Bach at the Sem | February 2009

A Few Composers’ Thoughts on the Significance of Bach

Mozart—“Now there is music from which a man can learn something.”

Beethoven—“Not Brook but Ocean should be his name.” (In German, “Bach” means “brook.”)

Schumann—“Playing and studying Bach convinces us that we are all numskulls.”

Brahms—“Study Bach; there you will find everything.”

2008-2009 Series

Gounod—“If all the music written since Bach’s time should be lost, it could be reconstructed on the foundation that Bach laid.”

Verdi—“O you happy sons of the North! You who have been reared at the bosom of Bach, how I envy you!”

Concordia Seminary The Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus

Reger—“Bach is the beginning and the end of all music.”

Rimsky-Korsakov—“I had no idea of the historical evolution of the civilized world’s music and had not realized that all modern music owes everything to Bach.”

Stravinsky—“Oh, if only I could have been a ‘little Bach’ for one day in my lifetime!”

February 22, 2009, 3:00 p.m.