard strange sounds from inside his studio. Even the children knew that their father was communicating with his creator directly. In return, that creator poured the most heavenly music into his heart and into his pen.

Bach's sacred music was born in heaven. It has the ability to transport the listener directly back to the place of its origin. Listening to his music was spiritual therapy for me in my teenage years, and singing it now transports me into heaven again, where I am in no need of further therapy.