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Article: PUTTING BACH INTO WORDS.(Weekend)
- Article from:
- Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)
- Article date:
- December 19, 1986
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1986 Albany Times Union. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: William Hammond
The words "Johann Sebastian Bach" evoke a tapestry of music so rich, so thoroughly mingled with stained-glass images of Judeo-Christian workmanship, so universally admired and primordially powerful, that it is hard to conceive of a flesh-and-blood person bearing them as a name.
For Bach's devoted listeners - even those who pronounce his name correctly, clearing their throats on "ach' - he is more semi-divine cipher than man. Most picture Bach first as a complex frieze of notes on staves, and then perhaps as a stern face beneath a powdered wig. He lacks the mythnic personality we crave in our artistic gods.
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