He travelled little, sought no worldly fame, took no pains to secure performances of his works, and, above all, made no compromise with the popular taste of his day. He produced his great compositions, one after another, in the regular day's work, for performance in his church or by local orchestras and players. He never pined for a recognition that in the nature of things he could not have; he wrote the music that seemed good to him, and thought that his responsibility ended there, and that his reward lay there. The cynic who said "Every man has his price" was evidently not acquainted with the life of Bach. Steadily ignoring those temptations to prostitute his genius for the public's pleasure, which so materially affected the life course of his great contemporary Handel, he followed his own ideals with an undivided mind. As always happens in such cases, since it takes decades for the world to comprehend a sincere individual, or even centuries if his individuality is deep and unique, he was not appreciated in his life-time, nor for many years after his death.
Indeed, he is not appreciated now, for a man can be appreciated only by his equals. But we have at last got an inkling of the treasure that still lies hidden away in Bach; and while Handel and the other idols of the age sound daily more thin and archaic, Bach grows ever richer as the understanding we bring to him increases, and still holds out his promise of novel and perennial artistic delights.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLATERAL READING.
W. R. Spalding: "Tonal Counterpoint." Edward Dickinson: "Study of the History of Music," Chapter XX. C. H. H. Parry: "Evolution of the Art of Music," Chapter VIII.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Number the measures, and call the voices soprano, alto, and bass.
[8] The reader should examine the example of shifted rhythm given in the second chapter in dealing with the German song, "Sister Fair."
[9] In Book I, for example, Fugue II is as light and delicate as XII is serious and earnest; XVI is pathetic, XVII vigorous and rugged, XVIII thoughtful and mystical, etc.