BACH, LA MUSICA INFINITA

In general, the existing literature on the figure of Johann Sebastian Bach is serious and overly specialized. Although all fans of so-called classical or cultured music are clear that Bach is one of the few absolute and essential references, even though his work is a mandatory repertoire in all official music studies, a regular and almost required presence in the main programs, and a fixed reference in the record collections of any average fan, there is a blurred image of the composer, as if his life and professional career lacked sufficient interest or glamour. This Música Infinita aims to bring readers closer to the life of the Cantor of St. Thomas, focusing in an entertaining and instructive way on the historical, political, spiritual, ethical, family, and other circumstances that gave rise to an extensive, essential, and definitive musical corpus. But it also seeks to question images that are so ill-suited to Bach, such as the romantic idea of "genius," his seriousness and solemnity, his perhaps overly submissive character, which are unfair to a musician who was a hard worker who also composed little sparks of joy and humor such as the Coffee Cantata, who ignored the threats of his employer in Weimar to walk across Germany in order to reach Lübeck to listen to his teacher and friend, Buxtehude, and share time of friendship and music with him... As a third element, it is essential to mention Bach's enduring relevance. As a personal and intimate experience, as a whirlwind capable of changing the interpretative criteria of pre-Romantic music and marking the careers of leading performers, as an invasive fury that ends up influencing fusions with rock, jazz, and ethnic music, and even provides material for a joke by Les Luthiers and an advertisement for deodorant.