«In Every Music There is Bach…». Music as a Subject of Theology

Abstract

The article considers publications of recent years devoted to the religious content
of the work of I. S. Bach. The classic of world music appears as a religious composer, his works —
as theological works. An attempt was made to analyze the idea of Bach in the light of the phenomenological
analysis of music by the Russian religious philosopher A. F. Losev. Losev’s desire for
«pure music» appears as the antithesis of Bach’s expressiveness, which is rooted precisely in his
religious worldview, given in the tradition of Lutheranism. The article also reviews D. E. Gardiner’s
monograph «Music in Heavenly Grad. Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach» and Russian translations
of texts of spiritual works by the German composer. It is concluded that the reasons for the popularity
of Bach’s religious works are evidence of a post-secular assessment of his work.