The Faith of the Great Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750)
known as "the Christian composer"

Bach dedicated his music "to the glory of God"
In 1708 Bach declared his ultimate purpose in life was to create
"well-regulated church music to the glory of God."
Bach claimed that "music's only purpose should be for the glory of God
and the recreation of the human spirit."
"The aim and final reason of all music was none else but the glory of God."

Bach initialed his blank manuscripts before he began to compose with "J.J." (Jesu Juva--"Help me, Jesus!) or "I.N.J." (In Nomine Jesu--"In the name of Jesus"). When the manuscipt was done, he initialed "S.D.G." (Soli Deo Gloria--"To God alone, the glory")

Bach grew up in the same town as Martin Luther, the great Protestant Reformer. He attended the same school as Luther did and was highly influenced by Luther's legacy. Luther placed music as second only to the gospel in importance. Bach was the Reformation's greatest musical disciple.

George Frederic Handel
(1685-1759)

"It pleased the Almighty, to whose great Holy Will I submit myself with Christian submission"
[letter written to his brother-in-law on the death of Handel's mother]

Handel's Messiah

On August 22, 1741, Handel began work on Messiah. He completed its 260 manuscript pages in an astonishingly short 24 days. During this time he rarely ate, or left his room. When writing the Hallelujah chorus, he said, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the Great God Himself." A friend asked him to describe his experience. He could only say, "Whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not."
Handel personally conducted over 30 performances of Messiah, mostly as benefit concerts for a hospital for the poor. The thousands of pounds that Messiah raised for charity led a biographer to say, "Messiah fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan...more than any other single musical production in this or any country." Another said, "Perhaps the works of no other composer have so largely contributed to the relief of human suffering." Another said, "Messiah has probably done more to convince thousands of mankind that there is a God about us than all the theological works ever written."

Near his death, Handel expressed a desire to die before Easter, "in the hopes of meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and Savior, on the Day of His Resurrection."

Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)

"I have no friend. I must live by myself. I know, however, that God is nearer to me than others. I go without fear to Him, I have constantly recognized and understood Him." [1810; Philip Kruseman, Beethoven's Own Words (London: Hinricksen Edition, 1947) p. 53]

Beethoven was born into a Catholic family, attended other churches as a youth and was taught by Christian Gottlob Neefe, a Protestant believer. Beethoven's many letters and diaries contain dozens of references to God, and his strong personal relationship to Him.

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