Christian Union: The Magazine Summer 2017 | Page 41

COLU M B I A | On Campus
‘Melodious Refrains to Glorify God’
C O L U M B I A C E L E B R AT E S L U T H E R ’ S I N F L U E N C E O N B A C H
By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer
T
and “Cantata No. 80.” The latter,
which was based upon Luther’s tenets,
is best known among congregations
worldwide as “A Mighty Fortress Is
Our God.”
Indeed, Bach embraced Luther’s
doctrine on music, especially the re-
formist’s thirst for melodious refrains
to glorify God and refresh the human
spirit. Thus, Bach “signed all of his
Martin Luther
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church music and most of his secular
music with the letters S.D.G.. – Soli
Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone),”
wrote Bethany Jenkins, Columbia
Law ’09, in a recent article for The
Gospel Coalition.
“Embodying a Lutheran theology
of work, Bach viewed all of his music
— whether sacred hymns or secular
cantatas — as a calling from God,”
explained Jenkins, director of The
Gospel Coalition’s Every Square Inch
faith and work initiative.
Undeniably, Luther’s ground-
breaking movement – steeped in his
dedication to promoting the priest-
hood of all believers – profoundly
shaped Bach’s 18 th -century world,
according to Jenkins. The entrepre-
neur, writer, and founder of The Park
Forum explored the far-reaching spir-
itual legacy of Luther upon Bach in
a March article entitled Without Lu-
ther, There Would Be No
Bach: How the Reforma-
tion Influenced Faith and
Work Today.
With the approach of
the 500 th anniversary of
the Reformation, both
spiritual and secular pub-
lications have paused to
pay tribute to the count-
less Lutheran themes
threaded throughout
Bach’s epic compositions.
When he was 48,
Bach received a Cavlov
Bible containing a Lu-
ther commentary. Next
to 1 Chronicles 25, the
composer penned, “This chapter is
the true foundation of all God-pleas-
ing music.” At 2 Chronicles 5:13,
Bach wrote, “At a reverent perfor-
mance of music, God is always at hand
with His gracious presence,” accord-
ing to The Reformation Society.
Luther’s enthusiastic vision for
churches to embrace transformative
worship helped boost the creative
energy of Bach’s harmonic language.
The superstar of the classical cannon
notably immersed his repertoire in
hough he was born nearly 170
years after the dawn of the Prot-
estant Reformation, Johann Sebastian
Bach’s deep connection to his Luther-
an-rooted faith inspired some of the
genius composer’s sacred masterpieces.
In recent months, top institutions
across the world, including Columbia
University, highlighted the remarkable
influence of Martin Luther upon Bach
as a prelude to the 500 th anniversary
of the reformer’s decision to post his
Ninety-Five Theses on the door of
Castle Church in the pastoral German
town of Wittenberg.
On Manhattan’s Upper East Side,
Columbia co-presented a concert by
the renowned New York Polyphony
illuminating the nature of the inter-
twined lives of Luther and Bach, who
were born in the same region of Ger-
many. The Grammy-nominated quar-
tet performed in May as part of
Columbia’s Pop-Up Concerts.
The musical journey contrasted
pre-Reformation works with chorales
by Bach, who embraced Luther’s de-
votion to congregational singing of
biblical messages. The theologian once
expressed his desire for Christians to
“love and regard as worthy the lovely
gift of music, which is a precious,
worthy, and costly treasure given to
mankind by God.”
Widely regarded as the stan-
dard-bearer of classical composers,
Bach authored 1,100-plus chorales,
passions, cantatas, and oratorios. The
virtuoso’s most beloved works includ-
ed: “Mass in B Minor,” “The St. Mat-
thew Passion,” “The St. John Passion,”
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