Johann Sebastian Bach, the most ordinary yet enigmatic artist in the Western Tradition. We all know the portrait of the portly, bewigged, aging gent, holding the tiny piece of paper with notes. How dull he looks. But who was he? Less is known of him than any other composer in the past 400 years; we know he married twice. He fathered 20 children 10 of whom survived. His life was a constant struggle, he labored in the thick of things and his workload was superhuman. He hated authority figures and was always at odds with them. Less is known of him than any other composer in recent memory and yet more had been written about him. The discourse on the latest tiny discovery of scholarship can swell into a seven-volume study. This Surrealist text comes from a seven-year listening project, focused on the 200 Sacred Cantatas, coupled with employment of Surrealist techniques of drawing on the unconscious imagination. Only Surrealism holds the key to Johann Sebastian Bach - Musical Magus Supreme...
