Johann Sebastian Bach citáty
Johann Sebastian Bach
Datum narození: 21. březen 1685
Datum úmrtí: 28. červenec 1750
Johann Sebastian Bach byl německý hudební skladatel a virtuóz hry na klávesové nástroje, považovaný za jednoho z největších hudebních géniů všech dob a završitele barokního hudebního stylu. Bachovo dílo mělo a má značný vliv na další vývoj hudby počínaje Mozartem a Beethovenem až po Schönberga nebo Goreckého.
Citáty Johann Sebastian Bach

„It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.“
Varianta: There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.
„The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.“
Varianta: The final aim and reason of all music is nothing other than the glorification of God and the refreshment of the spirit.
„All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hubbub.“
Quoted in Ludwig Prautzsch Bibel und Symbol in den Werken Bachs, p. 7 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xaG9peANY9kC&pg=PA7&dq=teuflisches+%22Finis+und+Endursache+anders+nicht,+als+nur+zu+Gottes+Ehre+%22;translation from Albert Schweitzer (trans. Ernest Newman) J. S. Bach (New York: Dover, 1966), vol. 1, p. 167
Varianta: Like all music, the figured bass should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the recreation of the soul; where this is not kept in mind there is no true music, but only an infernal clamour and ranting.
„To the glory of the most high God alone, and that my neighbour may be educated thereby.“
Dem höchsten Gott allein zu Ehren,
Dem Nächsten draus sich zu belehren.
Epigraph to the Orgelbüchlein, cited from Carl Hermann Bitter Johann Sebastian Bach (Berlin: Ferdinand Schneider, 1865), vol. 1, p. 145; translation from Rush Rhees (ed.) Ludwig Wittgenstein: Personal Recollections (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1981), p. 182
„Where there is devotional music, God with his grace is always present.“
Bei einer andächtigen Musik ist allezeit Gott mit seiner Gnaden Gegenwart.
Annotation in a copy of the Calov Bible, cited from John Butt (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Bach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 256; translation from ibid., p. 46