Christmas Is Bach
音樂之父—巴哈的聖誕饗宴

NO.25
 

This Christmas morning, radios around the world will play the Christmas Oratorio. Composed in 1734 in the Baroque style, this composition by Johann Sebastian Bach tells the story of the birth of Jesus. Bach is known today as one of the greatest classical composers in history. During his lifetime, however, Bach was better known as an organist. Only after his death was his genius as a composer revealed.
In a small German town called Eisenach, Bach was born into a musical family on March 21, 1685. For generations, the Bachs had taught, performed, and composed music. Their influence was great, and for some, the name Bach became equal to the word musician. It comes as no surprise that Sebastian, the youngest of eight children, would follow in his family’s footsteps.
Orphaned at the age of ten, Sebastian did not have the easiest of childhoods. But he got to move in with his eldest brother, who began to teach him the organ. At fourteen, Sebastian won a music scholarship to the renowned St. Michael’s School near Hamburg. At this respected school, his formal musical training began. He was exposed to the important musicians of his time and got to experiment with newer, more impressive organs.
今年聖誕節早上，世界各地的廣播電台都會播放《聖誕節清唱劇》。這首巴洛克風的曲子是約翰．賽巴斯欽．巴哈於一七三四年所寫，主要在描寫耶穌誕生的故事。今天，巴哈為人所知的是他是史上最偉大的古典作曲家之一。然而，巴哈在世時，卻是以一名管風琴師較為人知。一直到他死後，他的作曲天賦才被注意到。
巴哈在一六八五年三月二十一日出生於德國小鎮埃森納赫的一個音樂世家。巴哈家族世世代代都從事教授、表演音樂及作曲。這個家族具有舉足輕重的地位，對某些人來說，巴哈這個姓氏已經變成音樂家的代名詞。所以身為八個孩子中老么的賽巴斯欽會承接家族衣缽一點也不令人意外。
賽巴斯欽十歲時父母雙亡，童年的生活過得並不算好。但他後來搬去跟大哥一起住，大哥開始教他彈奏管風琴。十四歲的時候，賽巴斯欽獲得位於漢堡附近著名的聖麥克學校的音樂獎學金。他的正規音樂訓練就在這所備受尊崇的學校裡展開。他得以接觸當代的音樂大師，並且試用款式較新、樂音更棒的管風琴。
 
J. S. Bach began his career in low-level positions, including one as a church organist in the town of Arnstadt. Early on, he became known as something of a hothead. After one particularly poor performance by the church orchestra, he called one member a “nanny goat.” When Bach would not apologize, the man attacked him with a walking stick. The story goes that Bach drew his sword, prompting some students to separate the angry musicians.
After Arnstadt, Bach’s reputation as a musician and performer grew. In 1707, he married his cousin, Maria Barbara Bach, shortly after taking a position as organist in a new city. He lasted there less than a year because of an ongoing debate in the Lutheran church about the role of music in worship. Bach next took a position with a duke who made him his court organist. Here, he composed many of his famous organ works, as well as a number of important cantatas.
Bach’s next post was as director of music for Prince Leopold. The prince had a strong interest in music, and the two developed a lasting friendship. Although Bach favored sacred music, Leopold’s religion had little use for it. Most of Bach’s compositions at this time were not religious, like his famous Brandenburg Concertos and Six suites for solo cello.
巴哈的職業生涯一開始是從事較低階的職位，包括在阿恩斯塔特鎮上的一所教堂擔任管風琴師。剛開始的時候，他的性情可說是暴躁易怒。有一次教堂樂團表演得很糟，他就叫某樂手為「母山羊」。巴哈不肯道歉，這名樂手便以拐杖攻擊他。據說巴哈拔了劍，使得一些學生跳出來將兩名盛怒的音樂家隔開。
離開阿恩斯塔特之後，巴哈身為音樂家及演奏家的聲譽提升了。在獲聘為另一個城市的管風琴師後不久，他於一七○七年娶了堂妹瑪莉亞．芭芭拉．巴哈。巴哈因為路德教會對於音樂在禮拜儀式中的角色爭議不斷，所以在那裡只待了不到一年的時間。他接下來擔任公爵的宮廷管風琴師。他許多著名的管風琴曲及重要的清唱劇都是在這段時間完成的。
巴哈接著擔任列奧波德親王的樂隊指揮。親王很喜愛音樂，兩人於是成了莫逆之交。但雖然巴哈偏愛宗教音樂，列奧波德的宗教卻不太需要。巴哈在這個時期大多數的作品，像是著名的《布蘭登堡協奏曲》和《無伴奏大提琴組曲》都跟宗教無關。
 
In 1720, tragedy struck when Maria Barbara died. Of their seven children, only four survived to adulthood. In spite of this family misfortune, son Carl Phillip Emmanuel grew up to become an expert musician.
A year and a half later, Bach remarried. Anna Magdalena Wilcke was a soprano 17 years his junior. The two would have 13 children together.
Bach’s final position, which he held for the last 27 years of his life, was musical director at St. Thomas’s Lutheran Church. In this important post, Bach fought with officials who wished to play down music in churches and schools. His work during this period was nothing short of spectacular, and included the Mass in B Minor, The Art of Fugue, and the moving St. Matthew Passion about Jesus’ final days. You could say that some of our most loved Christmas music was born during this time.
悲劇在一七二○年瑪莉亞．芭芭拉過世後降臨。他們的七個小孩當中，只有四個活到成年。儘管這個家命運多舛，巴哈的兒子卡爾．菲利普．艾曼紐最後還是成了一位音樂名家。
一年半後，巴哈再婚。安娜．瑪格達琳娜．維可是個小他十七歲的女高音。兩人一同撫養了十三個小孩。
巴哈最後一份職位是在聖湯瑪士路德教會擔任音樂總監，他人生中最後二十七年都在這裡渡過。巴哈擔任這個重要的職位時，反對官方希望降低音樂在教堂和學校的重要性。他在這段時間的創作都可算是鉅作，包括了《b小調彌撒曲》、《賦格的藝術》，以及描述耶穌生命盡頭感動人心的《聖馬太受難曲》。你可以說一些我們最耳熟能詳的聖誕樂曲都是在這個時期創作的。
 
While Bach celebrated his love of God in much of his work, he also cleverly left his own name in his compositions. Mapping his final organ prelude with the letters of the notes spells out B-A-C-H.
Bach’s death in 1750 marked the end of the Baroque period. While Bach’s fame would not come until a century after, his musical genius and contributions to our understanding of music are without equal.
巴哈在多數作品中頌揚自己對上帝的虔誠的同時，也巧妙地將自己的名字呈現在作品中。他在最後一部管風琴前奏曲中利用音符所代表的德文字母拼出自己的姓B-A-C-H。
一七五○年，巴哈逝世代表了巴洛克時期的結束。儘管巴哈的名聲在一個世紀後才為人所讚揚，他的音樂天賦及致力於讓我們對音樂有所了解的貢獻卻是無人能匹敵的。