Dr Paul Allen

English: Young Johann Sebastian Bach. 1715. Teri Noel Towe seems to demonstrate that the portrait is probably not of Bach http://www.npj.com/thefaceofbach/09w624.html. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Soli Deo gloria  is the motto that grew out of the Protestant Reformation and was used on every composition by Johann Sebastian Bach .  He affixed the initials  SDG  at the bottom of each manuscript to communicate the idea that it is God and God alone who is to receive the glory for the wonders of His work of creation and of redemption. At the heart of the sixteenth-century controversy over salvation was the issue of grace. It was not a question of man's need for grace.   It was a question as to the extent of that need. The church had already condemned Pelagius, who had taught that grace facilitates salvation but is not absolutely necessary for it. Semi-Pelagianism since that time has always taught that without grace there is no salvation.  ...

Image via Wikipedia Johann Sebastian Bach believed in the resurrection. The "crucifixus" of his  Mass in B minor  ended with low register voices to suggest Christ going down into the grave and the next chorus breaks forth in joy to express resurrection.  Bach's music went through a resurrection of its own. Virtually forgotten at his death, the bulk of his work lay neglected for almost a century. Fish vendors in the market wrapped their ware in Bach manuscripts. Bach's life was defined by poverty . But in music he poured out wealth. Every form he touched, he improved. He perfected the "well-tempered" scale which by dividing every octave into twelve equal distances allowed any key on the organ to start a scale. His keyboard technique used all five fingers where three had been the norm.  The Well-Tempered Clavier   and  Art of the Fugue  trained musicians such as Beethoven. Beethoven remarked: "He should not be called Bach (brook) but Meer (sea)." E...