In 1737, at the peak of his career, Bach received a devastating public critique of his work by his former pupil, Adolph Scheibe. According to Scheibe, a son of the Enlightenment, Bachs music was confused and turgid to the extent that this excess of art bordered on the unapproachable. It seems incredible today that any such criticisms could be levelled at the greatest composer of all. And yet, given the highly-crafted art music of the Second Suite dances, the tightly structured figural density of Sinfonia BWV146, or the extreme penitentiality of Cantatas BWV199 and 82a, it is interesting that Bach remains one of the most widely popular of all classical composers. (….)
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